Queens makes for great moments on the big and small screens. Here are my top DVD picks for movies and television set in Queens.
Eddie Murphy is at his peak of hilarity in the 1988 comedy Coming to America. It tells the story of an African prince who goes to find his future wife and queen in a land fit for a king's spouse: Queens. With Arsenio Hall as Semmi, his sidekick , Murphy's Prince Akeen works at McDowell's, a knock-off McDonald's on Queens Boulevard, and falls in love. Murphy and Hall shine as they each play multiple roles.
Norman Lear's taboo-breaking 1970s television series stars Carroll O'Connor as bigoted, working class family man Archie Bunker who knocks heads with his wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers), and son in-law "Meathead" Stivic (Rob Reiner). A classic TV series, it raised the bar for frank humor, and also pigeon-holed Queens residents for years.
Catch the first season of this top-rated Queens sit-com. Doug (Kevin James), an absent-minded Queens-based UPS delivery man, and Carrie, his wife, live in the same house as her father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller). As man's man Doug tries to balance time with his pals and time with his wife, it becomes clear that Carrie wears the pants in the household.
What can we say? It was the greatest. The Mets were one strike away from losing the World Series to the Boston Red Sox. You have to see it to believe it. Unfortunately, the whole 1986 series is not yet available on DVD, just high-point Game 6.
This 1991 movie starring Kevin Bacon tells the story of friends who grew up together in Astoria reuniting for a wedding. It's a nostalgic, character-driven portait of old friends.
