the way new york should be

...always nice to know someone's on the same wavelength...man Taxi Driver is intense....I mean Cruising is Sesame Street compared to where Scorecese went with that one..I really can't fully appreciate what an amazing punch these films must have packed back when they came out before people were so desensitised and burned out by constant 24 hour media and internet stuff- when Hollywood was all about making big block-buster films for actual grown-ups about grown up stuff - not to entertain 14 yr old comics and wizard fans - must have been an amazing blast to watch French Connection back in '71 on a big screen...

....FC II was set in Marseille btw not Paris... :-) where the Corsican mafia used to hang out..

...and wow - checking out DVD's on Amazon there's some great quote worthy comments that are quite germane & well worth repeating here imo-


".....In my opinion "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" is the best of the lot. It thrills like no other movie of the period, everything gels, the script, the direction the music (oh the music, hats off to David Shire for scoring the the best ever twelve tone funk score), the editing, the locale, the cast. And what a locale...this must be the best New York-based film ever; I suspect New Yorkers look at this and go..yeah that's us alright."


"...this is a tremendous 1970s crime thriller filmed in the winter in NYC long before the whole city was sanitised and made safe , it is gritty and its realistic and also based on a true story, the character of Doyle is based on a real NY police detective who makes a cameo appearance in the movie as Doyle's boss and police chief, he does a good job as a non actor. I saw this movie in the cinema on its original release and its impact on the big screen was immense..."


"....Films from the 1970s have a unique quality that will, in all likelihood, never be replicated. The French Connection certainly has the qualities that make it one of my all time favorites. Footage throughout the film of New York City are obviously authentic from run down tenement housing right down to dirty dank streets. The film stands out by simply being what it is not; antiseptic, politically correct, apologetic and pretentious...."

...and check this out this great tv slot... :-)

https://www.luerzersarchive.com/en/magazine/commercial-detail/wrangler-24159.html

I'm sure there must be parts of NYC that are not built up, but at the same time, safe enough. What about the far upper west side, or Bronx, etc.

I agree 100%. That's why I have not been to NYC in years, even though I live very close.

Just to let you two know, Detroit has made a big comeback in recent years and it has changed in some areas. (I'm from Detroit and I've personally seen it happens over the last decade, so I should know.) Tired of people acting like the city hasn't changed since the '67 riots (depicted in this past summer's release DETROIT) especially people who have never ever been there. The downtown area is brand spanking new with new places to live, fun places to go and thing to do (the music festivals are still held downtown in Hart Plaza, and some new ones take place on the Riverfront area) there's a new light rail train called the Q-Line (which mainly serves the downtown and midtown areas) there are more buses back on the streets, it's cleaner in some areas with cleaning crews to make sure things are clean. And for the past decade, people have actually been moving from the suburbs to live in the D (go figure--for years, it was the opposite,lol.)

I won't lie, the city still has some major problems, even after having recovered from the bankrupcty which was also caused in part by the economic crash of 2008, which caused the foreclosure problem to completely devastate the city's neighborhoods. There's also been a lot of gentrification, which has pushed out a number of low income retired residents who couldn't afford the jacked-up rents caused by it. There's still crime, some messed-up neighborhoods, and other issues, but name me a city that dosen't have those same problems. There are some beautiful but expensive neighborhoods like Indian Village (on the east side) plus Virginia Park and Palmer Park (both on the west side.) There's also the city of Ferndale (just across 8 Mile, right outside the city limits) the metro area's unofficial gay capital, which just recently voted in its second openly gay mayor, and the Pridefest was moved to downtown Detroit since it was getting too big for little 'ol Ferndale I would say things are much better than they were even a decade ago. So enough of these outdated stereotypes about the city already--thank you very much.