SCRIPT FIRST ISSUE, NEW YORK
THE CITIES SCREENPLAY
MANHATTAN, WOODY ALLEN
NEW YORK According To
WOODY ALLEN’S FILM MANHATTAN
06 10 HIGHLIGHTS
MOVIE SCRIPT
INDEX
25 29 36 A TRIP TROUGH WOODY ALLEN’S MANHATTAN
MUST SEE
ESSENTIALS
HIGHLIGHTS New York City’s five boroughs are home to some of the world’s most recognizable, cherished landmarks and attractions. From Times Square and Central Park to the Empire State Building and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the island of Manhattan packs more legendary icons into one compact area than any other place on Earth; and that’s to say nothing of the City’s four other boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island—each of which contains its own roster of must-see destinations. With so much to see and do, a trip to NYC may seem a little overwhelming. To help, we’ve rounded up attractions that belong on any visitor’s to-see list. Since the City’s full breadth of activities is virtually limitless, be sure to visit our complete list of tours and attractions for more ideas.
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“NEW YO
HE ADO
HE ID
ALL OU
PROPOR —MANHATTAN
ORED
ORK CITY.
DOLISED IT
UT OF
”
RTION. MOVIE SCRIPT
NARRATOR TO HIM, NO MATTER WHAT THE SEASON WAS, THIS WAS STILL A TOWN THAT EXISTED IN BLACK AND WHITE AND PULSATED TO THE GREAT TUNES OF GEORGE GERSHWIN. HE ADORED NEW YORK CITY. HE IDOLISED IT.
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NARRATOR
HE WAS TOO ROMANTIC ABOUT MANHATTAN, AS HE WAS ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE. HE THRIVED ON THE HUSTLE, BUSTLE OF THE CROWDS AND THE TRAFFIC.
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NARRATOR TO HIM, NEW YORK MEANT BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND STREET-SMART GUYS WHO SEEMED TO KNOW ALL THE ANGLES.
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NARRATOR HE ADORED NEW YORK CITY. TO HIM, IT WAS A METAPHOR FOR THE DECAY OF CONTEMPORARY CULTURE. THE SAME LACK OF INTEGRITY TO CAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE TO TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT... WAS RAPIDLY TURNING THE TOWN OF HIS DREAMS...
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ROMANTIC AS THE CITY HE LOVED.
HE WAS AS TOUGH AND ROMAN
NEW YORK WAS HIS TOWN AND IT ALWAYS WOULD BE.
NEW YORK WAS HIS TOWN AND IT ALWAYS WOULD BE.
(CONVERSATION) MARY WILKIE ISN’T IT BEAUTIFUL OUT? ISAAC DAVIS YEAH, IT’S REALLY SO PRETTY WHEN THE LIGHT STARTS TO COME UP. MARY WILKIE I KNOW. I LOVE IT. ISAAC DAVIS BOY, THIS IS REALLY A GREAT CITY. I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYBODY SAYS.
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A TRIP THROUGH WOODY ALLEN’S MANHATTAN by Noel Murray
Woody Allen begins his 1979 comedy Manhattan, with Allen’s writer character Isaac Davis fumbling for a way to describe his New York. Is it a city full of colorful crooks and glamorous dames? A city that crushes dreams? One that rewards the faithful? Is it crumbling? Or is it preserving and extending our cultural legacy? I know a little about how Isaac Davis feels. I’ve spent less than 48 hours in New York in my entire life, and it’s still hard to capture my impressions from just a day and a half in the city. But then, that’s why I was sent on this particular Pop Pilgrimage in the first place.
Because due to a combination of circumstances, I’d lived 41 years without ever visiting New York, and it seemed like the right time to break that streak. And while one full day is hardly enough time to “do” New York, I did get to visit one of the most iconic spots in Manhattan, and to cover a lot of ground in Greenwich Village (for another Pop Pilgrims video that’ll be up next week). Our Pilgrimage did give me at least a sense of the city, both as I’d always imagined it and as it actually is. Even my arrival at LaGuardia was a typically New York mix of awe and “eh.” As we landed, out my window I could see the Statue Of Liberty and the Empire State Building, and call me a hayseed if you like, but damn, that was stirring. And then we deplaned, and I made my way through an airport that our Scott Tobias aptly described to me as “a magical place, like walking through the inside of a recently vacated shoe.” I then took a cab—not a Cash Cab, sadly—to my hotel in Williamsburg, where I had a well-appointed room with a view of the Chrysler Building from my bed. But the hotel’s on a funky little corner that taxi drivers seem incapable of locating. Twice during my stay, I was let off several blocks from where I was supposed to be, left to wander around Brooklyn like a rube. That more or less sums up what New York was like during my short visit:
a place of wonders and inconveniences, of quirks and familiarities. It’s the kind of place where I could find a tiny coffee shop serving one of the best lattes I’ve ever had, stuck between a trashylooking abandoned buildingng ties on one side and a chain clothing store on the other. Our guide for these two pilgrimages was Bob Egan, who runs a website called PopSpotsNYC, for which he tracks down the locations of famous pop-culture images, mostly from album covers. Egan’s lived in New York for most of his adult life, and knows a great deal about the city’s pop history— a lot of which he experienced firsthand. In my next Pop Pilgrims video, Egan will show us around the Village and give some insight into Bob Dylan’s early years in New York. For this one, Egan and I talked about Manhattan, as two Woody Allen fans who’ve come to love that movie for what it reveals about the city in the late ’70s and Allen’s place in it. After Isaac’s opening startand-stop monologue, Manhattan gives way to a Gershwin-scored montage that could practically be a tourist-bureau advertisement for NYC, complete with romantic black-and-white images of Times Square, Lincoln Center, Central Park, Radio City Music Hall, Yankee Stadium, and the whole skyline illuminated by fireworks. But Manhattan isn’t all paean. One of the movie’s most remarkable qualities is the way the “classic” look of Gordon Willis’ blackand-white cinematography plays against a New York that looks very much like the America of 1978 and 1979, with tape recorders and racquetball clubs. There’s also a push-pull between Isaac’s
two romantic interests: a teenage optimist played by Mariel Hemingway and a middle-aged cynic played by Diane Keaton. When I first watched Manhattan as a teenager, I didn’t like the movie that much. I missed the fun, free-spirited Keaton of Annie Hall, and found her and her friends — with their “Academy Of The Overrated,” dedicated to knocking the likes of Ingmar Bergman and F. Scott Fitzgerald — so insufferable that I found it hard to believe that Isaac would want to spend time with them. Now I see that it’s more complicated than I’d realized as a kid; Allen is satirizing above-it-all New York intellectuals while still loving them for their folly, in the same way that he can hail his city while still calling it “a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture.” The perfect spot to talk about Manhattan is just below the Queensboro Bridge, where Allen and Keaton share a scene in the movie so romantic and memorable that it became the poster image. We made our way there through the heavy late-afternoon traffic, past the Bowery, the Flatiron Building, and the UN Headquarters. Again, there were highs and lows even to the drive: from the excitement of being near places I’d read about and seen in pictures, to the hassle of moving at a crawl, with rain threatening to make our shoot at the bridge a damp one. When we hit the spot — a little “pocket park,” with a bench — Egan pointed out some of what was across the water, including Roosevelt Island, with its famous tramway, and Silvercup Studios, which 30 Rock, The Sopranos and Sex And The City have all used as a home base. And, this being New
York, the bridge itself isn’t just iconic because of one movie. It’s also known as the 59th Street Bridge, which Simon & Garfunkel immortalized in the song as the 59th Street Bridge, which Simon & Garfunkel immortalized in the song “Feelin’ Groovy,” and it’s the bridge of eternal crossing in the opening credits of Taxi. And in The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway says, “The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” The Manhattan site, one of several disconnected Sutton Place parks, is at the end of a dead-end street—at one time the home of the “Dead End Kids”— flanked now by very pricey apartments, with gated-off parking. It’s a public place surrounded by exclusivity, on a road that sightseers would have to know about ahead of time to find. Contra Gatsby, it’s the view from the city, looking up at the bridge and across to Queens and Brooklyn. And while it’s not a definitive New York location, it is striking in its smallness. The park is just a nook, really, carved into the rock and yet somehow ephemeral, as though we could’ve turned the corner and found it gone — or at least inaccessible.
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NYC SKYLINE New York City’s skyline is truly awe-inspiring. The iconic skyscrapers, bridges, waterways, islands and monuments create a breathtaking panorama that is instantly recognizable worldwide. While you can feel the immensity of these surroundings from anywhere in the City, the grandeur of the cityscape is best viewed from above. Take an elevator ride up 1,050 feet to the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building; New York City’s second-tallest structure (after One World Trade Center), this soaring art deco masterpiece offers a completely unobstructed, 360-degree view of the city below. For a spectacular vista that includes the Empire State Building itself, head up to the Top of the Rock, located on the 67th, 69th and 70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (home of NBC studios). Both the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock are open late, so don’t miss the chance to see the City lights shimmer after dark.
TIMES SQUARE Not sure where to look while walking through world-famous Times Square? Don’t worry—you’re not alone. With massive digital billboards whose bright lights make midnight look like mid-afternoon; star-studded Broadway and Off-Broadway shows (and reduced-price tickets to see
them available from the TKTS Discount Booth); people peddling art and jewelry on the street; and, of course, the Naked Cowboy—who plays guitar in his tighty-whities— the expansive stretch of Midtown is a feast for all five senses. Visitors can shop in flagship locations of such stores as Toys “R” Us (which boasts an indoor Ferris wheel), take pictures with wax celebrities at Madame Tussauds, watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve.
CENTRAL PARK Spanning 843 acres in the heart of Manhattan, Central Park is one of the world’s greatest urban oases, encompassing a diverse landscape of rolling fields, walking trails and tranquil bodies of water—all sculpted by human hands. Designed in the mid–19th century by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park today is the centerpiece of the City’s public parks system. Among its attractions are the Central Park Zoo, Belvedere Castle and the Friedsam Memorial Carousel (which operates seven days a week from April 8 through October 10 and intermittently the rest of the year). Sheep Meadow and the Great Lawn offer sprawling expanses where visitors can relax and enjoy the outdoors. In the winter, there’s ice-skating at Wollman Rink, which provides a picturesque backdrop for that clas-
sic cold-weather pastime. In the summer, the Delacorte Theater hosts Shakespeare in the Park, outdoor performances of the Bard’s work. Elsewhere, Rumsey Playfield serves as the primary home for SummerStage, a citywide free performing-arts festival featuring music, dance, theater and more. Notably, Rumsey hosts Metropolitan Opera recitals featuring singers and a pianist from the famed opera company. For more ideas on what to see while visiting the sprawling NYC green space, check out our slideshow of must-see Central Park sites.
MoMA Spend the day indoors warming up to contemporary art in Midtown Manhattan’s landmark Museum of Modern Art, where you’ll see permanent-collection works by Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh and Roy Lichtenstein as well as exciting temporary exhibitions. This season, MoMA welcomes Edvard Munch’s The Scream, one of the most familiar and expensive pieces of art in history (on display through April 29, 2013), and the Quay Brothers exhibition and accompanying film series On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets, which runs through January 7, 2013. In addition, upcoming winter programming includes Dickens on Film (December 19–January 3, 2013) a film exhibition dedicated to the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth, and Abstract Generation: Now in Print (February 13–June 24, 2013), which highlights the role of Abstract Expressionism in print.
YANKEE STADIUM The original Yankee Stadium, known as “The House That Ruth Built,” opened in 1923 and served as the Yankees’ home until 2008. The new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, and the team capped the venue’s inaugural season with their 27th World Series title. This celebrated icon of America’s favorite pastime is a must-see for any baseball fan. Visitors can take a guided tour, which includes stops at
the clubhouse/batting cage area (only during the off-season or when the team is on the road), the dugout and Monument Park, as well as the New York Yankees Museum, which offers a fascinating look at the history of the storied franchise. Of course, professional sports in New York City go much deeper than just the Yankees. To see the City’s home teams (including the Yankees) in person, buy tickets to NYC sporting events here.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE John Roebling’s engineering masterpiece was the world’s longest suspension bridge upon its completion in 1883. One of the most recognizable structures in NYC, the bridge has been featured in countless movies and television shows and, as the first land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn, represents a critical piece of New York City history. Though the bridge is visible from the shores of both boroughs, it is best experienced through a leisurely stroll across its elevated pedestrian walkway. Here, visitors from around the world can share a path with New Yorkers making their daily commute; those walking across can enjoy views of downtown Manhattan and New York Harbor on every step of the 5,989-foot traverse. The Manhattan-side entrance is at Park Row and Centre Street, across from City Hall Park. John Roebling’s engineering masterpiece was the world’s longest suspension bridge upon its completion in 1883. One of the most recognizable structures in NYC, the bridge has been featured in countless movies and television
shows and, as the first land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn, represents a critical piece of New York City history. Though the bridge is visible from the shores of both boroughs, it is best experienced through a leisurely stroll across its elevated pedestrian walkway. Here, visitors from around the world can share a path with New Yorkers making their daily commute; those walking across can enjoy views of downtown Manhattan and New York Harbor on every step of the 5,989-foot traverse. The Manhattanside entrance is at Park Row and Centre Street, across from City Hall Park.
DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN Lower Manhattan is the seat of the City’s government, the home of Wall Street and a place where much of America’s early history unfolded. The area is packed with cultural institutions, including The Skyscraper Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The neighborhood was affected by Hurricane Sandy, but is recovering, and more institutions are opening every day. Call ahead to make sure that your attractions of choice are open before visiting.
Battery Park features 25 acres of open space—including gardens and the Castle Clinton National Monument, a fort built in preparation for the War of 1812. Stone Street, an appropriately named cobblestone thoroughfare, features a wide range of worthwhile drinking and dining establishments including Harry’s Cafe and Steak, Vintry Wine & Whiskey and many more. Nearby, City Hall— one of America’s oldest functioning seats of municipal government—offers public tours. After visiting the premises, consider walking across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge.
PROSPECT PARK If Prospect Park feels like Brooklyn’s answer to Central Park, there’s a reason—Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed both massive green spaces in the mid–19th century. For its part, the 585-acre Prospect Park is highlighted by the immense Long Meadow, whose name isn’t just an empty boast—at almost one mile long, it may be the longest continuous meadow in any American park. The meadow is a popular site for sports and picnics. Prospect Park is home to endless recreational possibilities, including not only the usual suspects like jogging and biking but also such rare treats as dog swimming—fourlegged New Yorkers can make a splash at Dog Beach. The beach is part of Prospect Park Lake, where visitors are also known to go fishing (it’s a great place to catch largemouth bass—but anglers must abide by the “catch and release”.
ESSENTIALS
»»161st Street BID »»47th Street »»9/11 Memorial »»Alice Austen House Museum »»Alice Tully Hall »»Alvin Dance Theater »»American Girl Place »»American Museum of Natural History »»Apollo Theater »»The Armory Show, Inc. »»Armory Track & Field Foundation »»Arts World Financial Center »»Avery Fisher Hall »»Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum »»Big Apple Circus »»Big Onion Walking Tours »»Bodies, The Exhibition »»Bowlmor Union Square »»Bronx Council on the Arts »»Bronx Zoo »»Brooklyn Botanic Garden »»Brooklyn Brewery »»Brooklyn Cyclones »»Brooklyn Historical Society »»Brooklyn Nets »»Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. »»Carnegie Hall »»Cathedral Church of St. John »»Central Park Conservancy »»Central Park Zoo »»Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex »»Circle Line Downtown »»Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises »»Citi Pond at Bryant Park »»City Island Chamber of Commerce (PAGE 036)
»»CityPASS »»The Cloisters Museum & Gardens »»Dave & Buster's »»David H. Koch Theater »»David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center »»Dialog in the Dark »»Ellis Island/American Family Immigration History Center »»Empire State Building »»Explorer Pass »»The Fashion Center BID »»FDNY Fire Zone »»Alliance Française »»Frieze Art Fair »»Fulton Market »»Go Select NYC »»Grand Central Partnership »»Grand Central Terminal »»Green-Wood Cemetery »»Helicopter Flight Services, Inc. »»Hester Street Fair »»Historic Richmond Town »»Hong Kong Dragon Festival »»Instituto Cervantes »»InterChurch Center »»Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum »»Jacques Torres Chocolate »» Japan Society »»Jazz at Lincoln Center »»Liberty Helicopters, Inc. »»Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts »»Loeb Central Park Boathouse »»Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy LTD »»Luna Park at Coney Island
»»Macy's Herald Square »»Madame Alexander Doll Company »»Madame Tussauds New York »»Madison Avenue BID »»Madison Square Garden »»Make Meaning »»Manhattan by Sail »»Manhattan Fishing Tours »»Manhattan Helicopters »»Merchant's House Museum »»The Metropolitan Opera »»Morris-Jumel Mansion »»Mount Vernon Hotel Museum »»Museum at Eldridge Street Synagogue »»Museum of American Finance »»Museum of Sex »»Museum of the American Gangster »»National Park Service »»National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy »»NBC Experience Store/Studio Tours »»New York Aquarium (temporarily closed) »»New York Botanical Garden »»New York City Ballet, Inc. »»New York City Center »»New York Ghost Tours »»New York Helicopter »»New York International Automobile Show »»New York Knicks »»New York Liberty »»The New York Pass »»New York Philharmonic »»New York Public Library (PAGE 037)
»»New York Rangers »»New York Red Bulls »»New York Transit Museum »»New York Water Taxi »»New York Wine Expo »»New York Yankees »»NY Skyride »»On Location Tours, Inc. »»openhousenewyork Inc. »»Performa »»Professional Bull Riders New York Invitational »»Prospect Park Zoo »»The Public Theater »»Queens Botanical Garden »»Queens Museum of Art »»Queens Zoo »»Radio City Music Hall »»Resorts World Casino »»The Ride »»Ripley's Believe It or Not! »»Times Square »»The Riverside Church »»Rockefeller Center »»Roosevelt Island »»Silver Gull Beach Club »»A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours »»Snug Harbor Cultural Center »» Botanical Garden »»Socrates Sculpture Park »»Guggenheim Museum »»Sony Wonder Technology Lab »»South Street Seaport »»South Street Seaport Museum »»Spy »»St. George Theatre »»St. Giles International »»St. Patrick's Cathedal »»St. Paul's Chapel
»»Staten Island Zoo »»Statue of Liberty National »»Stray Boots Scavenger Hunts »»A Taste of Harlem Food Tours »»Tibet House »»Top of the Rock Deck »»Tourneau »»The Town Hall »»Tribute WTC Visitor Center »»Trinity Wall Street »»United Nations »»US Fund for UNICEF »»USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center »»Valentine-Varian House »»Van Cortlandt House Museum »»Victorian Gardens Park »»Vivian Beaumont Theater »»Wave Hill »»Weeksville Heritage Center »»Wildlife Conservation Society »»World Financial Center »»Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum »»Yankee Stadium
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