Though the American motion picture industry began in New York City, it migrated to California in the 1910s – just as the city was becoming the financial and cultural capital of the country. Over the century that followed, New York experienced trials and tribulations, boom periods and downfalls; that roller-coaster ride was documented, often gleefully, by the films shot in New York during those years. Many of them took the danger and speed of the city as their implicit (and often explicit) subject, creating a perception of “Fun City” that added to its allure, and may have further fueled its decline. 

In Fun City Cinema, author Jason Bailey crafts two intertwining histories: of a great American city in flux, and the classic films and legendary filmmakers that took their inspiration from its grittiness and splendor, creating what we can now view as “accidental documentaries” of the city’s moods and modes.

Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies That Made It is out now. Order your copy here.

"Jason Bailey's elegant, deeply informed journey through 100 years of New York movies and moviemaking is a remarkable history of a city, an industry, and an art form that continues to capture a metropolis in constant motion and evolution. It's suffused with passion for and knowledge about both the films and their urban milieu—and it's an ideal companion volume for anyone who wants to explore either, or both."

— Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution, Five Came Back, and Mike Nichols: A Life

"You know the scene in The Man Who Would Be King when Sean Connery and Michael Caine glimpse the treasure room, waiting for them since the time of Alexander the Great? If New York is the room, this book is the treasure."

— Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces