NEW YORK CITY FILM LOCATIONS

In 2001 me and Missus Moonbase visited New York City but we missed out on the Cloisters. 

Its a shame as it does look like a fascinating old building perched high up on the banks of the Hudson. Its a medieval museum.

Seeing pictures of it always reminds me of Karlsbad Castle  from the 1966 film Dracula Price of Darkness.

Its high perch recalls the mysterious castle in the seminal independent horror movie and Evil Dead forerunner, Equinox from 1970 created by ILM luminary Dennis Muren and Jack Woods [despite my Grandad's name he's sadly no relation].

I was reminded of the Cloisters last week when I read Brain, a medical thriller by Robin Cook from 1981. The protagonist of the story, Dr. Philips, investigating missing brains, ends up disguised as a hobo outside the building nearing the book's cranial climax.

Possibly the first time I saw the Cloisters was in the sixties flick Coogan's Bluff from 1968 starring Clint Eastwood as Texas cop Coogan causing cowboy boot mayhem in the Big Apple. 

He's seen here near the Cloisters with his stetson's love interest, the probation officer Julie Roth. Coogan's Bluff is itself a high landmark in NYC giving the title of the film locally a double meaning.

Further uptown in New York is the Jackie Onassis reservoir in Central Park. We saw it when we visited in 2001. 

It's ringed by the Shuman Running Track, which I first became aware of on the back album cover of Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits from 1972. The essence of the denimed Seventies, they sit track-side in front of the reservoir's iconic chain link fence.

The next time I saw the track, fence and reservoir was in the film Marathon Man from 1976. You know the one, Dustin Hoffman get's his bad tooth drilled without magic gas. 

Old Dust can be seen legging it round the Shuman track at the start of the flick setting up the idea that he can run a looooong way. You Tube help out with this clip:

Nowadays, the Shuman Running Track has been sadly gentrified, the chain link fence has gone having made way for a tasteful bit of Victorian iron. Even Dustin is walking and admiring the view.

Have you visited any film locations in New York readers?