As J.J. Abrams unveils his Manhattan monster flick, 'Cloverfield,' we revel in the greatest films in or about the Big Apple

By Don Kaye
Special to MSN Movies

Best New York movies? Fuggeddaboudit -- we got your New York movies right here. There are so many great ones to list that narrowing it down to 10 or 12 seems as criminal as eating your pizza with a knife and fork.

I'll tell you one thing: Filmmakers like to wreck New York as often as they like to work here. Aside from a brief, post-Sept. 11 lull, New York has been ravaged by a giant ape ("King Kong" -- three times!), asteroids ("When Worlds Collide," "Deep Impact"), aliens ("Independence Day") and other assorted natural and unnatural catastrophes. So if you think some gigantic monster crawling out of the sea to take down Manhattan -- as in the new, J.J. Abrams-produced "Cloverfield" -- is gonna bring this town to its knees, you've got another thing coming.

New York ain't just about mayhem, although you get plenty of that in Times Square any day of the week. Nope, it's about love, drama, danger, crime, heroism, scams, adventure and breathtaking scenery ... all the good stuff that the best movies are made of.

Here's a rundown of some of the finest New York movies around, and, believe you me, I tried to overstuff this thing like a Carnegie Deli sandwich. In fact, this could be the start of a series -- we're always working all the angles in this town. Got any complaints about the list? Hey, this is New York -- you know what you can do with 'em.

15. "Rosemary's Baby"
We don't know what's more horrifying in "Rosemary's Baby" -- the rent on Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse's Upper West Side apartment, their irritatingly nosy neighbors, or that Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is pregnant with Satan's son. We do know that this was perhaps the creepiest and classiest of a long line of New York-based horror movies, where the sense of urban paranoia is often as terrifying as the Devil himself.

See also: "The Devil's Advocate," "The Seventh Victim," "The Sentinel"

14. "Escape From New York"
The poster for this 1981 John Carpenter yarn -- the head of the Statue of Liberty lying on the ground -- directly influenced a key image from the upcoming "Cloverfield." New York had been blown to smithereens in previous films, but sealing it off and making it the world's biggest prison felt somehow right -- especially after those rough-and-tumble 1970s. Forget that proposed remake: "Escape" remains one of the most clever postapocalyptic New York flicks around.

See also: "I Am Legend," "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"

13. "Serpico"
Being a New York cop is one of the toughest jobs around -- and that's before you even catch any crooks. The saga of the lone officer battling widespread corruption has been told many times, but perhaps not as brilliantly as in the true story of Frank Serpico, with Al Pacino giving one of his best performances. Director Sidney Lumet expanded on the same theme in 1981's "Prince of the City" and 1990's "Q & A," but "Serpico" remains the original and most bad-ass.

See also: "The Seven-Ups," "Prince of the City," "Q & A"

12. "Working Girl"
"Let the river run/let all the dreamers wake the nation/Come, the new Jerusalem" -- only New York's working class could inspire a metaphor of Biblical proportions (from Carly Simon's Oscar-winning theme song). Melanie Griffith's Tess McGill is the face of female empowerment, battling obstacles at home and work in her armor of shoulder pads and towering hair. Points also for setting the movie partially in Staten Island, the city's most underrepresented borough.

See also: "The Devil Wears Prada," "Baby Boom"

11. "Superman"
Sure it was called Metropolis, but did anyone not think for a minute that Superman lived and worked in New York? Just recall the scene of veteran New York film critic Rex Reed entering the "Daily Planet" (i.e. Daily News) building. Or better yet, think back to Superman (Christopher Reeve) and Lois Lane's (Margot Kidder) heart-stopping flight over the city's skyscrapers. This town can fend for itself, thank you, but having a superhero or two around ain't a bad thing either.

See also: "Spider-Man," "Spider-Man 2"

10. "West Side Story"
Although filmed mostly on Los Angeles soundstages, this remains the greatest musical ever made about New York. Many other New York-based musicals focus on Broadway and show business -- "West Side Story" took utterly different issues (ethnic tensions and Upper West Side youth) and grafted the basic plot of "Romeo and Juliet" to them. Add brilliant music, unforgettable choreography and Robert Wise's inspired direction, and the results are pure magic.

See also: "42nd Street," "All That Jazz"

9. "Do the Right Thing"
New York is often called the biggest melting pot in the world, but it's sadly true that once in a while that pot boils over. Spike Lee's third film poured all the city's racial tensions into one small Brooklyn block, added heat and stirred. The result was one of the most provocative and controversial films of its time, if only because Lee makes each viewer question his or her own feelings on what "doing the right thing" actually means. Perhaps the best movie about racial relations ever made.

See also: "Jungle Fever," "The Landlord," "The Siege"

8. "Wall Street"
The New York financial industry can bring a person to dizzying heights and crushing lows. Just ask Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), who is corrupted by all that power and money as he works his way into the web of corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Director Oliver Stone captured the electricity of the New York Stock Exchange and gave us a peek at how wealth changes hands in the city, where tens of millions of dollars can disappear just like that -- and often do.

See also: "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Boiler Room"

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