"It's little wonder that the five boroughs have played background – and often lead – in so many movies. New York is a place overflowing with stories, no matter where you swipe your Metro card. It is, at the southern end of Manhattan, the center of the financial world, where greed has made for great cinema; a short subway ride from that, you're in the center of global fashion, where the Miranda Priestlys of the world wield their power for high drama and big laughs; zip further north still and you hit the Great White Way, where so many dreams have played out on our screens. This collection of the best New York movies includes comedies and dramas, horror flicks and monster movies, documentaries and character studies, and plenty of musicals. The guide also includes one or two movies where New York isn't technically New York (Superman), but in which the essence of the city shines through. The top 212 made the cut, a number chosen because it was the first area code assigned to NYC in 1947."