Empire City (1985)
The City That Never Sleeps
89 min
A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political and cultural figures. Made at a time when the city was experiencing unprecedented real estate development on the one hand and unforeseen displacement of population and deterioration on the other. Empire City is the story of two New Yorks. The film explores the precarious coexistence of the service-based midtown Manhattan corporate headquarters with the peripheral New York of undereducated minorities living in increasing alienation.
- Release date
- July 1, 1985
- Country of origin
- United States
Cast
- Brooke Astor as Self
- Louis Auchincloss as Self
- Herman Badillo as Self
- John Davis as Self
- Victor Gotbaum as Self
- Jane Jacobs as Self
- Philip Johnson as Self
- Elia Kazan as Self
- Ed Koch as Self
- Henry Livingston as Self
Crew
- Michael Blackwood · Director
- Frances Fitzgerald · Writer
- Michael Blackwood · Producer
- Philip Glass · Composer
- Mead Hunt · Cinematographer
- Ned Bastille · Editor