Random TV/Movie question.

Im kinda amazed by how bad NYC was in the 70s through the early 90s.  Are there any shows or movies set in this era?

Probably a gritty drama or something 

Escape from New York.

It's a documentary that took place in 1997. 

Just watch anything made in NYC at that time: Death Wish, Fort Apache the Bronx, The Taking of Pelham 123, The French Connection, Panic in Needle Park, Serpico, The Seven-Ups, Dog Day Afternoon, Taxi Driver, the list goes on.

Warriors! Come out and plaaaay!

02Pilot said:

Just watch anything made in NYC at that time: Death Wish, Fort Apache the Bronx, The Taking of Pelham 123, The French Connection, Panic in Needle Park, Serpico, The Seven-Ups, Dog Day Afternoon, Taxi Driver, the list goes on.

Good idea

Was kind of thinking something current looking back at it, but that works.

Kojak

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I just started watching The Deuce on HBO. So far it's a pretty good representation. 
 

Original Law and Orders were shot on location in the 80s and looks like how I remember. 

Do The Right Thing. 

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Original Law and Orders were shot on location in the 80s and looks like how I remember. 

I’d second that.

If you have access to Peacock, the John Wick backstory show "The Continental" is really good. Takes a little while to get rolling, but big finale.

My first thought was "French Connection". It also has a car chase, so there's that.

Saturday Night Fever.

It's hard to recreate the gestalt of NYC in the 70s - that's why I suggested actual period films. The bankruptcy, and attendant cost-cutting led to the distribution of these pamphlets by the police and fire unions to arriving tourists in the airports:

https://researchdestroy.com/welcome-to-fear-city.pdf

Add to that the arson, pollution, poverty, and in 1977 the blackout and the Son of Sam, and it was a hell of a place.

Yeah, it's hard to picture the amount of sheer anarchy and nihilism unless you were there, even briefly. First time I took the CBE was in 1982ish, and besides the multiple vehicles stripped and on blocks lining the shoulders, there were also several vehicles ACTIVELY ON FIRE, with not a hint of any kind of emergency response. In fact, everybody else was proceeding with a complete absence of rubbernecking, like it happened every day. Which I guess it did.

Tim took the train on his first sales trip to NYC and, despite being a Boston boy (maybe because so he thought he could handle it?), decided to use the restroom when he got to Grand Central. He told me he quickly backed out of there and found a corner to pee in, like everyone else was doing.

Edit to add: We towed a trailer for Brumos to the 1985 Porsche Parade in Portland, Maine--for the gas money, not because we were any kind of partners--and I remember an RX-7 that was refusing to zipper at the merge for the GW bridge, so we played the "fine, we have the right of way AND a trailer to block with." She just kept coming, and her face and resolve remained absolutely unchanged as we dragged that trailer down the side of her car. Which, like every other city car there, had a radio antenna that had been turned into origami.

Also, apologies for the thread-jacks on an excellent topic, but just queued up Serpico and am advised that it's rated R for "nudity, violence, substance use, alcohol use, smoking, foul language, sexual content." If that doesn't say Perfect Movie to Kick Off the Holidays, nothing does.

And I'd suggest Barney Miller if you're looking for comedy that delivers that grimy old NY feel.

Marjorie Suddard said:

Which, like every other city car there, had a radio antenna that had been turned into origami.

Old-school antennas got broken off in tough neighborhoods because you can really berkeley someone up with that jagged end.

Midnight Cowboy. I believe it was filmed without permits so a lot of guerrilla filming showing the city as is. From 1969.

My first visit to NYC was in I think 1982.  I remember riding the subway was an interesting experience, and going to an old school Italian restaurant that felt like something right out of The Godfather.  Street vendors were selling beer to go along with your hot dog; apparently it was legal to drink on the street as long as you kept the bottle in a paper bag.  Many of the sidewalks smelled like pee.  My buddy tried playing a shell game with some guy set up on a street corner, but of course he lost.  I went up to the top of the Chrysler building to visit what used to be the Cloud Club, an old style nightclub that had been closed to the public for decades - the windows were open, you could stick your head out right above those iconic eagle heads on the building facade.  I have a photo of myself standing on the roof of the World Trade Center (on nice days, when you visited the observation level they would let you go up stairs to the roof.  It was stunningly clear that day and I could see for miles and miles.)

In reply to stuart in mn :

The early 80s were a fun time. We lived in a nice, safe village on Long Island but ventured in pretty regularly from the time I was about 7-8. It's always fun reading people's recollections, and their surprise because for whatever reason these things didn't happen where they were from.  

Marjorie Suddard said:

Also, apologies for the thread-jacks on an excellent topic, but just queued up Serpico and am advised that it's rated R for "nudity, violence, substance use, alcohol use, smoking, foul language, sexual content." If that doesn't say Perfect Movie to Kick Off the Holidays, nothing does.

And I'd suggest Barney Miller if you're looking for comedy that delivers that grimy old NY feel.

Welcome Back,  Kotter, The Jeffrresons, All in the Family, and Taxi as well.

70's through the early 90's??

I was there. I went to high school there. I went to college there.  Manhattan was my stomping ground.  I thought it was all kinda normal.  🤷‍♂️

Most of the films mentioned seem pretty accurate to me.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Don't go to the Egyptian Pyramids; no rest rooms, no water to speak of, always hot and people pee in the tunnels.

Back to Movies:  1960 movie The Time Machine, at the end George came back, took three books off the shelf and went back to be with the girl.   (and presumable build a society).

What were the 3 books?

Definitely going to add some of those films to my watchlist.

I have a morbid curiosity about NYC during that period. It's hard to wrap your head around unless you were actually there (which I was not.)

And because it's one of my favorite theme songs:

Marjorie Suddard said:

Also, apologies for the thread-jacks on an excellent topic

Thread jacking with actual stories of that era is highly encouraged.

Marjorie Suddard said:

Yeah, it's hard to picture the amount of sheer anarchy and nihilism unless you were there, even briefly. First time I took the CBE was in 1982ish, and besides the multiple vehicles stripped and on blocks lining the shoulders, there were also several vehicles ACTIVELY ON FIRE, with not a hint of any kind of emergency response. In fact, everybody else was proceeding with a complete absence of rubbernecking, like it happened every day. Which I guess it did.

Tim took the train on his first sales trip to NYC and, despite being a Boston boy (maybe because so he thought he could handle it?), decided to use the restroom when he got to Grand Central. He told me he quickly backed out of there and found a corner to pee in, like everyone else was doing.

Edit to add: We towed a trailer for Brumos to the 1985 Porsche Parade in Portland, Maine--for the gas money, not because we were any kind of partners--and I remember an RX-7 that was refusing to zipper at the merge for the GW bridge, so we played the "fine, we have the right of way AND a trailer to block with." She just kept coming, and her face and resolve remained absolutely unchanged as we dragged that trailer down the side of her car. Which, like every other city car there, had a radio antenna that had been turned into origami.

Another great one with Pacino and NYC is Dog Day Afternoon.