Just those few words bring up images of skyscrapers and hustlers on the mean streets of New York. I was lucky enough to escape HBPL for a week and head to the Big Apple. Museums, pizza and Broadway theater! Much to my amazement, Harry Potter CAN sing and dance! (Got to see Daniel Radcliffe in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”). Roaming the city made me feel like I was in a Woody Allen film. Of course, Woody’s films ooze New York as do the following filmatic examples:
Annie Hall:
La-di-da, la-di-da …and if that means nothing to you, you haven’t seen Annie Hall. That catch phrase and her eccentric wardrobe 
(which consisted mainly of vintage men's clothing, including neckties, vests, baggy pants, and fedora hats) made Diane Keaton the talk of the town … and a Best Actress Oscar winner for this film. It was also the film that changed Woody Allen (who won Oscars as director, screenwriter and Best Picture) from a purely comic film director to a filmmaker with a little more substance. New York comedian Alvy Singer (Allen) looks back at his relationship with Annie (Keaton). His journey takes him through his memories of their relationship, trying to find out what caused them to part ways (maybe his neurotic banter?). La- di-da!
Need more neurotic New York? Try When Harry Met Sally or Moonstruck.
Sex and the City: 
Woody Allen used to own New York but in the 21st century, the city belongs to the girls! New York is as much a character in Sex and the City as Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. Continuing on from the ending of the television series, Carrie’s finally going to marry Mr. Big….or is she?? Heartbreak and trouble swirls around the girls but they are always there for each other….dressed in designer clothes and Jimmy Choo shoes!!
For more girls and the city check out: Breakfast at Tiffany’s or The Devil Wears Prada.
Saturday Night Fever:
♫ Well you can tell by the way he uses his walk, he’s a woman's man no time to talk! ♫
John Travolta plays a disco dancing miva (male diva) is this 70’s classic. Nineteen-year-old Brooklyn native Tony Manero (Travolta) lives for Saturday nights at the local disco. In the disco he is king of the roost but in the light of day, he’s real life isn’t quite so great; dead-end job and a priest brother who is the apple of his parents eye. Tony meets Stephanie who has higher aspirations in life and through dance inspires Tony to look beyond Brooklyn and his “Saturday Night” claim to fame. Is this film dated? Sure, but for those that lived through the 70’s it is a welcome blast from the past. (Not to mention for the continually mystifying resurgence of BeeGee fans).
Musical New York: West Side Story, The Producers and that great scene on the huge piano in Big
Taxi Driver:
You talkin’ to ME??? Yeah, I know I used this to open this blog posting but it bears repeating. Other than Woody Allen, the director that is most associated with New York is Martin Scorsese
(director of Taxi Driver). The gritty reality of New York comes in the form of Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro), an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in the City. By night he drives his cab around “the City” and by day he deals with his obsessions. The obsessions come mainly in the form of two women, Betsy (Cybil Shepard) and Iris (Jodie Foster). Bickle’s has a strong (over the top) sense of what is right and wrong with humanity and has made it his goal to make the world a better place. Well, a better place in the mind of Travis….to everyone else…a nightmare!
More New York grit: Gangs of New York, Mean Streets (two Scorsese flicks) and Serpico.
With any luck, you too can visit the Big Apple, the City So Nice, They Named It Twice (NY, NY), the City that Never Sleeps, Gotham City (or whatever moniker you use). But if not in person, the City is always available to you at the movies!
