A nice montage of some movie appearances is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsedxIoWFZo
In some, they were just a part of the distinctive background place-setting New York skyline, or a ground-level signifier of "downtown financial district'; in others, they were part of the action. Especially memorable was the 1976 'King Kong', which updated the 1933 version to have Kong climb the twin towers instead of the Empire State Building. Other films featured the observation deck, a popular tourist attraction.
1. Statue of Liberty, without question.
2. Twin Towers - showed up in just about shot of NYC put into mainstream media from the date of inception until destruction.
3. Empire State Building - Yes it is really recognizable but never got the media exposure of the WTC.
After that things get a little muddier. If I'm doing a top-5 I probably do something Times Square and Rockefeller Center to round out the big-5 pre-9/11.
The Empire State Building had been the tallest building in the world for almost 40 years, from 1931-1970.
It was arrival of the taller WTC twin towers in 1970, & to a lesser extent the proliferation of other midtown skyscrapers, that gradually chipped away at the Empire State Building's literal & figurative prominence.
There wasn't a movie made about NYC that didn't at some point feature the WTC in it either as part of the background shot.
Personally I'd probably rank the Top-5 post 9/11 as:
1. Statue of Liberty
2. Empire State Building
3. Times Square
4. Rockefeller Center
5. Chrysler Building
There's probably some fair arguments that these other buildings could make the top-5. In particular I think you could possibly swap out one of Rockefeller Center or The Chrysler Building for any of the below.
1. Yankee Stadium (well pretend Old and New are similar enough)
2. The Gugenheim
3. Madison Square Garden (I might be stretching with this one)
https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/110820/how-was-th...
