I happened to read that disease-themed movies like Outbreak and Contagion are soaring in streaming viewership, which, honestly, strikes me as kinda nuts. Watching any remotely realistic portrayal of a virus ravaging the world is pretty much the last thing I’m interested in at the moment (though no judgement if you are!). If anything, I’d…
Rocky is so damn big of a movie, its title doesn’t even fit in one frame. For THE film that literally defined Philadelphia on the silver screen, let’s, er, get the first location out of the way quickly. The movie opens, and we find Rocky fighting in a grungy, down-and-out Philly gym… …that was actually…
In the past few weeks, we’ve had a non-stop surge of shitty surprises, to the point that it’s as though each new crappy surprise is trying to outdo the previous one. The world really feels like it needs all the good surprises it can get, so what the hell, here’s a super tiny tiny one:…
This week, Scouting NY is taking a frame-by-frame, then-and-now look at The Naked City. Shot on location in 1948, The Naked City provides an incredible, documentary-style look at the streets of New York. Let’s see how the city has changed over 65 years later. Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2! We…
This week, Scouting NY is taking a frame-by-frame, then-and-now look at The Naked City. Shot on location in 1948, The Naked City provides an incredible, documentary-style look at the streets of New York. Let’s see how the city has changed over 65 years later. Be sure to check out Part 1 here! Continuing from yesterday’s…
The Naked City, a 1948 film noir from producer Mark Hellinger, was filmed in New York City at a time when kids still swam off the docks in the East River… A time when horse-drawn carriages still passed through the Lower East Side… And a time when an elevated train still wound its way through…
Before you cast a disparaging eye on the movie I’ve chosen for this week’s then-and-now look, I’d like to tell you three things about the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that you probably don’t know. 1) The movie was edited by Sally Menke. Don’t recognize her name? Menke has edited every single film by…
Did you know Lucy and Desi lived on the Upper East Side? I had no idea, but apparently, their apartment was located at 623 East 68th Street. There’s just one problem – that puts them right in the middle of the East River. While Lucy and Desi’s apartment might not have a real world counterpart,…
A few years ago, I was driving an art director around on a scout when he asked me to take him to a gritty section of New York. Not exactly sure what to do, I drove him to a neighborhood with one of the highest crime rates in the city. He stepped out of the…
On March 29, 1971, The Godfather, considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, began principal photography in New York City. Because the film is a period piece, The Godfather actually presents a fascinating record of what 1940s-era New York City locations still existed in the early-1970s. Sadly, many of them…