[2] Some claim that New York Movie is a counterpart to Édouard Manet's 1882 A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, with the usherette a modern representation of the waitress.

[7] Others claim that New York Movie and other paintings of city life are Hopper's ode to the warmth and endurance of the human spirit in the midst of the dehumanizing existence that is mass living.

[13] Through an anonymous donation, New York Movie is currently hanging in the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries in the Museum of Modern Art.

[15] Gerald Locklin, English poet and professor at California State University, also wrote a poem titled "edward hopper; new york movie, 1939".

[20] Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, has a scene where the heroine Shosanna stands at an empty lobby in shadowy lighting; the way she places her hand on her chin evokes Hopper's painting.