New Documentary “DROP DEAD CITY” Explores New York’s Battle for Survival on the 50th Anniversary of the Fiscal Crisis that Nearly Bankrupted The City
Directed by Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn, DROP DEAD CITY documents a year in the life – and near-death – of an iconic American city: New York in 1975
New York, NY – March 19, 2025 – DROP DEAD CITY, a gripping new documentary about New York City’s 1975 fiscal crisis, that explores what life was like in the country’s largest city in the turbulent 1970s, is set to be released theatrically at New York’s IFC Center on Friday, April 25, 2025, the film’s directors announced today. Tickets will be available for purchase soon at https://www.ifccenter.com/films/drop-dead-city/. It will also be released on streaming platforms later this year (including Apple, Amazon and Google Play).
The film, which won the prestigious Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for film, and was the 2024 closing night feature of DOC NYC, is the first-ever feature documentary devoted to the NYC Fiscal Crisis of 1975. The film provides a remarkable look into an overlooked episode in urban American history that saw an already crumbling city of 8 million people brought to the brink of bankruptcy and social chaos by a perfect storm of debt, greed, ambitious social policy and poor governance.
Directed by Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn, the film weaves firsthand accounts with vibrant archival footage and a killer 70s soundtrack. DROP DEAD CITY is 100 percent archival and captures the drama, grit and resilience of New York City on the brink of ruin. It features some of the city’s legendary reporters, the urban scribes who documented daily life in New York, including Linda Greenhouse, Fred Ferretti, Charlayne Hunter Gault, and Gabe Pressman. Elected officials, union leaders and others involved in the civic life of the city also make appearances, including NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Congressman Charles Rangel, NYS Senator Manfred Ohrenstein, PR guru Howard Rubenstein, former NYC Comptroller Harrison Jay Goldin, former NYS Budget Director Peter Goldmark, Municipal Assistance Corporation Treasurer Donna Shalala, Public Advocate for New York City Betsy Gotbaum, and many more.
“Our goal as filmmakers was to honor the story and the people in it – the men and women who stepped up to deal with this challenge as well as the so-called ordinary New Yorkers who dealt with this uncertainty as a fact of life during this tumultuous period,” said directors Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn. “While the film often feels like a wild time machine ride to New York in its good old, bad days, we also hope it inspires conversations on how urban centers can fairly cope with the enormous challenges we face today.”In January 1974, two first-time candidates, New York City Mayor Abe Beame and New York Governor Hugh Carey, were elected. But nothing prepared either man for the reality that quickly came crashing down: New York City was on the verge of defaulting on hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds and loans and would soon run out of cash. As if a recession, urban blight and suburban flight weren’t challenging enough, the city’s accountants had no idea how much money was in the bank, how much was owed, or how much they would need to borrow.
Over the course of 1975, firehouses and public hospitals were closed, schools were shuttered, garbage piled up, rioting cops shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Bronx, and the rest of the city burned. The city often seemed to go from one crisis to another.
By the night of October 17, after the city seemed to have exhausted every remedy, the Mayor called the White House to inform the president that NYC would declare bankruptcy the next morning. He was told the president was asleep. The resulting, iconic New York Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" epitomized the political polarization of the moment and galvanized New Yorkers. Ford’s cruel rebuff would ultimately cost him the 1976 election, but more importantly it brought a city torn apart by massive layoffs and cutbacks back together.
In spite of it all – the presidential administration’s rising antipathy for East Coast liberalism, punishing terms from Wall Street, and the city’s own history of chronic economic and social disputation – New York City came together. Its rescue – which united unions, banks, politicians, and state and local institutions in an unlikely alliance – was as remarkable as the disaster itself.
The film captures the city on the cusp of change, a vibrant working-class center that was committed to social good, through free education and a wide array of public subsidies, along with a union culture that still contributed to the city’s public life. This sense of shared commitment aided the city’s survival, but it also forever changed life in the city itself.
DROP DEAD CITY is produced and directed by Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn. Executive produced by Karoline Durr. Archival Producer is Frauke Levin. Cinematography by Jerry Risius. Edited by Don Kleszy and Anna Auster. The film’s running time is 108 minutes.
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Media Contact: DropDeadCity@dkcnews.com
