'SIXTIES New York Movies.

I'll also add "Goodbye Columbus" NYC and suburbs - which also had the Jewish matriarch character.

Ali's parents in Goodbye Columbus.

Sunday In New York (1963)

The World of Henry Orient

The" Pawnbroker" all shadows and grainy black and white, never quite cut the mustard for me. Was not as powerful as it sets out to be. I usually turn it off well before the end.

Not 1960s, but if you want to see some really gritty footage of Brooklyn, including Coney Island, from the early ‘50s, check out The Little Fugitive.

"You're a Big Boy Now" isn't one of my favorite 60's movies. I barely got through it. However, the New York City locations are great, and you get to go into the bowels of the New York Public Library. When I saw "The Pawnbroker", I realized that a good majority of the film took place on Park Avenue between 110th and 125th Street which is the neighborhood I live in. I think of it every time I walk under the Metro North underpass. That area looks the same although there are no pawn shops on that block. Other movies that end up having scenes in that area (from different ages) are "Virtue" (1932) where Carole Lombard is given a one way ticket out of town at Grand Central (but gets off at 125th St.), "Lady on a Train" (1945) where Deanna Durbin witnesses a murder while her train is stopped at 125th Street and "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" (1956) which shows Gregory Peck and Gene Lockhart having a conversation on the train as it heads into mid-town. The beautiful brick underpasses that start at 109th Street and go down close to 96th Street are still there, and in the wintertime, the icicles that hang off of them are gorgeous!

Thanks, R5

How To Murder Your Wife (1965) - NOT great, unless you're ten and it's 1965.

“The Out-of-Towners” with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. Flyover couple see 60s NY’s worts side.

[quote]"You're a Big Boy Now" isn't one of my favorite 60's movies. I barely got through it.

the music helped and the great INTRO...

Everyone was so better styled back then.

[quote]Everyone was so better styled back then.

The good looking actresses seemed to look better.

An American Dream (1966) - for much of the 60s, American movies had one foot in the 50s...

R13 The best thing about "An American Dream" is seeing Eleanor Parker fall off that balcony!

Penelope (the 1966 Natalie Wood movie) - I liked this as a kid because of the clothes and kooky story, but it captures some parts of 60s NYC as well. It might be time for another viewing.

[italic]Me, Natalie[/italic]

Where's Poppa? released 1970

jewish mama

1968 had two gritty NYC filmed police dramas - THE DETECTIVE and MADIGAN.

Barefoot in the Park

The Producers.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

How to succeed i business without really trying

How To Succeed in Business....

Empire

“Rosemary’s Baby”

Flesh

Up The Down Staircase

The Apartment (1960)

CIAO MANHATTAN

The problems with the 60s is that the first half of the decade is rather different from the second half--the first half was optimistic and NYC still had its 40s/50s glamor. That really changed later in the decade. One reason "That Girl" seems so anachronistic is that the NYC of the late 60s was out of synch with her show. As for movies---"Love with a Proper Stranger" which blends Midtown with outer borough with changing mores. "Midnight Cowboy", "West Side Story" (conceived in the 50s but with an energy for the 60s).

The Neil Simon comedies show a changing New York but they're all written like 50s sitcoms, but the Odd Coupe is the least annoying.

The 1960s were really more about California--that was the place to go, the place where new trends began. It was really the beginning of the end of a time when it was affordable and seemed like the future.

That Touch of Mink (1962)

The Incident (1967)

Fun. Laughs. Good time.

A Fine Madness

Sean Connery, at his peak, is a surly poet. Joanne Woodward is his waitress wife. Add Jean Seberg and Colleen Dewhurst as conquests.

Some scenes on location NYC c. 1966

I was very fond of it when I was about 12 or 13 years old.

[quote]The 1960s were really more about California--that was the place to go, the place where new trends began.

They were really about London, that was the place to go, the place where new trends began...and gradually CA started to take the limelight in the late 60s...but in generally a pretty lightweight way.

But it really wasn't until the 70s that American movies became a really powerful force and America and New York specifically, really became the center of all creativity and fashion in the world....movies, music, art, fashion. Everywhere else paled in comparison.

You can even see it on DL which is mostly made up of Americans, the 70s threads, even the silly ones are jammed full of images, music, fashion etc...

R36 Did you ever see "Smashing Time"? It's one of the best nearly forgotten comedies of the 1960's. Sort of an early "Ab Fab".

Some good location shots in THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT.

Also CACTUS FLOWER has scenes shot in the West Village.

In "The World of Henry Orient", Peter Sellers ends up in the Ramble! (With his girlfriend; The two freaky teenagers spy on them kissing there.......)

Did any of these or other films film entirely in NYC or did they just do street scenes there?

Penelope is so silly it is almost un watchable. I loved it as a boy but when I saw it many years later I was like oy. But it is the one of the last of the NY as bright glamorous city movies. Maybe the very last is How To Succeed with its Mary Blair designed fantasy office sets and sunrise over Manhattan shots. In Penelope the location shots are great and Natalie is very beautiful.

Warners is releasing it shortly on bluray struck from the original negative. It should look sensational.

[quote]Warners is releasing it shortly

Which? You refer to two movies.

[quote]Did any of these or other films film entirely in NYC or did they just do street scenes there?

Mostly street scenes.

Sweet November (1968) was another film that looked more 50s than 60s and was very studio bound + useless, stupid sets. Also I think Anthony Newley was too camp for the new realism that was sneaking in.

When I was kid, I had a vision of life in New York based on films like Touch of Mink or Pillow Talk. I was so disappointed when I finally got there in the late 70s. Dirty, angry and no Rolls Royces driving down the sidewalk. Never got over it.

Penelope. is being released on bluray. How to Succeed has already been released by Twilight Time but is supposedly a disappointment because all the original elements were tossed including all the first run stereo prints. The stereo soundtrack also did not survive. I remember seeing it as a boy in a movie theater and the colors as they say 'popped.' I don't believe they do anymore though I haven't seen the Twilight Time. Maybe someone here who has it and remembers what it looked like originally can give their opinion.

[quote]When I was kid, I had a vision of life in New York based on films like Touch of Mink or Pillow Talk. I was so disappointed when I finally got there in the late 70s.

Me too. I got there age 11 in 1974. It was dirtier and less glitzy than those movies - but we did stay at The Plaza overlooking Central Park at Christmastime and if ever NYC looks like the movies, that was the place to go.

But we also had Kojak by then - so I knew of the other New York and wasn't at all disappointed.

But what was that steam coming out of all the manholes? I'd never seen that in the movies.

"A Thousand Clowns"; I didn't see this film listed. There were a lot of outdoor scenes from what I remember. It also was filmed rather grainy so it looks like a TV play done for the big screen.

NY changed drastically in the late 60s. That Girl was a product of 1966 the last year you could present an ideal Manhattan and the show remained there until it was dragged kicking and screaming into the 70s.

I also claim that midtown changed so quickly because a lot of great old buildings were tragically torn down including movie palaces like the Paramount and Capitol, the Times Square Claridge and Astor Hotels, the old Met which had the most beautiful auditorium in the city and the beyond magnificent Penn Station. I honestly wish if they had to tear down one great station it would have been Grand Central.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

On what campus was the final scene filmed? Probably somewhere in California.

The answer to Harlem's late 60s problems was Dr. Elvis Presley and Sister Mary Tyler.

Interesting how NYC via Hollywood affected our views. I grew up on 70s films of NYC and still yearn for that era. I moved here in 89 hoping to experience a Taxi Driver /Cruising NYC. There were still little remnants of it - but AIDS and Wall Street mania had started to overrun the culture. There were a few of the old seedy places in Hell’s Kitchen and even West Village. Glad I got to experience a little bit of it - by the mid to late 90s, all remnants of the old NYC were steamrolled over by money and police.

I love this from the NYT review of Sweet November (1968):-

[quote]The music by Michel Legrand (who did "Umbrellas of Cherbourg"), is not very noticeable—except for one song, "Sweet November," by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, which is ghastly.

Check out his first part of Sweet November - boy, does NYC look different!

And funny thing about these 60s films that couldn't decide it was the 60s yet, (some of) the women are the only things that look 60s. Same with Valley Of The Dolls.

I thought the campus was Columbia.

[quote]“The Out-of-Towners” with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. Flyover couple see 60s NY’s worts side

This movie is unwatchable today, an ordeal from beginning to end. And Jack Lemmon's character is a complete ass who deserves everything that happens to him. Neil Simon at his worst.

The campus scenes in "On a Clear Day" were indeed shot at Columbia, R54.

[quote]And Jack Lemmon's character is a complete ass who deserves everything that happens to him. Neil Simon at his worst.

Really? Many similar travesties followed (see link). Jack Lemmon was an annoying ham.

One of the more obscure films in this thread: BLAST OF SILENCE from 1961.

It's a black & white, noir-ish thriller about a Cleveland hitman in New York for a "job". Lots of terrific, low-budget location shooting, capturing the streets of NYC at Christmastime.

Bleak, hard-edged, and definitely worth seeing. It's like the best Scorsese film that Scorsese never made (which is not surprising, considering he was still a teenager at the time).

I found Out of Towners unwatchable when it came out when I was a boy. Very very unfunny annoying film. I agree it's Simon at his worst but it is considered by many today to be a comedy classic for some reason. And the unfunny stupid ending has to be even more unfunny today and I haven't seen it since when it came out. I thought this is so horrible and then it was mercifully over.

[quote]I found Out of Towners unwatchable when it came out when I was a boy.

They re-made it with Goldie Hawn.

I know! Well it was a big hit despite me loathing it. And I wanted to love it. What is it like compared to the original?

April Fools - Jack Lemmon (doing his usual schtick) and Catherine Deneuve.

Actually 1959, but close. A good caper movie with Harry Belafonte at his dreamiest, probably the only very good movie performance he ever gave - ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959). Complex characters played by Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Kim Hamilton and Gloria Grahame. You'll get a glimpse in small cameos of Cicely Tyson, Carmen de Lavallade and Zohra Lampert. NYC is also a character. Highly recommended!

Cassavetes' Shadows was also '59 but definitely seems like a precursor to the cycle of gritty NYC films, as well as one of the first American indie films.

Nick Ray's son (the one who married Gloria Grahame, his former stepmother) is one of the actors.

Jack Lemmon needed a director like Billy Wilder who was good at getting him to dial down the gaminess. He also needed material that was a little more subtle than Neil Simon’s sit coms. The Out of Towners is one of Simons worst—so cliche ridden and predictable.

No Diary of a Mad Housewife? It's 1970, but I count it as late sixties when it was written and filmed. A Frank and Eleanor Perry film, a real eye opener when it came out .

R50, MTM was a strange anachronism in the late 60s, considering how well she fit into the early to mid 60s and early to mid 70s. Here she is as a "beatnik" in 1968's What's So Bad About Feeling Good?, immune to a happiness virus infiltrating NYC via a dive-bombing toucan spreading terrifying cheer everywhere, and about a decade behind the times.

I think The Panic in Needle Park was done on the streets of NY.

Me Natalie did street scenes across the street from my building. I only found out because I was a kid and walking my door and had never seen those kinds of trailers and lights before and asked someone what was going on and they said some movie with Patty Duke. I never waited to see her or any of the scenes.

[quote]they said some movie with Patty Duke. I never waited to see her

Are you even a homosexual?

Maybe she wasn't a gay icon yet.

This is an excellent website for those so inclined!

Thanks for that, r70! This is a super fun thread.

[quote]This is a super fun thread.

It's very slow and the films are mostly lame.

Newman, Woodward and Loy in high society Wall Street cocktail melodrama

You could get a cold water, 4th floor walk-up for $60.00/month!

Does a cold water walk up literally mean there is no hot water coming out of the faucets, ever? If so how do you shower or wash dishes ?

You boil it, R75.

The tub was in the kitchen and the john down the hall.

[quote]1968 had two gritty NYC filmed police dramas - THE DETECTIVE and MADIGAN.

Sinatra played a Detective investigating a murder of a "pervert".

[quote]In "The World of Henry Orient", Peter Sellers ends up in the Ramble! (With his girlfriend; The two freaky teenagers spy on them kissing there.......)

FYI Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury shot all the interiors in a new studio on Long Island that was a converted airplane hanger where Linburgh took off on his historic flight at Roosevelt Field. They also shot "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians" there. The studio only lasted a few years.

"How To Murder Your Wife (1965) - NOT great, unless you're ten and it's 1965."

Oh, come on. It's dated (it has that "us (men) against them (women)" theme that was prevalent in a different era) but it's still very funny. I thought Jack Lemmon and Terry Thomas were so good in it.

Robert Altman's That Cold Day in the Park (1969)

"The World of Henry Orient", Sweet November", "Penelope" "The Out Of Towners", "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", "Up The Down Staircase", "That Touch Of Mink" and "Barefoot In The Park" all mentioned here opened in New York at Radio City Music Hall with "Barefoot In The Park" breaking all records.

[quote]Robert Altman's That Cold Day in the Park (1969)

Montreal.

Is there a thread about 70s New York movies? I looked but turned up empty. If so, could one of you lambs post a link?

[quote]Robert Altman's That Cold Day in the Park (1969)

[quote]Montreal.

Both wrong. It's Vancouver.

Butterfield 8

"The Detective" was not exactly enlightened in its view of the gays. Pretty disgusting to watch now.

"Wait Until Dark" is one of the ones that made the transition well to the new grittier New York. Audrey Hepburn's basement apartment was not the sort of thing you saw much before then.

"A Thousand Clowns" is most interesting as a forerunner of the grittier depiction of NYC coming later in the decade. There wasn't the fear of crime, but the hero lived in a really depressingly outfitted apartment that needed desperately to be re-done, and he was always dealing with social workers,.

"Who Killed Teddy Bear" (awful movie, but has fascinating location shooting for the era--plus lots of close-ups of sal Mineo's naked muscular torso)

"Bye Bye Braverman" (also has great location filming)

"Any Wednesday"

"West Side Story" (of course)

"John and Mary"

"The Cool World"

"The Odd Couple"

My (early) 1960s vision of NYC is colored by two films that miss the date mark and by one that marks the turn from early Sixties to late Sixties:

Bell, Book & Candle. 1958

North by Northwest. 1959

Rosemary's Baby. 1968

I highly recommend a 1960s NYC comedy I loved as a child called, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" with Mary Tyler More and George Peppard. It's very silly and has tons of great character actors in small roles!

[quote]"The Detective" was not exactly enlightened in its view of the gays. Pretty disgusting to watch now.

But surprising the Sinatra character was against how the homosexuals were treated by his fellow police and let them know it. This is the movie Sinatra wanted Mia to quit "Rosemary's baby" for and was the cause of their split.

[quote]But surprising the Sinatra character was against how the homosexuals were treated by his fellow police and let them know it. This is the movie Sinatra wanted Mia to quit "Rosemary's baby" for and was the cause of their split.

I think he just wanted out.

Very cruel what he did to Mia.

She's still obsessed with him.

“Gritty” is short-hand for dreary and overly grainy.

The spectacular fountain at Lincoln Center. It was always a joy sitting there on a hot summer night. It has since been redesigned and up dated.

No Way To Treat A Lady with Lee Remick (ever beautiful) and George Segal.

Wasn't around but loved seeing 1960's Manhattan, especially shots on UES/Yorkville (where Ms. Remick's character lived apparently.

For those that know Third avenue if you watch behind Ms. Remick in this clip you can see bus is going north on Third starting around East 62nd.

OMG - how could you forget "Jenny" starring Marlo and Alan. Set in The Village.

Jenny's on YT.

Shot in '69, released in 1970.

OMG - I don't recommend Jenny too highly.

AWFUL Alan Alda - God, he's the same in everything!

He sucked the life out of Same Time Next Year as well.

Barefoot In The Park!

Who wouldn't want up and coming young lawyer Paul Bratter (Robert Redford) as a husband!

You won't find a cheap six floor walk-up anywhere near Washington Square Park nowadays. Even if in terrible condition it would go for a few thousand per month in rent. That is unless current tenant was lucky enough to nab a rent regulated unit back in 1970's through maybe early 1990's.

$30 a night at the Plaza even in the 60s?

R102

That $30 would be $257 and change in 2018 money. Average income for all American households in 1960 was $5,600/year. That works out to around $107 per week.

For a young attorney just starting his practice in 1960 a several night stay at Plaza was serious money. That in unless there was family money somewhere.

Their "honeymoon" consisted of six days and nights in a hotel in their own city. Then the image of the stack of untouched newspapers outside their door. You don't often see that in '60s movies.

She totally drains the life force out of that poor guy. He emerges from the room, sick as a dog and she's trying to get him to call work so he can fuck her some more.

Off he goes so he can make the money to pay for the shithole apartment she found that he didn't even get a look at.

Apart from a pretty wife, who continues to run him (& then her mother) over, I don't know what else he's getting out of this deal.

Well I guess that shithole was all he could afford so it's just as well he didn't see it. I certainly wish I could have seen that original production. The timing must have been amazing. That Patrick Wilson production made it the most boring dullest comedy ever. And some of it is priceless and very funny. Redford was at his best in light comedies. He really did not have dramatic chops. His charisma carried him a long way.

Rents in NYC 1960's

"but one could still find a lot of housing for $100 or less. On East 92nd Street, a three-and-a-half room apartment was going for $95 in October 1960, while the following year, you could get an air-conditioned studio with a fireplace in the West Village for $110. Ads from the middle of the decade offer an Alphabet City place for just $49, and a different West Village unit for just $67 (although it comes with a tub in the kitchen). In Brooklyn Heights, studios close to the promenade were asking $56 to $80, but as the above ads show, there were a lot of things much higher. A studio on Bank Street ran $139, and a four-room apartment on Washington Place was listed for $220."

Something doesn't jive; if Paul Bratter could shell out $30/night for several nights at Plaza, how does his wife end up finding them that horrible apartment near Washington Square Park. Know Mr. Bratter was supposed to be tightfisted, but then there were cheaper options than Plaza Hotel for their honeymoon.

Get the puke bag. The B'way revival...all the actors going on & on about how wonderful and adorable the other actors in the play are.

ALERT - DL fave Jill Clayburgh plays the Mom.

R104

"She totally drains the life force out of that poor guy. He emerges from the room, sick as a dog and she's trying to get him to call work so he can fuck her some more."

Majority of women seeing this film at time (and now), and more than a few men would have done exactly the same! *LOL*

Felt same when seeing Robert Redford in "The Way We Were", both in uniform and out.

Saw "The Producers" for first time a year or so ago on Movies! channel and almost laughed myself to death. Am on hunt for DVD or whatever so can watch full unedited version without commercials.

Having only known Christopher Hewett from "Mr. Belvedere" on television I just wasn't ready for Roger De Bris.

Thing is back in day was introduced and or knew several old grand queens just like Roger DeBris, right down to doing drag. They were some of the most fun people I've ever had pleasure to know.

Thank you, Tina Sinatra R94.

While not technically a movie, the Naked City television series was early 1960's New York at it's grittiest. I have the entire series on DVD.

R108, that was Redford's "thing" opposite female love interests for a while because he was naturally icy and passive.

It's funny reading how much people here try to make literal sense out of a silly Neil Simon play like Barefoot in the Park. Nobody did at the time, they just accepted the implausible. I saw the movie at Radio City Music Hall.

R1, Goodbye Columbus was suburban, not city, so it does not qualify as NYC movie ("New York" means the city to natives). The city scenes are downtown White Plains. The early tennis scenes were filmed at my high school. I saw the movie at Loews White Plains. That theater closed shortly after and the entire block was torn down to make way for the Galleria mall. I believe most of the city blocks between the train and Mamaroneck Ave on one side of the Post Rd were destroyed and rebuild with Urban Renewal money in the 1970s.

Love Naked City!

Yes, so much was shot right on city streets.

Jane Fonda and Robert Redford had no chemistry whatsoever in that movie, and Gene Saks' point-and-shoot aesthetic doesn't help matters much.

Herb Edelman saved it.

[quote][R1], Goodbye Columbus was suburban, not city, so it does not qualify as NYC movie ("New York" means the city to natives). The city scenes are downtown White Plains.

Mary, honey - where's this, Shreveport, Louisiana?

R115, darling, one shot does not a NYC make.

[quote][R115], darling, one shot does not a NYC make.

Don't be stupid.

OK, here's a second shot.

You probably don't even recognise the location.

By your logic, R117, it's also a Boston movie. A third of the movie is Neil visiting Brenda at Radcliffe. Cambridge is on the other side of the Charles River which is why I'm calling it Boston. Explaining so you won't have a fit, dear. Sorry.

Gurl, a New York movie doesn't have to be set entirely in Manhattan to be a New York movie.

The main star of the show lived in The Bronx.

So we've got Manhattan. The Bronx and there are also scenes in Brooklyn.

Goodbye Columbus is a 'Sixties New York Movie.

Girls, girls! You're both disoriented!

Meanwhile, the real New York was falling apart at the seams.

I've won! R118 has slithered away, rather than admit defeat.

R120, you forgot Boston and Westchester Cty.

R123, do you have a job?

Work is slavery and 1970s TV holds up better than 1970s movies do.

[quote][R123], do you have a job?

Why? You offering me a position?

Brian DePalma's "Hi, Mom!" Starring Robert De Niro. Released in 1970, but *very* 60s. All-in-all, a pretty stupid "counterculture" movie. However, if you watch one scene, make it the hilarious immersive-play-within-a-film, "Be Black, Baby!" scene, where an audience of privileged white New Yorkers live the Black Experience for a couple of hours, and boy, do they ever.

The entire counterculture was a byproduct of MKULTRA experimentation by the CIA.

[quote]You won't find a cheap six floor walk-up anywhere near Washington Square Park nowadays. Even if in terrible condition it would go for a few thousand per month in rent. That is unless current tenant was lucky enough to nab a rent regulated unit back in 1970's through maybe early 1990's.

Got to meet Jane Fonda and have "Barefoot In The Park" DVD signed by her. We talked about the picture and we both agreed that apartment would be $2500 today.

Ha ha R127. I was wondering why you consider being your version of "right" in a DL thread such an accomplishment.

[quote]Ha ha [R127]. I was wondering why you consider being your version of "right" in a DL thread such an accomplishment.

Oh, God - you back again?

Sore loser.

The Panic in Needle Park (one of Al Pacino's first films) came out in 1971 and it's as gritty NY as it gets. Only 2 years after 1969 there is nothing 60s about it.

[quote]The Panic in Needle Park (one of Al Pacino's first films) came out in 1971 and it's as gritty NY as it gets.

Gritty or stinky?

I don't know why people admire it so much. It's an awful film.

If we're talking early 70s French Connection is one of the best and NYC is so well shot. He goes all over town. You REALLY get a sense of the place and time.

Barefoot in the Park is horrible. Horrible play - and 95% in a little stage set that’s supposed to be the inside of an apartment. I was so disappointed when I saw it.

Mr Orient however was a revelation - true 60s storyline (old man creeper that was a little stalkerish and dark) and lots of outdoor shots of NYC.

[italic]French Connection[/italic] was narc propaganda.

Keep telling yourself that, R132.

If a "70's" New York movie thread pops up, I'll post another picture from this film, but "They Might Be Giants" (1971) has a real late 60's/early 70's gritty feel to it and goes all over Manhattan. There's a scene in the Jefferson Market Library with George C. Scott and Jack Gilford. This is one of my favorite films from my teen years, and also has a beautiful music score.

Imagine what could have been if Kodak hadn't cut corners on their film stock just to increase the ISO.

[quote] ("New York" means the city to natives).

So what? Most people in the world--and most posters on DL--are not NY natives.

[quote]Keep telling yourself that, [R132].—Because nobody else will

I don't need anybody else to.

It is so funny to me that this thread takes a detour for multiple posts on the comparative cost of housing in NYC. (It is of course a stereotype that all people from NYC want to do is talk about real estate.)

Another fan of Needle Park, but I'm surprised Breakfast at Tiffany's hasn't been mentioned. The movie is so NY through the 60s lense (for better or worse). The party scene was SOOO 60s, if they cut it would have felt like it should have, being in the 50s.

Tangent: Valley of the dolls is the only movie I can think of, that placing it in the 60s really altered everything that the story was about in a way that took it too far from the book. Although I still love both.

[quote] but I'm surprised Breakfast at Tiffany's hasn't been mentioned.

It has - see OP

A Fine Madness seems to have aged very badly indeed, painfully unfunny if this trailer is any indication. Nice shots of NYC, though...

[quote]I highly recommend a 1960s NYC comedy I loved as a child called, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" with Mary Tyler More and George Peppard. It's very silly and has tons of great character actors in small roles!

[quote]MTM was a strange anachronism in the late 60s, considering how well she fit into the early to mid 60s and early to mid 70s. Here she is as a "beatnik" in 1968's What's So Bad About Feeling Good?, immune to a happiness virus infiltrating NYC via a dive-bombing toucan spreading terrifying cheer everywhere, and about a decade behind the times.

"What's So Bad About Feeling Good?"is basically a lost movie, never on video. Not R92 but I too I saw it once as a small kid on NBC's Saturday Night At The Movies. Even as a kid I thought it would make a good musical.

'68 Radio Commercial

We're not alone!

Next time have to bring people into a meeting or Sir's office and going to burst out what that one. *LOL*

Since we're savaging late Neil Simon's work, and speaking of Plaza hotel.....

Plaza Suite! Yes, know film was released in 1971, but never the less parts were filmed in NYC (Plaza Hotel).

Well it was written in 67/68 and the film was made in '70. A little bit of the previous decades overlaps with the beginning of the next so PS can squeeze into the late 60s.

They Don't Shoot Horses opened in '69/70(you see the bill board) and Funny Girl opened at the Criterion in '68 (You see its marquee.) So They might be Giants was probably filmed in '69. Which makes it more a 60s than a 70s movie.

R46

Steam coming out of manholes and or cones in street are leaks from Con Edison's central steam distribution system.

Con Edison hasn't signed up a new steam customer for some time IIRC, but plenty of buildings still use.

District steam is common in many parts of Europe, but not so much in USA. Besides Con Edison in NYC there are only a handful of local areas that employ similar systems.

OTOH many places do have cogeneration systems where waste steam (from running generators to produce electricity) is used to heat and or cool buildings, along with providing hot water. Hospital, university and some housing campuses (such as Penn South in NYC) use such systems.

I get some of the criticism of "Sweet November," but damn if the ending doesn't kill me every time--not the expected happily-ever-after for the era and the genre.

"A Thousand Clowns" is a good 60s New York movie worth seeing. It stars Jason Robards as an unemployed tv writer who shares his studio apartment with his nephew Nick (well played by Barry Gordon). Martin Balsam, who played Robard's brother, won an Academy Award for his performance. It's an entertaining little movie, based on a play by Herb Gardner. It still plays on TCM sometimes.

[quote]Thanks for the link and info R150.

The steam seems to come out of these chimneys now, not the manholes.

I remember my father said the steam came from underground Chinese laundries. For ages I believed him. I WAS 11. So cut me some slack.

The man hole in "The Out Of Towners" scared the Hell out of me a s a kid,

Another vote for Sweet November starring DL fave Sandy Dennis and dreamy Anthony Newly

Since we're on a Sandy Dennis jag, as a kid I was obsessed with Up the Down Staircase. I lost track of how many times I read the book and saw the film. After seeing this and To Sir, with Love while still in grammar school, I was bound to be disappointed by all of my teachers.

From Penelope bluray review on bluray.com

It also doubles as a valuable time capsule of 1960s Manhattan with plenty of notable landmarks, strong cinematography by Harry Stradling (A Streetcar Named Desire), and very stylish outfits: costume designer Edith Head (The Sting) supplied Natalie Wood with a wardrobe reportedly worth $250,000. Nonetheless, Penelope was mostly rejected by critics at the time and did relatively poor business at the box office, enough so that Natalie Wood did not return to the big screen until 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. (She even turned down the lead role in Bonnie and Clyde during her brief hiatus.) It's often mentioned as a footnote in the late actress' largely solid career as a leading lady, and was never even released on home video in America -- no VHS, no DVD, no nothing. Luckily, that's all changed thanks to Warner Archives' new Blu-ray, which includes an absolutely gorgeous 4K-sourced restoration and lossless audio, as well as a pair of short but appreciated bonus features. It's not exactly a lost treasure or "sleeper disc of the year" material, but Penelope is still pretty fun. Those who have been waiting for this on home video for years (decades?) will be overjoyed, and even curious newcomers should consider a blind buy.

He does mention Jonathan Winters supposedly hilarious attempted rape(a what were they thinking moment) of Wood.

'While a few elements have aged poorly (the scene with Jonathan Winters as a lustful college professor is just awful)'

Ian Bannen is very handsome. I wrote that not the reviewer.

R113, those are locations from the film Naked City--not the TV series.

Hal Ashby’s first and finest film, The Landlord, was released in 1970 but likely shot in ‘69 and predominantly features Brooklyn, particularly Park Slope. Although dated, it’s an earnest depiction of racial tensions and gentrification, but still quite tender and relevant today.

Stark in contrast to the aforementioned film, I also love The Panic in Needle Park, mainly for the performance of the adorable Kitty Winn. It feels way truer to life than Friedkin’s hard-boiled The French Connection.

Also R151, plenty of district steam on the streets here in Baltimore. I didn’t realize how uncommon this was until a few visitors asked me about the “steaming sewers.”

These faces alone evoke mid-60's NYC, as does most of Warhol.

After seeing "No Way to Treat a Lady" mentioned on this thread, I watched it last night. Damn Lee Remick was luminous on film.

R164

Sad thing is so many only know Ms. Lee Remick from film "The Omen"; her career was so much more...

First was introduced to Lee Remick up late one night in late teens and caught "Days of Wine and Roses" on television (may have been cable). Was hooked ever since.

Only wish had caught any of Ms. Remick's Broadway performances.

R75

New York, Paris, London, San Francisco, all over you could find cold water flats well into post war years. I knew people who lived in a variation of CWF (Lower East Side area of Manhattan), in 1980's.

Such apartments usually were old tenement or whatever buildings that went up in maybe late 1800's If not before) through early 1900's. Some were once part of rooming/boarding houses or residential hotels. Others were old tenement or similar housing that predated many mod cons.

Some places had a kitchen sink that was also bathtub. Others both W.C. and bathing facilities (shower or bath) were "down the hall" meaning shared by all residents on a floor.

Late as 2018 a resident of Greenwich Village still lived in an old cold water flat. Late Patricia O’Grady may have been one of the last or few remaining. Sad thing to have lived 84 years only to die being hit by a car steps from one's home.

On another note cold water flats were reason you found bathhouses all over NYC and other urban areas (Paris, SF, London, etc...) If you lived in a cold water flat and wanted to take a hot bath/shower you went to a public bath house. Since this cost money some people only went once a week (or longer). In between you washed up as people had done for ages prior; using a basin and ewer or just stood over sink (if you had one).

You can see in linked article old cold water tenement flats (LES/East Village of Manhattan mostly), and how those spaces look today.

[quote]Late as 2018 a resident of Greenwich Village still lived in an old cold water flat.

They were called "flats" in NYC? Not apartments?

[quote]r35 A Fine Madness

I think this contained Jean Seberg's only semi nude scene. I don't know how much you actually see, but costar Sean Connery plied her with champagne on the set till her pasties flew off.

(I believe some stills ran in Playboy, but I don't see them online.)

R168

Some New Yorkers then and now use "flats" others "apartments", though unless someone has come from say Europe today don't think many young people use "flats" or "flat".

Cold water flats however seems to be some sort of generic term as have heard and seen it used from Boston to SF in describing such apartments.

Grew up in NY and the only time I ever heard the word "flat' in regards to a home was in "cold water flat", other wise apartment.

MR. BUDDWING (1965) shows up on TCM every so often. James Garner has amnesia and wanders the streets of NYC.

P.S.

One of those storefronts in picture shown in R170 was a UES gay bar back in day. Cannot recall but it may have been late as 1960's or 1970's.

On another note not a single shop in picture remains, they've all since closed, space vacated, rented, lather rinse and repeat for a few.

"Flat" is regularly used in Chicago. Many families have a "two flat" or "three flat" home where they live in one apartment and rent out the other one or two. Larger buildings are called six flats, eight flats, etc., and this has been common usage as long as I can remember.

Real Estate people sometimes use "apartment" in London (where we nearly always say "flat") to make a shithole sound better.

They'll list a place as a "garden apartment" - which basically means "basement flat" with a tiny yard at the back.

Grew up in nyc as well and like 171 only heard “flat” used instead of “apartment” in a few specific instances, not in general conversation — my mom described the small apartment building she grew up in in Brooklyn as a six-flat, although the use of that term here is much less common than it is in Chicago.

^^PS - when my grandparents moved out of that 4 room Flatbush apartment in 1977 the rent was $70 a month. Unfortunately I never asked grandpa what they paid when they moved in in 1938.