Martin Scorsese says these are the best films about New York

Legendary director Martin Scorsese has revealed the 30 best New York movies for a season of films he is curating for the city’s Roxy Cinema.

Titled Living, Breathing New York, the season is in celebration of the release of thriller Pet Shop Days, which Scorsese executive produced and which is set in New York. The director is uniquely associated with the city, which provided the setting for many of his most celebrated works.

“There are so many ‘New York filmmakers’ – everyone has his or her own individual vision,” Scorsese said in a press release. “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”.

As part of the list, first reported by IndieWire, Scorsese added notes about certain films, saying John Cassavettes’ Shadows was “The picture that inspired a generation of aspiring filmmakers, including me”; and saying of Marlon Brando drama On The Waterfront “Yes, I know it’s Hoboken but to me it’s a New York picture”.

As well as classics from the past, he also includes modern hits like Good Time and Uncut Gems, both made by The Safdie Brothers.

His top 30 can be read below:

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)

Recently, the Oscar-winning film-maker also professed his admiration for the recent remake of Nosferatu, saying that anything the film’s director Robert Eggers does is “amazing”.