Films about or taking place in early 80s NYC
January 1, 2015 8:34 AM   Subscribe

After doing some reading, I am interested in y'all's recommendations for films about (i.e., documentaries) early 80s New York City (maybe even late 70s?) or films very much set in this time and place.
posted by kuanes to Media & Arts (35 answers total) 36 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Oof, my extended explanation didn't make it. Basically just to say that any source is fine (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, torrents, whatever).
posted by kuanes at 8:35 AM on January 1, 2015




Style Wars- which is about graffiti artists is a classic, as is Dark Days, about the homeless who lived in the subway tunnels. Both are documentaries and I think both are on netflix.
posted by genmonster at 8:47 AM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


oops, Dark Days is actually from the 90s, looks like. My bad. It's still really good.
posted by genmonster at 8:48 AM on January 1, 2015




Terminal Bar.
posted by essexjan at 9:02 AM on January 1, 2015


(maybe even late 70s?)

Manhattan and Annie Hall, of course.
posted by John Cohen at 9:03 AM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Wolfen
Trading Places
Ghostbusters
Tootsie
Arthur
Fame
Desperately Seeking Susan
The Warriors
After Hours
A Chorus Line

These aren't just movies from the early 1980's set in NYC, but ones in which the NYC setting is significant. (The Warriors is 1979, but what's a year between rival gangs?)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:11 AM on January 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Downtown 81.
posted by mykescipark at 9:17 AM on January 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Times Square. Released in 1980, shot in late 1979, entirely on location in New York City. It's the farthest thing from a documentary, but it thoroughly inhabits a city that's almost entirely gone now.
posted by Devoidoid at 9:50 AM on January 1, 2015 [7 favorites]


80 Blocks From Tiffany's
posted by johnnybeggs at 9:57 AM on January 1, 2015


Smithereens
Liquid Sky
posted by jbenben at 10:01 AM on January 1, 2015


Going to add:

The Nomi Song, a doc about Klaus Nomi.

The music documentary Mondo New York

And holy shit! How could I forget Tony Scott directed 1983 film starring Carherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, David Bowie, w/ cameo by Ann Magnusson The Hunger
posted by jbenben at 10:09 AM on January 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


Turk 182! ('85) is a movie about a angry-young-man graffiti artist who is seeking justice for his brother, an injured firefighter, battling against a mayor on a fairly familiar anti-graffiti/clean-up-the-city campaign.

Seconding The Warriors; "Come out to playeeyaaay..."
posted by Sunburnt at 10:31 AM on January 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


Crossing Delancey
Desperately Seeking Susan
posted by Mchelly at 10:38 AM on January 1, 2015


Rich Kids
An Unmarried Woman
Fatso
Moscow on the Hudson
The Turning Point
Garbo Talks
Tootsie
Kramer vs Kramer.....
posted by brujita at 10:39 AM on January 1, 2015


A Most Violent Year is set in 1981 in New York City and, though it was released yesterday, it has a real sense of time and place.

And then there's the great Abel Ferrara rape-revenge film Ms. 45, which was shot in 1980 or 1981 at street level on a low budget. For a real taste of early-1980s New York, I'd take that over just about any of the Hollywood studio stuff.
posted by Mothlight at 11:03 AM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Mixed Blood by Paul Morrissey is a hidden gem black comedy about eurotrash junkies and rival latino youth gangs in burnt-out Alphabet City. A swell film if you're okay with some odd violence. Do not watch the trailer, it sucks.

Morrissey went on to make Spike of Bensonhurst, which is a character slice of 80's Brooklyn.
posted by ovvl at 11:04 AM on January 1, 2015


Early '70s but highly recommended: Panic in Needle Park, featuring an Al Pacino so young he's practically larval and an almost-unrecognizable Upper West Side.
posted by dogrose at 11:23 AM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


I also came in to recommend Times Square. Also Desperately Seeking Susan.

I'm with jbenben, the Nomi Song is amazing. I now wake up and I'll hear Nomi Songs coming out of Husbunny's headphones. He's a little bit obsessed.

My Dinner with Andre
They all Laughed (a TERRIBLE movie, notable for starring the doomed Dorothy Stratten.)
She's Gotta Have It (Spike Lee's first feature.)
Wall Street
Crossing Delancey
Working Girl
Bonfire of the Vanities (Technically 1990, and terrible, but VERY eighties New York)
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:27 AM on January 1, 2015


The Goodbye Girl, 1977.

I was sure Whit Stillman's Metropolitan would fit, but it's from 1990. It's so retro, though, really felt 80s to me.
posted by BibiRose at 11:35 AM on January 1, 2015


BibiRose just mentioned Whit Stillman - his Last Days of Disco really fits the bill for worthwhile films set in early 80's New York - wonderfully clever dialogue.
posted by nightrecordings at 11:42 AM on January 1, 2015


Barefoot In The Park
Midnight Cowboy
posted by SemiSalt at 12:03 PM on January 1, 2015


I don't have specific movie titles to add, but if you're not familiar with it already, definitely check out Scouting NY's blog posts related to some movies from the 70's & 80's:

Ghostbusters
Annie Hall
Taxi Driver

(Or really, the whole blog, which is full of great NYC history.)
posted by Pryde at 1:05 PM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Check out Amos Poe's early films.
posted by mdrew at 1:16 PM on January 1, 2015


Pope of Greenwich Village
posted by rhizome at 1:49 PM on January 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Another vote for Desperately Seeking Susan and The Last Days of Disco
posted by SisterHavana at 2:06 PM on January 1, 2015


Brewster's Millions is from 1985.
posted by Calzephyr at 2:49 PM on January 1, 2015


Network
Gloria
posted by brujita at 5:14 PM on January 1, 2015


HOW DID I NOT KNOW THERE WAS A MOVIE ABOUT KLAUS NOMI?!?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:24 PM on January 1, 2015


Seconding Times Square, which is probably one of the worst movies ever made, but is a phenomenal record of the neighborhood at the turn of the 1980s.

Also, Bob Fosse's wonderful All That Jazz.
posted by Leatherstocking at 6:44 PM on January 1, 2015


It was filmed in 1972 and so it is with reluctance that I post this, but, Man Alive: The Bronx Is Burning is remarkable and worth checking out.
posted by mlis at 8:18 PM on January 1, 2015


Love at First Bite
posted by brujita at 1:08 PM on January 2, 2015


Stranger Than Paradise (or the first part, anyway)
posted by hydrophonic at 3:57 PM on January 2, 2015




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