Gary Dennis’ New York City Movie Place

Joan Crawford was always good at playing a victim. A victim of love, circumstance, mental illness, mean sisters and mean daughters. In Mildred Pierce she is great at playing the victim—a victim of love and of a mean daughter. This was her first picture at Warner Brothers after being let go by […]

This picture is one of those pictures that is great but could have been greater. Sometimes referred to as a “film noir”, it is a great tawdry melodrama where the stakes are high - mental illness and murder.
A woman is found in a diner after collapsing, she has been wandering the streets searching […]

“There are eight million stories in the Naked City . . .” goes the phrase. It was used in closing narration for the television show of the same name. It is also the theme of this movie, the final one produced by Mark Hellinger. The idea is simple. Take a murder story from the headlines […]

I am departing from the non-political world of the motion picture industry and it’s history and urge everyone to sign this petition. If only to hopefully save the American film that is slowly disintergrating, a cabinet level post such as this would be tremendous. Like the rain forests and glaciers, there are pictures that will […]

1) Rookie of the year. 1993
Every kid’s fantasy. A 12 year old boy breaks his arm and once it heals he miraculously can pitch like a pro and thus begins a major league career. PG for mild language.
2) Adventures of Robin Hood 1939
Errol Flynn in the title role as the man who rises up against […]

This is one of the greatest pictures ever made about New York. It is, however, the greatest picture ever made about the New York City subway system. Filmed almost entirely within the subway system, this picture captures not only the realism of the day to day operations of our beloved transit system, it captures […]

This is a tough, nothing held back, indictment of capital punishment. It makes Dead Man Walking look like Wlly Wonka. The picture takes a stand and shows us an innocent woman, a mother yet, railroaded into the gas chamber at San Quentin. There is never any doubt in our mind that Barbara Graham […]

This was a picture that was very close to Burt Lancaster’s heart. As a kid growing up in East Harlem, Mr. Lancaster became far beyond proficient on the parallel bars, the rings and other sorts of gymnastic equipment. He was so good in fact that he did runaway and join the circus along with neighborhood […]

One of the bleakest westerns you will ever see. As far as 50’s westerns go, the family in this picture is as dysfunctional as the Lohan’s. A repressed affection withholding mother; a delusional alcoholic father lusting after the youngest son’s fiance; a sister growing old spinsterish and bitter; one older responsible, moral brother, […]