Gimme five New York film locations

Jim Keeble5 April 2012
I'll have one of those

Down on East Houston Street on the Lower East Side: Katz Deli is one of New York's best-known diners. It would be an exaggeration to say that the food is orgasm-inducing, but Keeble's friend Peppa was willing to give Meg Ryan's famous faking a go in When Harry Met Sally (1989). "I'll have whatever she's having," whispered a diner nearby.

Who you gonna call?

The New York Public Library on 5th Avenue was the location for the famous scene in Ghostbusters (1984), where a bibliophile spook terrifies Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, before chasing them out into the street. Here we see Keeble, Peppa Lang and innocent passer-by Jose Cortez, whose terror is wholly genuine.

Bridge of sighs

New York City is always the star in Woody Allen's movies. Diane Keaton, who won an Oscar, plays neurotic, wacky Annie against Allen as neurotic, wacky Allen in Annie Hall (1977). Some of the more tender moments in the film take place behind the shopping mall of South Street Sea Port, down on the East River, with the majestic Brooklyn Bridge as the backdrop. Peppa Lang's performance earned vigorous applause from two cleaners. Keeble's Woody Allen was less successful ("Love is too weak a word for what I feel - I luff you, two F's"), although he put this down to a height difference, and the fact that he's not Jewish.

Look like an Italian

In Scent of a Woman (1992), Al Pacino won Best Actor playing blind Major Frank Slade, who comes to New York for one last weekend of hedonism before he plans to commit suicide. Accompanied by innocent student sidekick Chris O'Donnell, Al has a fine old time of it: booking a suite at the Plaza, tangoing with a beautiful woman and driving a Ferrari. Eventually, in a moving scene in one of the Plaza's suites, Chris manages to talk Al out of shooting himself and helps to restore his faith in life (cue tears and applause). Unable to afford the suite, Keeble has to make do with the street outside the Plaza to re-enact Pacino's resurrection by looking as short and Italian as a six-footer from Cambridge possibly can. The resemblance to America's greatest thespian is uncanny.

Excuse me, were you addressing me?

In Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), Oscar-nominated Robert De Niro prowls the mean streets of the East Village obsessing about 12-year-old Jodie Foster. The Variety Theatre on 3rd Avenue in the East Village is the scene of De Niro's first "date" with Foster (he takes her to see a porno flick). For a $10 tip, Keeble's own taxi driver let him strip down to a T-shirt in the back, then pose in the driver's seat looking mean. There are few performances more bristling with New York attitude than this - we know you'll agree.

Way to go

Jim Keeble travelled to New York with British Airways Holidays (0870 2424243); two-night breaks from £399 B&B including flights.

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