The script for this movie was originally written over a decade ago, but was put on the backburner until recently, and its datedness shows. For one thing, there are no phone booths, not on 53rd Street, or for that matter, anywhere in New York. Even if there were, they wouldn’t have “Bell Atlantic” labels on them, because that company doesn’t exist anymore. It’s now called Verizon. There are no street walkers or adult-only businesses there either, and haven’t been since the early days of the Giuliani administration. Any hookers that are in Manhattan likely use cell phones.

Even aside from the dated look of the movie, the recreation of West 53rd ST., which was shot on a Hollywood soundstage, is full of mistakes. The street, for example, is mysteriously wide as an Avenue. The curbs are much higher than they should be, and the buildings are set back much farther from the street than they should be. Studio 54 and the Ed Sullivan Theater should be on the north side of the street, and the back of Roseland should be on the south. There is a subway entrance in the scene that’s a block west of where it should be.

Geez, did you take a little trip across the border and take pictures? Do you drive by this street everyday? Internet pics? Just curious.

The sniper told Stu that Channels 2 and 5 were coming to see him yet the TVs and news vans seem to show that in fact 6 and 8 are covering the stories. Did anyone see channels 2 or 5?

Well, the script was right, even if the props weren't. Channel 2 (WCBS) is the CBS O&O station in NY, 5 (WNYW) is the FOX affiliate. The nearest Channel 6 is in Philadelphia, and the nearest Channel 8 is in Connecticut. (Broadcast channels, that is -- many cable companies use the wavelenths for "cable network" channels [like USA], premium channels [like HBO] or local programming)

JoshM: Geez, did you take a little trip across the border and take pictures?
Luigi Novi: Border? What border? What, I live in Mexico, now?

Most of what I wrote is common knowledge to anyone who lives or works in New York every day. Only the information in the last two sentences is stuff that was pointed out to me. The stuff about the phone booth is stuff I knew before the movie even came out. (After all, the title itself refers to something that everyone knows cannot be found in NYC.)

"(After all, the title itself refers to something that everyone knows cannot be found in NYC.)"

Which is why Clark Kent moved to Metropolis.

Luigi Novi: Border? What border? What, I live in Mexico, now?
Oh, I thought that you lived in NJ.

Yes, but the Hudson is not the Rio Grande. It demaks the State Line, not the National Border.

I meant the state border. NJ and NY are still separate states right?

I know, but between states it's called the Stare Line. There are no customs inspectors or border patrol. This is a nitpickers site after all.

Okay, I wasn't sure what you meant, Josh. Yes, I "take a little trip" all the time, as most of my work is in the city, but no, I didn't need to take pictures.

Ooops!!!

That should be State Line, not Stare Line. (Although I do remember times when I was going to school in Hoboken that I would zone out and just admire the skyline across the river.)

Hmph. So you were a Red Wing, huh?

(grimacing) I should've known....

What's a Red Wing?

The Redwings. Hoboken High School. Were they not around when you were there? Or did you only go to grammar school there?

I never lived in Hoboken. I only went to college there. Stevens Institute of Technology. Up on the point (Castle Point), with it's terrific view of the NYC skyline.

I know, but between states it's called the Stare Line. There are no customs inspectors or border patrol. This is a nitpickers site after all.
Or a state border. People call it that too.

Can you actually phone pay phones in New York, or elsewhere in the US? In this part of Canada you can't phone a pay phone anymore.

You used to be able to... I haven't tried it for years. Anybody else know?

Random tibit: At one point, Jim Carrey (still collecting prases for The Truman Show) was supposed to star in this. I also heard that Wesley Snipes was supposed to be the sniper.

Actually Snipes was in otherher film called Liberty Stands Still where he plays a sniper who calls a mark over the phone.

He's got the right name for it.

You can can call some pay phones in the USA, usually they have a number printed on the phone so that you can give it to someone to call you back, this was big back in the days when everyone had pagers instead of cell phones.

Younger movie goer (late teens to early 20's):

What's a phone booth?