most realistic portrayal of New York City
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Fellini63 — 13 years ago(March 17, 2013 11:15 AM)
Woody does a great Manhattan and Spike does a great Brooklyn. I don't know what city/borough Leon took place in (Harlem? Spanish Harlem?), but it's way more diverse than Woody and Spike's movies. you see the Puerto Rican flag hanging outside Leon's apartment building, and the diverse kids playing soccer outside the grocery store, etc. and then the overhead shots of the city are amazing
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playtoyer — 13 years ago(March 17, 2013 12:09 PM)
yes the overhead shots are amazing the best ever made it must be a latino neighborhood it,s one of the first and few movies to show the ethnicity of new york in a realistic way it gives a authenticity to the movie
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Dominik528 — 11 years ago(March 21, 2015 01:04 AM)
I don't know what city/borough Leon took place in (Harlem? Spanish Harlem?), but it's way more diverse than Woody and Spike's movies. you see the Puerto Rican flag hanging outside Leon's apartment building, and the diverse kids playing soccer outside the grocery store, etc.
Up the Down Staircase
did it, too which surprised me, considering that it's a film from the '60s. -
Gemma_Philips — 12 years ago(August 10, 2013 04:57 PM)
I disagree, Please checkout Martin Scorsese's film "Bring Out The Dead" . No film portrays New York City as close to the street as this film, albeit at night
http://www.imdb.com/board/10163988/?ref_=sr_5 -
Hardline_Pro — 12 years ago(August 30, 2013 08:00 PM)
Geeze, I didn't know NYC was full of 12 year old girls wanting to become hitmen.
http://www.youtube.com/dinoatcharterdotnet -
mrmuggles — 11 years ago(August 26, 2014 03:30 AM)
I was just wondering How realistic is it really? Mathilda shoots in the street from a window and this has no consequences. Shooting in apartments never has any consequence (I'm referring especially to the suicide moment of Mathilda) Am I supposed to believe that in the early 90s nobody would care if somebody emptied a revolver from a window?
How doesn't the police already have a file of this man that always dresses the same, goes around with a girl and occasionally detonates grenades in apartments while standing in the corridor with a pair of round sunglasses?
I'm not American and if this was all normal in New York let me know. -
DFC-2 — 11 years ago(August 26, 2014 03:55 AM)
This was redesigned from a realistic script into a fantasy with many realistic elements exchanged for ridiculous and comedic scenes (e.g. no paint rounds or attack on a federal building in the original), but guns fired in public with no repercussions were quite common in my Chicago neighborhoods. I would assume the same to be true of NY.
During one 4-year stint on a busy Chicago street, there were murders in the buildings next to mine and a kid lost an eye from a baseball bat to the head in front of mine. Nearly everyone had a family member or friend in prison. Random shots into and out of homes were fairly common, especially around holidays. -
TxMike — 11 years ago(August 26, 2014 04:38 PM)
If you have spent any time in New York City you'd know it isn't possible for one movie to accurately portray the city. It is so large and there is so much variety, it just depends on what the director and location scouts
want
to portray.
TxMike
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference. -
DracTarashV — 9 years ago(April 03, 2016 02:54 PM)
This is one of the best films to capture the essence of NYC, but it's not quite number one. In fact, I don't think there is one. New York City is a big place with many stories, even some of the most acclaimed NYC films don't show it all.
You want something corny? You got it! -
nycishomexxx — 9 years ago(January 11, 2017 06:01 PM)
Totally agreed. I love 90's New York in film & there is no doubt this film captured so much about the setting that is strongly nostalgic. Don't let anyone who didn't live in NYC during the 90's tell you otherwise
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is another film, really good Queens dipiction there too
] — 10 months ago(May 22, 2025 12:13 PM)