The Best New York Movies and TV Shows on The Criterion Channel
Finding a good New York movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best New York movies and TV shows of all time streaming on The Criterion Channel.
1. Taxi Driver
What it's about: A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).
2. Frances Ha
What it's about: An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
3. Stranger Than Paradise
What it's about: Rootless Hungarian émigré Willie, his pal Eddie, and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva always manage to make the least of any situation, whether aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
4. Night on Earth
What it's about: An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).
5. My Dinner with Andre
What it's about: Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
6. Alice in the Cities
What it's about: German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected. After returning to Europe, the innocent friendship between Winter and Alice grows as they travel together through various European cities on a quest for Alice’s grandmother.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
7. The Women
What it's about: A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
8. Metropolitan
What it's about: A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society - until they are joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, fuboTV, Showtime & 1 other) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime).
9. The Naked City
What it's about: The Naked City portrays the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, finding the girl's killer.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
10. Lost in America
What it's about: David and Linda Howard are successful yuppies from LA. When he gets a job disappointment, David convinces Linda that they should quit their jobs, liquidate their assets, and emulate the movie Easy Rider, spending the rest of their lives traveling around America...in a Winnebago.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
11. Parting Glances
What it's about: Michael and Robert, two gay men living in Brooklyn, spend their last day together before Robert leaves for Africa on work assignment. Michael still has feelings for his friend Nick, who has AIDS.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel, Fandor & Kanopy).
12. Dancing Lady
What it's about: Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the rich playboy, discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
13. Insignificance
What it's about: Four 1950s cultural icons who conceivably could have met but probably didn't, fictionally do so in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flashbacks and flashforwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories, and apprehensions for the future.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).
14. Sidewalk Stories
What it's about: A street artist (Charles Lane) rescues a baby girl (Nicole Alysia) after her father is murdered. The artist then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately he ends up in a horse drawn chase of the murderers.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
15. Five Corners
What it's about: A psychotic young man returns to his old neighborhood after release from prison. He seeks out the woman he previously tried to rape and the man who protected her, with twisted ideas of love for her and hate for him.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex & Crackle), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).
16. The Immigrant
What it's about: An European immigrant endures a challenging voyage only to get into trouble as soon as he arrives in New York.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).
17. The Driller Killer
What it's about: An artist slowly goes insane while struggling to pay his bills, work on his paintings, and care for his two female roommates, which leads him taking to the streets of New York after dark and randomly killing derelicts with a power drill.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
18. Permanent Vacation
What it's about: In downtown Manhattan, a twenty-something boy whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few characters along the way.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
19. The Angel Levine
What it's about: Morris Mishkin is a elderly religious Jew in New York. His wife Fanny is very ill. He's a tailor, but he can't work because his back has given out. He doesn't even have enough money for Fanny's medicine. Finally, a black fellow appears from nowhere in the Mishkin kitchen. He says he's an angel from God, sent to help Mishkin. The black angel is even Jewish, named Alex Levine? But will Morris believe in the angel? And can the angel perform the miracle that he promises? Written by Martin Lewison
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Epix & The Criterion Channel), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
20. Magnet of Doom
What it's about: A young boxer Michel Maudet is sacked by his manager after a series of match defeats and is forced to look for a new job. He is engaged as secretary to a millionaire named Ferchaux who is in a hurry to flee the country when he discovers he has been implicated in a high-profile fraud.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel).