Best Brooklyn, new york city Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of brooklyn, new york city cinema — measured across 1,918 indexed frames from 22 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Brooklyn, new york city films over-index on police officer, brick wall and neon sign — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Sidney LumetDP Victor J. KemperIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →
Based upon a real-life incident which occurred in August 1972 in which a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York, was held siege by Sonny, a Vietnam veteran turned bank robber determined to steal enough money ($2500) for his "wife" (Leon, a man; the two, were, according to an onscreen TV news report, married in a church by a priest who was defrocked shortly after, although Leon says to the police that Sal is "married and has children") to undergo a sex change operation. (The real life character upon whom Leon is based did, in fact, get the operation.) On a hot summer afternoon, Sonny and two cohort, Stevie and Sal, go to rob the (fictional) First Savings Bank of Brooklyn. Stevie soon gets nervous and flees. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds there is not much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Captain Moretti of the NYPD, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city's entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees' safety.
- 2
The Yards (2000)
James GrayDP Harris SavidesIMDb 6.4TMDB 6.2See in full on FrameThrower →
In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts. Willie Gutierrez, Leo's best friend, is Frank's bag man and heads a crew of midnight saboteurs who ruin the work of the Puerto Rican-owned firm. Leo needs a job, so Willie pays him to be his back-up. Then things go badly wrong one night, a cop IDs Leo, and everyone now wants him out of the picture. Besides his ailing mom and his cousin Erica, to whom can Leo turn?
- 3
Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
Edward NortonDP Dick PopeIMDb 6.8TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →
Set against the backdrop of 1950s New York, "Motherless Brooklyn" follows Lionel Essrog (Norton), a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome, as he ventures to solve his friend's murder. Armed only with a few clues and the powerful engine of his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely-guarded secrets that hold the fate of the whole city in the balance.
- 4
Justin K. Thompson, Kemp PowersIMDb 8.5TMDB 8.3See in full on FrameThrower →
Shameik Mooreas Miles Morales (voice)
Hailee Steinfeldas Gwen Stacy (voice)
Brian Tyree Henryas Jeff Morales (voice)
After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse's very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most.
- 5
Goodfellas (1990)
Martin ScorseseDP Michael BallhausIMDb 8.7TMDB 8.5See in full on FrameThrower →
Henry Hill recounts his life in the mob, from his teenage years to his eventual downfall. Immersed in organized crime, he experiences wealth, power, and violence alongside friends Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito. The film blends crime, drama, and dark humor, exploring loyalty, ambition, betrayal, and the consequences of criminal life. Themes of family, morality, and the fleeting nature of power underpin the story.
- 6
The Intern (2015)
Nancy MeyersDP Stephen GoldblattIMDb 7.1TMDB 7.2See in full on FrameThrower →
A retired 70-year-old widower, Ben (played by Robert De Niro), is bored with retired life. He applies to a be a senior intern at an online fashion retailer and gets the position. The founder of the company is Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), a tireless, driven, demanding, dynamic workaholic. Ben is made her intern, but this is a nominal role - she doesn't intend to give him work and it is just window dressing. However, Ben proves to be quite useful and, more than that, a source of support and wisdom.
- 7
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Spike LeeDP Ernest R. DickersonIMDb 7.9TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →
This film looks at life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn on a hot summer Sunday. As he does everyday, Sal Fragione opens the pizza parlor he's owned for 25 years. The neighborhood has changed considerably in the time he's been there and is now composed primarily of African-Americans and Hispanics. His son Pino hates it there and would like nothing better than to relocate the eatery to their own neighborhood. For Sal however, the restaurant represents something that is part of his life and sees it as a part of the community. What begins as a simple complaint by one of his customers, Buggin Out - who wonders why he has only pictures of famous Italian-Americans on the wall when most of his customers are black - eventually disintegrates into violence as frustration seemingly brings out the worst in everyone.
- 8
Anger Management (2003)
Peter SegalDP Donald McAlpineIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.2See in full on FrameThrower →
Mild-mannered timid businessman Dave Buznik works for a pet clothing company out of New York City. He's got an abrasive boss named Mr. Frank Head who frequently takes credit for his work and steps on him in return. He's got a loving girlfriend, Linda, whose best friend is her condescending college ex, Andrew. But when a misunderstanding aboard an airplane goes haywire, Dave is ordered by the court to undergo anger management therapy at the hands of specialist Dr. Buddy Rydell, who is an unpredictable, psychopathic character. As the relationship between Dave and Buddy becomes more tense, when the unorthodox treatment wreaks havoc Dave's life, and Buddy might be the only one who can save him from a problem he recognizes right away in his patient, that could only get worse.
- 9
Don't Say a Word (2001)
Gary FlederDP Amir MokriIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.3See in full on FrameThrower →
A group of thieves steal a rare gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross the leader of the thieving group, Patrick, and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, prominent psychiatrist Nathan Conrad is invited to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth. Patrick immediately kidnaps Nathan's daughter, forcing Nathan to attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him.
- 10
Moonstruck (1987)
Norman JewisonDP David WatkinIMDb 7.2TMDB 6.8See in full on FrameThrower →
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.
What brooklyn, new york city films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a brooklyn, new york city frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — police officer is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.
- police officer4.3×
- brick wall2.4×
- neon sign2.3×
- sofa2.2×
- tie1.9×
- suit1.9×
- girl1.7×
- necktie1.7×
How brooklyn, new york city films are shot
Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate brooklyn, new york city from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.
- 87%eye levelvs 69% baseline
- 15%high keyvs 12% baseline
What breaks the pattern
Bushwick (2017) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.
Method
Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,918 frames from 22 films carrying the brooklyn, new york city label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.
Machine-readable: /api/list/brooklyn-new-york-city
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