Well, whaddaya know? When it comes to their movies, New Yorkers have some very strong opinions. Last Sunday, I offered up 10 films every New Yorker must see, and then opened the floor to more suggestions.
And for every reader who agreed with my picks, two more were outraged that I hadn't included their favorites. But as promised, that's just what I intend to do, through the rest of the summer. This week, we'll take a look at your best-loved romances, beginning with the winner by a landslide: "Any born and raised New Yorker," asserts Frank Gonzalez, "should be totally versed in Jerome Robbins' 'West Side Story.
'" He's not the only one who feels passionately about that film: "From the overture to the opening shots of the skyline, and finally settling to the Jets and Sharks dancing over their disputed neighborhood," says Patricia Contino, "'West Side Story' was my introduction to Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim - three artists whose work I would come to know and love very, very well." Self-proclaimed "incurable romantic" Elizabeth Papagno tells me I "cannot forget to mention 'An Affair to Re-member,'" the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr remake of "Love Affair" that in turn inspired Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks to race to the Empire State Building at the end of "Sleepless in Seattle." Joe Naughton proposes "The Way We Were," noting that liberal activist Barbra Streisand and golden boy Robert Redford "fall in love in New York, break up in Hollywood, and reunite in front of the Plaza .
.. While Joan and Alan Feuer put "Crossing Delancey" - in which Amy Irving's intellectual falls for Peter Riegert's pickle maker - on their A-list, Barry Hammer thinks "When Harry Met Sally .
.." "was the movie of the '80s when it came to neurotic romantic couples.
" It was also, many pointed out, one of the modern films that best captures the inherent romance of the city itself - although others cast their votes for "Splash," "Arthur" and "Moonstruck," which Anthony Loffredo believes is "the romance that every New Yorker hopes for." Still don't see all the movies you would have chosen? Speak up: Every week, we'll be taking on another aspect of our city's cinematic personality.
Consider this your personal space, to rave about classics or share hidden treasures. But remember, as Howard Wexler says, "New York movies are NOT just Manhattan movies." So if your big-screen New York looks more like Astoria, the South Bronx or Bay Ridge, drop a line to eweitzman@nydailynews.
com. Next Friday, as Staten Island resident John McNamara pleads, we'll "show the outer boroughs some love.
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