‘Underground’ Cinema: 12 Essential NYC Subway Movies
A moving tribute to New York City’s subway on screen, in all its gritty glory
All aboard, friends. Grab your unlimited ride MetroCard and descend underground into the New York City transit system of the movies.
The subways of cinema can be loud, crowded, and messy. Sometimes, they can even be romantic. Either way, they offer a one-of-a-kind glimpse at mass-humanity in motion, and are an irrevocable part of New York City life and its subsequent onscreen depictions — of which there are, of course, too many to count. But that doesn’t mean we can’t pick a select few.
From long rides to fleeting glimpses to improbably proposals on the subway platform, let’s map out a dozen of the best subway scenes in modern movies.
On the Town (1949)
New York, New York, it’s a helluva town. (Yes, the movie studio powers that be changed “helluva” to “wonderful” for the film but we all know the original, uncensored lyric.) This Oscar-winning musical starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelley is famous for being one of the first movies to feature the New York City subway in glorious technicolor, even though less of it was actually filmed on location than one might think. Where does the subway come in to this story of three sailors, pre-Sex and the City Fleet Week, on leave in NYC, exactly? Via an infatuation with “Miss Turnstiles,” a model whose face is featured on countless billboards throughout the city, much like the actual “Miss Subways” publicity campaigns that ran from 1941 to 1976, that prompts them to hop on the train at Times Square and set off across the city in search of the face behind the photographs.
The Incident (1967)
Martin Sheen and Beau Bridges both made their feature film debuts in this thriller from director Larry Peerce, which gave us the first movie incarnation of an underground hostage train and paved the way for cinema classics like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. (More on that gem later.) In the ultimate ‘wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time’ nightmare of many an NYC strap-hanger just trying to avoid the local lunatic onboard, a late-night passenger car filled with a cross-section of city folk find themselves terrorized by a pair of thugs during a ride along the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (now the 4) from 170th Street in the Bronx down to Grand Central.
Bananas (1971)
Five years before Sylvester Stallone epitomized the American underdog in Rocky, the then-unknown actor appeared as one of two unnamed subway muggers terrorizing passengers and assaulting an older woman on crutches on the Times Square Shuttle in this early Woody Allen comedy. Allen’s neurotic alter-ego, the perfectly named Fielding Mellish, hides wanly behind an open newspaper before deciding to step in, but his attempt to intervene goes haywire thanks to some closing doors that don’t stay closed.
The French Connection (1971)
The 1971 Academy Award-winning classic starring Gene Hackman as gruff NYPD Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle is often heralded for having the best car chase scene in cinema history. But that 1971 Pontiac LeMans that Doyle hurtles through the streets at breakneck speed? It’s actually chasing a train — the elevated BMT West End Line (now the D) in Brooklyn, specifically. Earlier in the film, Fernando Rey gives Hackman the slip on the Grand Central platform of the 42nd Street Shuttle, but the sheer bold theatricality of the later chase sequence, which was notoriously shot without permits, easily overshadows the film’s earlier game of subway station cat and mouse.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Perhaps the king of all subway cinema, this time capsule of 1970s New York stars Walter Matthau as the cynical transit cop reluctantly charged with handling the hijacking of a downtown-bound 6 train. How the color-coded gunman — a criminal motif later adopted by Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs — plan to escape is beside the point in this fascinating thriller that makes amazing use of numerous real subway locations outlined in painstaking detail here. Also, let’s not forget the soundtrack and the reaction shot of Matthau’s face that closes the entire thing.
Stream The Taking of Pelham One Two Three on Tribeca Shortlist now.
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
It’s a long, lonely ride on the R train for John Travolta’s Tony Manero following the frenetic and ultimately tragic climax of the movie that brought disco to the masses. (Note to self: do not climb on the Verrazano Bridge.) Clad in that now-eponymous white leisure suit, a graffiti-covered Travolta, sitting drained and stone-faced on a series of graffiti covered cars, is the eminently watchable epitome of disillusionment.
The Warriors (1979)
For a cinematic glimpse at the New York City transit system at its most bleak, look no further than Walter Hill’s cult classic story about a crew of Brooklyn teens who must make it back to their home turf Coney Island after a mass gathering in the Bronx ends in murder and sends rival gangs into chaos. The Warriors’ transfer-heavy, slightly dystopian trip home on a series of graffiti-splattered trains includes a particularly volatile stop at Union Square that involves battling a rival gang member on roller skates in a men’s bathroom. (Because subway station bathrooms just aren’t scary enough on their own.)
After Hours (1985)
Martin Scorsese may be more associated with taxis than trains, but his 1980’s dark comedy about Griffin Dunne’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night downtown includes one utterly priceless scene about the frustration of fare increases. Attempting to head home from his SoHo misadventures before a case of mistaken identity leads to a neighborhood mob chasing him through the streets, Dunne trots down the stairs to the Spring Street 6 station only to find that the subway fare went up at midnight and he lacks the cash to cover it. The gentleman manning the MTA booth at said station is, both predictably and hilariously, unimpressed by his plight. Of course.
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
One year later and the subway seems to be a much friendlier place. Children of the ’80s know that nothing says “love” like walking across the hands of strangers to the object of your hard-won affection. In the climactic scene of the film that introduced the world to Paul Hogan, journalist Sue realizes that she does indeed love our crocodile-wrestling hero, and follows him down into what is supposed to be the 59th Street/Columbus Circle subway station to tell him as much. (The scene was actually shot on the abandoned lower level of the BMT 9th Avenue station in Brooklyn.) When she can’t get to him through the crowd waiting on the train platform, cooperative members of the crush step in and relay her message to him, at which point he walks back to her on the heads and raised hands of a cheering crowd. (Uh huh. That nobody protested that nonsense is maybe the most unrealistic part of a clearly farfetched movie, but I digress.)
Ghost (1990)
Because the subway has lessons for you, even in the afterlife. This iconic romance stars Patrick Swayze as the namesake ghost trying to connect with his still living wife (an iconically short-haired Demi Moore) and uncover the truth behind his own death. Our ephemeral hero careens from train to train in search of an unnamed “subway ghost” that can teach him how to harness his anger to interact with the living. Their lesson takes place on an abandoned platform of the Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority terminal.
Carlito’s Way (1993)
Al Pacino’s reformed drug dealer just wants to leave his old life behind, but his old Mafioso connections aren’t so sure they can let him go. The scene of his climactic potential escape? None other than Grand Central Station. Director Brian De Palma captured Pacino maneuvering through the famous train station in a gorgeous, extended Steadicam shot that sees him slip away (for now) by lying down on an escalator. This iconic chase scene was originally set to take place in the World Trade Center, but a terrorist attack on the New York landmark (the 1993 bombing), just days ahead of the shoot, required it be staged elsewhere.
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013)
If The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime took place entirely in the New York City subway, it could be Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. In this beautifully shot drama that won the Best Narrative Feature, Special Jury Mention, at the Tribeca Film Festival, an autistic teenager struggling to fit in decides to run away from his life and take refuge in the NYC subway system. As Hurricane Sandy approaches, his mother searches for him above ground and we are given an immersive glimpse of the subway system as we’ve never seen it before.
Stream Stand Clear of the Closing Doors on Tribeca Shortlist now.
Bonus video: Filmmaker Simon Barrett (You’re Next, Blair Witch) shares his love for “the perfect New York film,” 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three:
