Today, Hollywood directors use New York City as the setting for breezy romantic comedies or an iconic location for supervillains to smash skyscrapers. But back in the 1970s, movies set in New York played up the city’s bad reputation as a crime-infested hellhole.
It’s true that New York experienced high levels of violent crime, drug epidemics and urban decay during the 1970s. The Bronx was burning (literally, due to arson in abandoned buildings), Times Square was filled with sex shops and hustlers and subway crime was an epidemic.
The following films captured New York’s 1970s infamous grittiness and amplified it for maximum effect.
