Top 250 Movies Like Empires Of New York

David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

A celebrated New York cabbie is pressed into service for a perilous journey through World War II China.

Two New York City girls make a pact to lose their virginity during their first summer out of high school. When they both fall for the same street artist, the friends find their connection tested for the first time.

Documentary about the blacklisted folk group, "The Weavers," and the events leading up to their triumphant return to Carnegie Hall.

Emily Hollander becomes the subject of a lesbian obsession at the hands of Andrea Glassen, her next-door neighbour.

A brother's journey to unravel the truth about the mythic death and little known life of Kitty Genovese, who was reportedly murdered in front of 38 witnesses and has become the face of urban apathy.

Against the backdrop of New York City of the early 1850s, a young woman -- naively seeking to win the love she reads about in the romance novels she devours -- finds one prospect in an earnest denizen of the Bowery, and another in an elegant young aristocrat. Focusing on the bygone era's fashions, the novelty of the bicycle-built-for-two, and an inventor's quest for the horseless carriage, the film gently stirs the audiences' nostalgia for simpler times.

A new Broadway show starring Gary Blake shamelessly lampoons the rich Carraway family. To get her own back, daughter Mimi sets out to ensnare Blake, but the courtship is soon for real, to the annoyance of his co-star, hoofing chanteuese Mona Merrick.

Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.

Joanna Manners is a flapper with a million-dollar figure, million-dollar looks, and a million dollars in cash. She falls in love with John Wilmore, a gut who hasn't got a dime nor a pot to put it in if he had a dime. There are those who object. Especially, the crowd of gold-digging gigolos and hustlers she knows.

A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.

Four sons of well-known New York mobsters must retrieve a bag of cash from a small Montana town ruled by a corrupt sheriff.

Now one of the world’s most celebrated artists, Yayoi Kusama broke free of the rigid society in which she was raised, and overcame sexism, racism, and mental illness to bring her artistic vision to the world stage. At 88 she lives in a mental hospital and continues to create art.

Ash Wednesday is set in the Manhattan of the early 1980's and is about a pair of Irish-American brothers who become embroiled in a conflict with the Irish Mob.

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.

A smart-mouthed junkie and a former hairdresser spends his days looking for just "one more fix".

Brooklyn, 1985. With the mob world as a backdrop, three life-long friends struggle with questions of love, loss and loyalty.

Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They both fall in love with the same girl, Patricia O'Neill. The artist paints a picture of her which outrages her father's sensibilities; but, as a result of the picture, she wins a chance to star in a Broadway play. She soon learns that the artist is just a trifler; and she turns to the composer, who loves her sincerely

A four-member teen girl group named the Cheetah Girls go to a Manhattan High School for the Performing Arts and try to become the first freshmen to win the talent show in the school's history. During the talent show auditions, they meet a big-time producer named Jackal Johnson, who tries to make the group into superstars, but the girls run into many problems.

Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has been recently claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows disregard for its formidable history. –Cannes Film Festival

Liverpool, 1978: What starts as a vibrant affair between a legendary femme-fatale, the eccentric Academy Award-winning actress Gloria Grahame, and her young lover, British actor Peter Turner, quickly grows into a deeper relationship, with Turner being the person Gloria turns to for comfort.

The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.

A big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top Victor soon finds out that he has been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.

When the grim reaper comes to collect the soul of megamogul Bill Parrish, he arrives with a proposition: Host him for a "vacation" among the living in trade for a few more days of existence. Parrish agrees, and using the pseudonym Joe Black, Death begins taking part in Parrish's daily agenda and falls in love with the man's daughter. Yet when Black's holiday is over, so is Parrish's life.

Two Navy fighter pilots find themselves in the midst of a forbidden relationship throwing their lives and careers into disarray.

A family of Russian Jews living in New York struggles to survive, while the mother strives to better their lives, but she finds that most of her efforts costs more then they are worth.

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York's gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

Experimental film consisting of a single static shot of the Empire State Building from early evening until nearly 3 am the next day.

In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

Dating coach Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens mentors a bumbling client, Albert, who hopes to win the heart of the glamorous Allegra Cole. While Albert makes progress, Hitch faces his own romantic setbacks when proven techniques fail to work on Sara Melas, a tabloid reporter digging for dirt on Allegra Cole's love life. When Sara discovers Hitch's connection to Albert – now Allegra's boyfriend – it threatens to destroy both relationships.

A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

The story of pioneering entrepreneurs Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, who built cosmetics empires and competed against each other for more than fifty years. Starting from nothing, they became household names and business icons.

In a rapidly changing New York of the 1980s, a Russian Jewish teenager wrestles with his identity, faith, and sexuality, all of which seem irreconcilable until he befriends two closeted men in his grandfather's senior housing complex.

Set in New York City, the epicenter of a phenomenon cropping up in communities across the United States, "Nursery University" reveals the oddly competitive process of nursery school admissions. The film tells the story of five families attempting to place their toddlers in preschool classrooms that have limited space and high price tags.

Marian Medford Woodstock gave up a chance twenty years ago to compete for the Miss USA beauty title in order to marry Jeffrey Woodstock. She hopes to realize her past ambitions for fame and fortune through her daughter Kay, whom she persuades to enter a local beauty contest. Kay wins and is interviewed by reporter Gil McRoberts, who advises her to get married and settle down. Jeffrey is very upset with his wife's and daughter's passion for beauty contests and, when Kay enters the national contest, he informs Marian that she must choose between him and her chase after empty honors for Kay.

Meet the dirtiest cop in NYC history. Michael Dowd stole money and dealt drugs while patrolling the streets of '80s Brooklyn.

This documentary places the Bush Administration's original justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neo-conservatives to dramatically increase military spending while projecting American power and influence globally by means of force.

A love story set in Manhattan, where a florist who abides by a strict five-date-limit with any man finds herself wanting more with the new restaurateur in town.

Fox comedy about an adventurous young woman

A boy from the country inherits $10 million, and decides to go to New York City to live it up.

Killer Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll moves in on gangster Dutch Schultz in 1920s New York.

New York City is torn apart by an all-out mafia war. With brother Peter at his side, Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll blasts his way from streetfighter to kingpin in the dangerous world of organized crime.

Two aspiring boxers and lifelong friends get involved in a money-laundering scheme through a low-level organized crime group.

Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former Pakistani rock star turned immigrant, drags his heavy cart along the streets of New York. And every morning, he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. One day, however, the pattern of this harsh existence is broken by a glimmer of hope for a better life.

On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.

A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.

New York, I Love You delves into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Journey from the Diamond District in the heart of Manhattan, through Chinatown and the Upper East Side, towards the Village, into Tribeca, and Brooklyn as lovers of all ages try to find romance in the Big Apple.

Toward the end of his life F. Scott Fitzgerald is writing for Hollywood studios to be able to afford the cost of an asylum for his wife. He is also struggling against alcoholism. Into his life comes the famous gossip columnist.

The world's greatest pin-up model and cult icon, Bettie Page, recounts the true story of how her free expression overcame government witch-hunts to help launch America's sexual revolution.

An accidental slip reveals that a happily married couple were intimate before marriage.

Dr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his grown children. The daughter, Fabienne, runs away from home, and Michael, after first following his father's advice of being callous to the point of cruelty toward patients, changes when he falls in love with a patient, marries her and sets up his practice on the lower East Side in New York.

Wealthy Polly Fulton marries a progressive scholar whose attitudes toward capitalism and acquired wealth puts their marriage in jeopardy.

The Levys, a glamorous couple, used to make their living robbing golfers, until they met their fatal handicap. Years later, scriptwriter Remy Gravelle decides to observe the Levy progeny as they sail endlessly round Manhattan in their luxury yacht.

An Army private proves his horse is fit for service and wins his colonel's daughter.

Joseph Greer is a wealthy businessman in New York City with all the trappings including a prim-and-proper secretary, Jenny McFarlan, who takes dictation during working hours and, at night, minus her eyeglasses, serves as his nightclub companion and mistress. Then his daughter,Beatrice, whom he has never seen, shows up and moves in with him. Beatrice is a grown-up flapper who loves jazz, pool parties, flaunting prohibition and carrying-on in general. Most of her carrying-on is with the family chauffeur and her father does not approve, says so, and fires the chauffeur. His parental-guidance technique backfires as Beatrice ups and elopes with the chauffeur. Later, the father has some problems with his business associates and loses his business and most of his fixtures and disappears. But Beatrice locates him and there is a happy reunion between father and daughter, especially since daughter has brought along Jenny to cheer him up.

Chris & Don chronicles the lifelong relationship between author Christopher Isherwood and his much younger lover, artist Don Bachardy, and it combines present-day interviews, archival footage shot by the couple from the 1950s, excerpts from Isherwood's diaries, and playful animations to recount their romance.

Four children enter a high-stakes lottery. If they win, they can attend one of the best schools in New York. A look at the crisis in public education, The Lottery makes the case than any child can succeed.

The wealthy owner of a Pennsylvania steel business travels to New York to break up his son's romance with a showgirl. Director George Marshall's 1938 comedy stars Victor McLaglen, Brian Donlevy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Raymond Walburn, Hattie McDaniel, Lynn Bari, Robert Kellard, Jane Darwell, Andrew Tombes, Esther Muir and Frank Moran.

A bachelor afraid of marriage angers his long-time girlfriend by buying a splendid townhouse just for himself, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of a famous theatrical couple, who teach him about love and commitment.

After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers - one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge as the hunted become the hunters.

The onset of the 21st Century will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil presents a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

Isaac Seidel is a highly unconventional New York police-commissioner. He is well-abled in dealing with trouble at the headquarter, the maffia and situations in the streets. His loyalty to his profession and the city he so loves make him do the utmost to solve the problems, even if it means he has to bend the rules.

This movie was released by the U.S. Department of Labor as a way to document those who were involved with the cleanup of New York City after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Brutal and celebrated Mafia gangster John Gotti (Danny Nucci) schemes, shoves and murders his way to the top of that world in this gritty biography told from the perspective of Salvatore Polisi (Jason Gedrick), who owns the Sinatra Club, where Gotti's crew hangs out. Determined to make his name, the young Gotti plans a daring armored-car robbery that he expects to get him noticed by the bosses of each of New York's five major crime families.

Ann, an attractive widowed New York model, lives in an apartment with her daughter Peggy. The courtship of Ann by visiting engineer Larry, and accompanying misadventures, are seen alternately from their and Peggy's viewpoint. Filmed realistically at many New York locations

A local bakery is rumored to have the secret recipe to finding true love on Feb. 14, drawing in a TV reporter to investigate.

When new author Cassie is paired with successful author Elliot on a promotional book tour, she learns to believe in her talent. She also finds truth in the old adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover” as she falls for the guy she once thought to be pompous and full of himself.

A group of children, ages 5 to 9, share their advice for parents to help kids adjust and cope when families go through a divorce. Through drawings, songs, photos and memories, these children share their stories of how divorce has impacted their lives. The result is a rare chance for parents to hear kids' insightful, funny, and often heartfelt thoughts on how to do a better job.

Three friends persecute a gang of criminals from Harlem to the parties of the High Society of London.

The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord. Follow his life story from his rough childhood to the last days of his life.

A vicious hood rises to the top of the rackets in Depression-era New York in this account of the life of Dutch Schultz.

Biographic movie of the witty, overachieving, hot-tempered Rudy Giuliani, spanning from his rising days as a New York district attorney in the early 1980s to his marriage to part-time actress Donna Hanover, to his candidacy for mayor of New York City and his controversial methods to tackle the city's crime and urban problems, as well as his romance with his assistant Cristyne Lategano which lead to the failure of his marriage, to his battle with prostate cancer, all leading up to the terrible day of September 11, 2001 which Guiliani himself narrowly escaped death after suicide terrorists hijacked and crashed two passenger airliners into the twin World Trade Center towers leading to their collapse in which Guiliani's toughness and spirited personality help calm the city's residents to face the chaos on that day which made him a national hero.

A sister act finds itself stranded and broke, and teams up with a medicine man who is promoting a child talent contest.

A loner who works in a mannequin factory stalks and strangles women in Times Square.

A rich society woman uses a gangster to win a congressional election.

A drama documentary of the life and death of the poet Dylan Thomas, who died in New York 25 years ago at age 39. Alcohol and a doctor's injection of morphine were the immediate causes. Ever since his childhood in Wales his life was a spectacular attempt - comic at times, serious below the surface, tragic at the finish - to survive on his own bizarre terms as the poet to end all poets. By the 1950s, that first postwar decade of uneasiness and change, Dylan Thomas was a legend to his admirers but a burnt-out case to himself. As he tours America to read poetry to rapt audiences, his past crowds in on him, the fractured memories of a man at the end of his tether.

Marcus Garvey: Look for me in the Whirlwind uses a wealth of archival film, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant, who between 1916 and 1921 built the largest black mass movement in world history. It explores Garvey’s dramatic successes and failures before his fall into obscurity. Among the film’s most powerful sequences are interviews with people who were part of the Garvey movement decades ago. These interviews communicate the appeal of Garvey’s revolutionary ideas to a generation of African Americans, and reveal how he invested hundreds and thousands of black men and women with a newfound sense of pride.

When Lindsey travels to Ireland to acquire land that is perfect for a resort, she decides to enter the town's matchmaking festival to prove her investment—and win over a handsome local.

Two best friends and recovering addicts embark on a frantic chase through New York City to stop the woman they are both in love with from killing her ex-boyfriend.

James is still in love with his ex-wife Barbara and has one last chance to win her back. While his friends and parents try to help, they're dealing with their own complicated love lives. But, in a crazy world, love is the only thing that makes sense.

Before handing over a large inheritance, a guardian hires three chorus girls to educate his charge about the "underside" of big-city life.

A bizarre portrait of the New York singles scene.

Breakups happen. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl; girl likes boy. Boy and girl decide to sleep with 3 other people first, to avoid the rebound relationship.

Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The rise and fall of prominent New York sports radio personality Craig Carton. Through a series of candid interviews with Carton, the film reveals how the radio host’s secret insatiable gambling addiction, financed by an illicit ticket-broking business, brought his career to a sudden halt when he was arrested by FBI agents and charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud in 2017.

Drama documentary about events of 9/11 focusing on key decision makers in government and elsewhere.

Take a nostalgic ride through movie history and relive the glory days of the Western -- when kids spent their Saturdays watching double-feature matinees and eating popcorn that cost a nickel. Through movie clips and interviews with film critics, actors and fans, this tribute to a bygone era explores the genre from the early days of the Thomas Edison Studios to the heyday of cowboy stars Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson and Gene Autry and the Singing Cowboys.

Life is good for marketing professional Allison, she’s well on her way to earning a stellar promotion all while dating equally successful co-worker Bryce. Her biggest rival for the position, Vanessa, has the boss’ eye, but Allison has a plan. To win the promotion, she needs to impress her boss, Nathan, at their annual company retreat. Of course, she has a head start since she used to be a camp counselor. The only caveat, this year’s trip happens to be the site of Allison’s first heartbreak: her old camp. And who should still be working there but the handsome as ever ex-boyfriend who broke that teenage heart, Cody. But was it all a misunderstanding? Allison’s tasked with navigating not only the obstacle course but her relationships…past and present.

Anti-war propaganda musical set on an ocean liner.

18-year-old Rosie Kaplan O'Grady was found as an abandoned baby by O'Grady, an Irish policeman, and Kaplan, a Jewish pawnbroker, and raised by them as their own. She is being courted by two men; prizefighter Terry Callahan and a rich socialite, Tommy Sinclair and has to choose between them.

Steve Porter, a young American bachelor and fully intending to remain as such, inherits a fortune but must get married in order to claim it.

A fond remembrance of and tribute to the uniquely American institution of the horror movie host.

1 Giant Leap is a concept band and media project consisting of the two principal artists, Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman. This is the film part of their first project. The result is a flowing, loose-knit tapestry of imagery, interviews, and diverse performances. Gathering material from 25 countries and dozens of famous and not-so-famous musicians, authors, celebrities, spiritualists, philosophers, and unique individuals from nearly every cultural background, this enveloping DVD is best enjoyed as a soothing audiovisual odyssey (select "loop mode" for continuous play!). Assembling this cornucopia by theme (Time, Inspiration, Sex, God, Death, etc.), Bridgeman and Catto function as co-composers with an astonishing array of collaborators, giving 1 Giant Leap its richly international (and some might say inter-spiritual) identity. The result is a far-reaching glimpse of our world through the eyes of those who improve it by their musical presence. --Jeff Shannon

Gotham tells the true story of what happened in New York City during the twenty years from 1993 to 2013. How did a city with over 2200 murders, 93,000 violent robberies and 147,000 car thefts in 1990 become the capitol of the world a mere handful of years later? This feature documentary explores what happened during these decades, told by the people who did the hard work, some at great personal and professional cost.

A documentary on New York City’s biggest public art project ever, an installation called “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

For more than 100 years, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope and refuge for generations of immigrants. In this lyrical, compelling and provocative portrait of the statue, Ken Burns explores both the history of America’s premier symbol and the meaning of liberty itself. Featuring rare archival photographs, paintings and drawings, readings from actual diaries, letters and newspapers of the day, the fascinating story of this universally admired monument is told. In interviews with Americans from all walks of life, including former New York governor Mario Cuomo, the late congresswoman Barbara Jordan and the late writers James Baldwin and Jerzy Kosinski, The Statue of Liberty examines the nature of liberty and the significance of the statue to American life. Nominated for both the Academy Award ® and the Emmy Award ®, The Statue of Liberty received the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, the Christopher Award and the Blue Ribbon at the American Film Festival.

The childhood, adolescence, and incredible adult years of Al Hirschfeld, celebrated creator of thousands of line drawings of famous people - many in the entertainment industry - over a span of more than sixty years. He is still drawing in his nineties. His interesting domestic life, political, and cultural views are highlights. In addition, he talks about himself a bit - seriously and lightly.(At one point he he claims that his only form of exercise has been to live in his Manhattan townhouse: stairs). He drives his car around Manhattan - an adventure in itself. Brief interviews with, and reminiscences of many friends and associates.