7. Enchanted

When you take a fairytale princess out of the animated world of make believe and drop her into the gritty reality of Manhattan you have the makings of a very entertaining movie. The perfect place for the city to meet the wonderfully imagined universe of Disney filmmakers is Central Park, and the movie "Enchanted" is the perfect product of that union. From the narration by Julie Andrews to the whimsically engaging character of the Princess as portrayed by Amy Adams director Kevin Lima captures all the magic of Central Park by staging production numbers in various iconic sites around the park. The biggest of these is an amazingly choreographed song and dance that transforms Bethesda Fountain into the definition of the word Hollywood Spectacular. Central park never looked more magical.

6. When Harry Met Sally

"When Harry Met Sally" - if not the quintessential Manhattan love story, then certainly the quintessential Central Park love story. A case of boy meets girl, boy estranges girl through inexcusably boorish behavior and then boy slowly discovers self, along with true feelings for girl, through a series of wryly drawn, semiotically witty scenes cast against a romantically understated backdrop. Sally's luncheon with her friends at the Central Park Boathouse restaurant is a microcosm of 1980's feminism - underwear incendiary defiance meets droll relationship realism. Their autumn stroll along the Mall is the perfect backdrop for the subtle change in their relationship as it slowly evolves into friendship. And the Temple of Dendor scene finishes the Central Park trifecta as Harry starts to realize that his latent expectations are needs that have to be acknowledged. Nora Ephron's brilliant script captures the evolution of love between Harry and Sally, and Central Park provides the perfect canvas on which to paint this touchingly funny urban romance.

5. The World of Henry Orient

One example of Central Park in which the park plays a supporting dramatic role itself would be "The World of Henry Orient", 1964, directed by George Roy Hill. In this movie the park is seen in autumn, a cheerful, pretty landscape that provides the back drop for the afternoon frolics of two young girls, played by Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth. It’s the scene of a day long fantasy, chasing over and under bridges, around lakes and statues that bonds the two together. It is also the trysting place of Peter Sellers and Paula Prentiss, which the girls discover to Seller's everlasting chagrin. Later in the movie, when Spaeth is searching for her missing friend, we see her wondering through a snow covered park, a bleak and barren landscape, all grey frost and frozen ground. George Roy Hill uses the changing season and background of the landscape to echo the dramatic conflict taking place between the characters.