“There are eight million stories in the naked city.”

September 14, 2014 12:07 PM

No, the above quote is not the answer to “How many total episodes are there of the various “Law & Order” franchises?”. In actuality, those nine words conclude one of the most exciting films of the 1940’s (and the direct ancestor of Dick Wolf’s prolific franchise). Welcome to “The Naked City”.

Released in 1948, the film is the story of a murder in New York City and the police detectives who track down the killer. There’s nothing original about this premise all by itself, but the execution made it memorable. Much like “Law & Order” does today (but far less typical at the time it was made), “The Naked City” is filmed almost entirely on location in NYC. Producer Mark Hellinger was a native New Yorker and intended the film to be a love letter to the city.

Here’s a look at a number of the locations then and now. Oh, and a young Stanley Kubrick was working as a photographer for Look magazine at the time and took a number of behind-the-scene shots.

Ten years after the movie premiered, the ABC television network debuted a TV series by the same name which ran for five years. It mirrored the film with its police procedural format and the use of location shots. The series would later be sited by critics and even Wolf himself as an inspiration for “Law & Order”

Entire film here.

posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI (12 comments total)

Fun stuff--thanks! And in the US, at least, the TV series appears to be available on Hulu.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:40 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Anyone who loves NYC should see this film; I just wish I'd had that locations page available when I watched it. I have to say, though, as much as I appreciate the work they did pinning down the locations, I wish they'd gone to a little more trouble to match the "now" shots to the movie stills. The Times Square one in particular is almost insulting: yup, that's Times Square all right!
posted by languagehat at 12:54 PM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

I think the TV series was shown her in the UK when I was a kid too. If memory serves, each episode ended with the words, "There are eight million stores in the naked city - this has been one of them".
posted by Paul Slade at 1:37 PM on September 14, 2014

There are eight million stories in the naked city -- this has been one of them.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:53 PM on September 14, 2014

Great movie! Thanks for this.
posted by lownote at 2:21 PM on September 14, 2014

I wanted to like this movie but the narration and endless expository dialogue were too much for me. I gave up when at round the 30 minute mark they start to lay out the facts again on a friggin' chalk board.

But that was a few years ago. Maybe I'll give it another chance.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 2:25 PM on September 14, 2014

"There are eight million stories in the naked city -- this has been one of them."

Good point.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:01 PM on September 14, 2014

I really disliked the film, with the exception of that superb final chase scene. I think it was to do with the fact that I found the characters so uncompelling and the mystery/detective work itself fairly staid. Its story pales in comparison to many of the radioplays of that time - though the television series, from what I've seen, seems an improvement on the film.
posted by filmvisuality at 4:49 PM on September 14, 2014

Oh Christ on a pogo, I hate overreliance on Google Street View. If you can't go to the place and take a goddamn picture, maybe you should rethink your blog project.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:20 PM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

For what it’s worth, there’s a similar project concerning the TV show 'Route 66'. 'Route 66', helmed by 'Naked City' series creator Stirling Silliphant and Herbert B. Leonard, was a 1960’s cross-country road trip series (The A.V. Club has a great write-up on it, for those who are curious) and, just like with 'Naked City', they insisted on shooting each episode on location. Slowly but surely, Ohio 66 has been compiling a number of ‘then and now’ shots from locations featured in 'Route 66' episodes.

[Edit: removed some embarrassing redundancy. It's my first time commenting, so please be gentle!]
posted by gturner at 8:22 PM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

whoops I thought the above quote was a reference to a JayZ lyric:

8 million stories out there in the naked City
It's a pity half of y’all won’t make it
Me I gotta plug Special Ed "I Got It Made"
If Jeezy's paying LeBron, I’m paying Dwyane Wade
3 dice Cee-lo, 3 card Marley
Labor Day Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley
Statue of Liberty, long live the World trade
Long live the king, yo; I’m from the Empire State, that's
New York


Reading the back story makes me respect his rap talent even more
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:48 AM on September 15, 2014

I watched that show as a child, and I always wanted to know: if there were 8 million stories about the naked city, why did they need to show reruns?
posted by ubiquity at 10:57 AM on September 15, 2014