No. 40: Manhattan

1979, dir. Woody Allen. Manhattan isn’t quite Woody Allen’s artistic high-water mark. (Annie Hall takes that prize.) But it’s a close second: a hilarious, heart-rending romantic comedy that’s both an echt-late-’70s period piece—bell bottoms! Equal Rights Amendment fund-raisers!—and a timeless valentine to Gotham, highlighted by Gordon Willis’ sublime black-and-white cinematography. “No matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black-and-white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.”