Martin Scorsese picks the best movies about New York

Posted On March 15, 2025March 15, 2025

As part of a season of films that he is curating for New York’s famous Roxy Cinema, director Martin Scorsese has shared a list of his 30 favourite New York films.

The upcoming American release of the film, Pet Shop Days, which has been executive produced by Scorsese, is set in New York, and the list has been put together in honour of the film’s connection to the city.

The list, titled Living, Breathing New York, features several films directed by native New Yorkers, and also a number of pictures that provide their own interpretation of the city.

Speaking in a press release, Scorsese said: “There are so many ‘New York filmmakers’ – everyone has his or her own individual vision. I collaborated with the city when I made (my own films like) Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, GoodFellas, Bringing Out the Dead, and The Wolf of Wall Street.”

While none of his own films make the list, he picks multiple films by directors such as John Schlesinger, Sidney Lumet, and the Safdie Brothers, and also makes nods to Alfred Hitchcock and Abel Ferrara among others.

As reported by IndieWire, accompanying some of his selections are notes and disclaimers on why he picked the films, with him stating of Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront: “Yes, I know it’s Hoboken but to me it’s a New York picture”, while he picked John Cassavettes’ Shadows since it was “The picture that inspired a generation of aspiring filmmakers, including me”.

The cinema will be screening four of Scorsese’s selections until March 26th, with a Q&A taking place with the film’s director, Olmo Schnabel, happening at the Roxy Cinema on March 15th.

Martin Scorsese’s 30 favourite New York movies:

1. Daybreak Express (D.A. Pennebaker)
2. The Naked City (Jules Dassin)
3. Kiss of Death (Henry Hathaway)
4. Fourteen Hours (Henry Hathaway)
5. Cry of the City (Robert Siodmak)
6. A Double Life (George Cukor)
7. The Marrying Kind (George Cukor)
8. It Should Happen to You (George Cukor)
9. Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger)
10. The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock)
11. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
12. Shadows (John Cassavetes)
13. Marathon Man (John Schlesinger)
14. The French Connection (William Friedkin)
15. Bye Bye Braverman (Sidney Lumet)
16. Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet)
17. Manhattan (Woody Allen)
18. Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara)
19. Heaven Knows What (Josh and Benny Safdie)
20. Good Time (Josh and Benny Safdie)
21. Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie)
22. The Apartment (Billy Wilder)
23. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
24. Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
25. Manhattan (Woody Allen)
26. Regeneration (Raoul Walsh)
27. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D.W. Griffith)
28. Odds Against Tomorrow (Robert Wise)
29. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan)
30. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)

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