Movies Or Television Series' That Capture The Essence Of a City

[Razor]

Just out of curiosity, are there any movies or TV drama/Comedy series' that really capture the spirit of the city that they are set in? Even if they don't focus on the city itself per say, the characters they develop may do a good job with capturing the attitude perhaps? Local culture (isms)/references?..The neighborhood choices that they are set in? I also get, that a lot of movies or shows are filmed elsewhere.

Having been to Philadelphia, I felt a Philadelphia type vibe from Silver Linings Playbook regardless if my wife MADE me watch it

Kings of Queens?

Others?

Also list some that don't, and are way off mark, perhaps by being too satirical a la' The Trailer Park Boys for example.

[Pedestrian]

I thought the general vibe of southern Arizona, the Tucson region and the borderlands in general was right in "Sicario":

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And "Milk" did a good job on a particular period of San Francisco:

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[ChiSoxRox]

David Simon is the king of this.

The Wire for Baltimore, Treme for (post-Katrina) New Orleans.

[Steely Dan]

Cooley High is the best "Chicago" movie that almost no one knows about.

i think it's available to stream on prime.

if you have even a passing interest in chicago, you should watch it tonight.


yeah, i could mention more obvious shit like the blues brothers, or hoop dreams, or ferris bueller's day off, but everybody has seen those.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Cooley High is the best "Chicago" movie that almost no one knows about.

i think it's available to stream on prime.

if you have even a passing interest in chicago, you should watch it tonight.


yeah, i could mention more obvious shit like the blues brothers, or hoop dreams, or ferris bueller's day off, but everybody has seen those.

How about Shameless?..I get it! It,s pretty over the top, but does it capture even a hint of the essence of some of South Chicago? If you've seen it, Frank's eldest daughter has a accent, but to me it sounds NYC...Don't know..I like how the series has a lot of dreary winter days, and Chicago does have winter after all!..Why did they make them an Irish family though?..I would of thought 2nd or 3rd gen Polish..They make a lot of references to the L-Train, which to me is a strong identifier for Chicago, much like the NYC subway.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Razor

How about Shameless..

never seen it.

but looking into it, someone took a successful british show and "americanized" it by setting it in chicago, so it loses "chicago" credibility points for that alone.



Cooley High, on the other hand, is about teenagers growing up in cabrini-green in the '60s written by a guy (Eric Monte) who grew up in cabrini-green in the '60s.

so it's the real deal. or at least as real as comedy-dramas go.

it's a great movie!

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

never seen it.

but looking into to, someone took a successful british show and "americanized" it, so it loses credibility points for that point alone.



Cooley High, on the other hand, is about teenagers growing up in the projects in the '60s written by a guy who grew up in the projects in the '60s. so it's the real deal.

Okay, I will check it out, and now written down..in the meantime you may be sucked into Shameless if you caught the season 1 pilot..We are binge watching it ourselves right now..It went ten seasons, so that says a lot about it's staying power.it's real edgy..Here's a trailer for a quick glance..By all accounts, the American version is better..South side Chicago. It's also a bit of a comedy drama as well..That family is a train wreck after train wreck after (train wreck waiting to happen!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTiIVByydL8

[iheartthed]

So many get them wrong that it's hard to think of ones that get it right... these three do certain aspects of NYC very well, especially for the periods when they were set:

Crooklyn
The Devil Wears Prada
Sex and the City (tv show only -- haven't see the movies)

[Buckeye Native 001]

Not city specific, but King of the Hill and Letterkenny do pretty damn good jobs of capturing the essence of provincially-minded rural areas just far enough outside of a metro area's influence. I live in Northern Arizona and know way too many Dales, Boomhauers, Waynes, Darrels and Stewarts.

Also, Raising Arizona ain't satire or parody, its a documentary.

[homebucket]

SF - Mrs Doubtfire
LA - Crash, La La Land
Boston - Good Will Hunting

[Investing In Chicago]

The Soprano's

It just captures North Jersey so well, even just the intro with Tony coming out of the Lincoln tunnel with Manhattan in his rear view mirror and grabbing his NJ Turnpike ticket - it's clearly not a New York show, but Jersey.

The locations, the people, the slang it's very accurate imo.

[Streamliner]

I don't live there or was alive then, but my parents watched Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood and told me it did a really good job of capturing the feeling of LA during that era.

[sentinel]

I think 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' really captures Chicago well

If nothing else, I would love to see not-too-distant Chicago similar to how it's depicted in 'I, Robot'. Just not with semi-murderous robot friends. Nor with a dried-up Lake Michigan.

Growing up, I always like Family Matters, and their depiction of a working class family in the City.

[pdxtex]

Portland might be crafty and twee on the surface but underneath this place is dingy, violent, scatterbrain, moody and medicated to the core. Good Portland titles include Pig, Drugstore Cowboy, I, Tonya, Zero Effect and My Own Private Idaho. That one is my favorite. Sketchy 90s Portland will always be endearing.

[Busy Bee]

CHiPs for late 70s Los Angeles.

Anybody watch Early Edition with Kyle Chandler? I couldn't get enough of that chicago show when i was a kid. Set shows felt very "this city" or "that city" but that's not really the point of this thread right? Just as a side note i was a huge Perfect Strangers fan the way normal kids were SBTB fans.

[Busy Bee]

I watched Twin Peaks for the perfect way it encapsulated Twin Peaks.

[Busy Bee]

P.S. - 100% yes to Cooley High...one of my all time favorites.

Alright alright here's one movie for falling apart 1970s NYC:


_

[hauntedheadnc]

Having never been to Montreal I can't say for certain, but having read the novels of Kathy Reichs that are set there, it would seem the cop show 19-2 might do a good job of representing. It does seems to capture a certain godforsaken quality that you also find in Kathy Reichs' novels, and the characters in 19-2 do seem to appreciate their city. In one episode a veteran cop takes the rookie up to an overlook on the mountain with a sweeping view of downtown, and says he wants to the introduce the rookie to his wife: "I've been with her fifteen years and love her as much today as the first day I met her." -- or something like that. In another episode, two characters get drunk, head up the cross on the mountain, and muse about climbing it, and how the cross supposedly turns purple when the Pope dies -- and how cool it would be if he died right now so it would change colors. Things like that don't seem like throwaway details.

[BillM]

I think Welcome Back Kotter does a good job at capturing Brooklyn.

Same goes with Cheers for Boston.

[bigstick]

Designing Women
Married to Medicine
RHOA

Many more for Atlanta.