Sex and Violence in the City

Culture Gabfest

Dana Stevens and Stephen Metcalf are joined by Isaac Butler to discuss Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of West Side Story. Then Slate staff writer Heather Schwedel stops by to talk about And Just Like That, the “next chapter” in the lives of the characters from Sex and the City. And finally, they debate Vulture’s list of the “101 Best New York Movies Set in the Greatest City in the World” and add their own.

Dana’s list:

After Hours

The Cameraman

The Crowd

Do the Right Thing

Hester Street

Metropolitan

The Naked City

Rosemary's Baby

Shadows

The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3

Steve’s list:

The Apartment

Annie Hall

Desperately Seeking Susan

Dog Day Afternoon

Do the Right Thing

King of Comedy

Saturday Night Fever

Sweet Smell of Success

Wild Style

In the Slate Plus segment, Steve and Dana answer a question from listener Colin, via his friend Ezra: Which city block would you take to a desert island, and why?

Endorsements:

Dana: Two books about New York City and the movies: Fun City Cinema, by Jason Bailey, and Celluloid Skyline, by James Sanders.

Steve: The song “Watercolors,” from Between the Lines, by Janis Ian; and “Digging for Utopia,” Kwame Anthony Appiah’s review of David Graebner and David Wengrow’s recently published book The Dawn of Everything, in the New York Review of Books.

Email us at [e-mail].

Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Nadira Goffe.

Outro music is “Bloody Hunter” by Paisley Pink.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts, a bonus segment in each episode of the Culture Gabfest, full access to Slate's journalism on Slate.com, and more. Sign up now at slate.com/cultureplus.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices