Fun City Cinema

By: Jason Bailey & Michael Hull
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  • Summary

  • “As you see, we’re flying over an island. A city. A particular city. And this is a story of a number of people, and a story also of the city itself.” That’s from the opening voice-over of the 1948 movie The Naked City, which was a very big deal when it was made, because it was a rare studio film that was shot entirely, lock stock and barrel, on the streets of New York City. You see, the American motion picture industry began in New York, at the end of the 19th century – Thomas Edison and other early innovators had their laboratories here, and shot their early films in and around Manhattan. But the movies moved to California in the 1910s, and rarely came back. Plenty of films were set in New York… but astonishingly few were shot here. Studios constructed fake New Yorks on their Hollywood backlots; maybe, if they couldn’t fake it, they’d shoot a scene or two in New York, or send a crew to shoot exteriors, or use stock footage. But that all changed with Executive Order No. 10, issued by Mayor John V. Lindsay on May 31, 1966. That document formed the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting—a one-stop shop intended to eliminate the red tape and copious permits of New York filmmaking, and to lure filmmakers East. It worked - perhaps too well. The problem was, the explosion of production that followed the establishment of the Mayor’s Office in the mid-1960s coincided directly with the beginning of the most troubled period of the city’s history… a quarter-century of rising crime, increasing debt, decreases in public service and servants, and general urban anarchy. And that period was captured over the course of the next two decades, vividly, in the likes of Midnight Cowboy; The French Connection; Death Wish; Dog Day Afternoon; Taxi Driver; The Taking of Pelham 123, The Warriors; Fort Apache, The Bronx; Do the Right Thing; and After Hours—portraits of a city’s decay and downfall, and ones that, ironically enough, might not have existed at all were it not for the incentives provided by the city itself. Now, from the safe distance of a Disney-fied and gentrified Manhattan, these films provide us with a window into a past that’s been razed and replaced by a safer present. 9/11 took a toll on The City… so did the rise of income inequality, rendering New York City, more than ever, a place solely by and for the rich. That shift, and the rapid suburbanization that accompanied it, has left New York nearly indistinguishable from other large American cities. And thus these movies…. become a valuable reminder of what once was. And what we’re witnessing, in the films made in New York, and set in the present, is a conversation of, of connections and reflections between the fictional lives in their foregrounds… and the real lives happening behind them. So in their own unique ways, every great New York movie is an accidental documentary of what The City was - at the precise point of its production, and not a moment longer. All of those movies, taken together, tell their own version of the history of New York. That’s the history we’re here to tell.
    Copyright 2023 Jason Bailey & Michael Hull
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Episodes
  • Jason & Mike in A Very Good Year

    Jason & Mike in A Very Good Year
    Jan 23 2023

    Hello “Fun City Cinema” subscribers - long time no see! The show is still on hiatus, as your hosts Jason Bailey and Mike Hull have been working very hard on “A Very Good Year,” a new podcast with a simple premise: each week we invite a guest (filmmakers and actors, critics and historians, comedians and musicians) who loves movies, and ask them to select their favorite year of movies. We then spend (about) an hour talking about that year: we ask them to share their top five films of the year; we look at the year’s news headlines, award winners, and box office champions; and we finish with a lightning round.

    If you haven't subscribed to that show yet - well, you should! But if you need a bit more enticing, we wanted to share our first episode, in which we're joined by actor ("Bill & Ted," "The Lost Boys," and, most relevant to you Fun City folks, "Death Wish 3"), filmmaker ("Zappa," "The YouTube Effect"), and all-around good guy Alex Winter to discuss his very good year: 1931. Enjoy!
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Our new show - A Very Good Year

    Our new show - A Very Good Year
    Nov 2 2022

    “Fun City Cinema” hosts Jason Bailey and Mike Hull proudly present “A Very Good Year,” a new podcast with a simple premise: each week we invite a guest (filmmakers and actors, critics and historians, comedians and musicians) who loves movies, and ask them to select their favorite year of movies. Some pick a year from their movie-going past; some go deep into film history. Whichever the case, we spent (about) an hour talking about that year: we ask them to share their top five films of the year, and tell us why they love them; we look at the year’s news headlines, award winners, and box office champions; and we finish with a lightning round, where we talk about as many films as possible in as few minutes as possible. 

     

    “A Very Good Year” debuts this fall; our guests include Bilge Ebiri, Roxana Hadadi, Keith Phipps, Drew McWeeny, Dana Stevens, and Alex Winter.
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    2 mins
  • Bonus Time: Born to Win

    Bonus Time: Born to Win
    Apr 18 2022

    Heads up: Jason and Mike were lucky enough to contribute an audio commentary to Fun City Editions’ new Blu-ray of “Born to Win,” one of the great unsung gems of early ‘70s fun city cinema. This seriocomic drama from 1971, directed by Ivan Passer (“Cutter’s Way”), tells the story of a high-class hairdresser turned low-rung junkie. George Segal stars, alongside Karen Black, Paula Prentiss, a young Hector Elizondo, and an even younger Robert De Niro.

     

    In this bonus episode, we’ll tell you a bit about the movie and our experience doing the commentary; we’ll also play you a brief excerpt from it. 

     

    And you can order your copy now, via Vinegar Syndrome: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/frontpage-partner-labels/products/born-to-win-fun-city-editions

    Thanks for listening!
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    17 mins

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