Since it began in 2020, Blu-ray label Fun City Editions has managed to sustain a consistent feel to its title selections even when they're branching out to everything from French thrillers to '70s westerns to L.A. hangout films. However, one constant evident by its name (a joking nickname that stuck in the '60s and '70s thanks to a quote from then-Mayor John Lindsay) is the presence of New York City, a star unto itself in that period and arguably more important than Hollywood itself for several years. That recurring focus resulted in a mammoth two-disc release in 2025, Welcome to Fun City, a collection of trailers, TV spots, and radio spots highlighting key titles released from 1964 to 1989. Extensive audio commentaries (split onto two tracks for each era, so plan your listening schedule accordingly) add enjoyable context to both the familiar and more obscure films, and the criteria here is that, apart from one TV spot, everything had to be sourced from a fresh film scan by the label itself. That means you won't see a few familiar entries included here (for example, Fame, Tootsie, The Hunger, Still of the Night, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, or any of Woody Allen's standalone '80s features), but what's here should easily be more than enough to keep you entertained and satisfied. It's also worth nothing that these are all American productions set more or less in the present day when they were filmed, so no period pieces or futuristic sci-fi here (a la Escape from New York or its Italian imitators).

By request there won't be a specific title rundown here, so pardon the vagueness here for the descriptions (and you can easily pinpoint some of the biggest titles here just from the cover art). Things start off with Sidney Lumet's big breakthrough film, and as one of the key NYC filmmakers, he makes several recurring appearances here including his famous takes on a real-life bank robbery, the slimy nature of American television, and multiple looks at corruption and honor within the NYPD, as well as his more obscure George Segal Jewish comedy. Also in the '60s section (the smallest one here) are a notorious Sal Mineo art-sleaze favorite, two TV spots for Roman Polanski's legendary apartment occult horror hit, the only X-rated Best Picture Oscar winner, a team up with Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, and a rare foray into NYC crime for Clint Eastwood. All bets are off once you get into the '70s, the biggest decade of Big Apple movies in history, including William Friedkin's groundbreaking gay theatrical adaptation and his Oscar-winning cop classic, Brian De Palma's second Robert De Niro counterculture film, Hal Ashby's comedy with Beau Bridges, Frank Perry's critically lauded study in suburban female strife, the middle entry in Paul Morrissey's big Joe Dallesandro trilogy, Milos Forman's first American film and his later superb version of the biggest hippie-era Broadway musical, several Dustin Hoffman vehicles including the one where he runs a lot from Nazis, every Woody Allen film from the '70s set in present day Manhattan, Art Carney's kitty cat buddy film, multiple blaxploitation classics including biggies with Richard Roundtree and Fred Williamson, Jane Fonda's giallo-flavored Oscar-winning thriller, multiple TV spots for Sydney Pollack's three-day chase thriller, three edgy Ralph Bakshi depictions of racial tension and sexuality in the big city, Martin Scorsese's big breakthrough film, the longest trailer out there yet for Brian De Palma's first Hitchcockian chiller (plus a cool TV spot), and lots, lots more.

The first disc covers the '70s up to 1976 and also comes with a substantial 62m33s batch of radio spots from the '60s through the '80s in alphabetical order. The second disc picks up in the '70s with Robert De Niro's legendary cabbie assassin classic (original and reissue trailers) and continues with a wide range of titles including Dino De Laurentiis' big monkey epic, Michael Winner's Satanic shocker in a Brooklyn brownstone, Walter Hill's high-octane gang classic, John Boorman's notorious horror sequel with Linda Blair, Jill Clayburgh's biggest starring hit, the biggest disco film of all time, and much more. The contrast is stark here when we shift gears to the '80s with a much higher quotient of action films (especially vigilante ones) along with three much-protested LGBT-themed thrillers, William Lustig's unrated splatter cult favorite, Abel Ferrara's multiple excursions into urban unease, the sequel to that big John Travolta smash, Frank Henenlotter's blood-spattered debut, a ghost-heavy comedy blockbuster, Ron Howard's hilarious prostitution comedy, Jim Henson's beloved felt characters taking the big city, Berry Gordy's supernatural kung fu passion project, Michael Douglas' ode to greed, more Paul Morrissey, and tons more, all wrapping up appropriately with a three-film anthology from filmmakers known for capturing the city at its finest. As you'd expect from past trailer comps on Blu-ray, quality here depends on the condition of the existing source with the oldest titles showing the most fading and turning quite pink in some cases. Quality tends to get better and more vibrant as the years pass by, and only a couple of extreme rarities are in what you might call rough condition. The DTS-HD MA 2.0 English track is primarily mono, but you'll here stereo in a few of the later ones once Dolby Stereo really got a hold on theaters nationwide.

The entire set comes with two audio commentaries -- the first continuous and the second more intermittent as a vast gallery of guests take turns tackling each film. As you can imagine, it's dizzying hearing them jamming as much info as possible into anything from 30 seconds to three minutes, with participants including Bill Ackerman, Jason Bailey, Margaret Barton-Fumo, Mitchell Beaupre, Brian Belovarac, Joe Berger, Cristina Cacioppo, Clyde Folley, Michael Gilio, Kelly Goodner, Ned Hastings, Jim Healy, Pat Healy, Jim Hemphill, Jonathan Hertzberg, Marc Heuck, Mike Hunchback, Jeff Kanew, Larry Karaszewski, Glenn Kenny, Mike Kenny, Scott Lucas, Josh Miller, Chris O'Neill, Chris Poggiali, Sean Price Williams, Dino Proserpio, Ben Reiser, Frank Santopadre, Brian Saur, Madelyn Sutton, Bill Teek, and Travis Woods. They're all great tracks to have on for casual listening as well since the pace is fast and often surprises you with a funny little anecdote about a theatrical venue or filming location. Also included is a cool insert booklet (loaded with classic ad mats about the films at hand and New York City in general) with an essay by Joseph A. Berger tracing the history of shooting and exhibiting in the city including pivotal films found in this set and their reflections of how urban life evolved in very dramatic phases over the years.

Reviewed on January 30, 2025