With time, the story of New York’s 1975 fiscal crisis has narrowed into a tale of the Three Wise Men: Felix Rohatyn, the banker; Richard Ravitch, the real-estate developer; and Hugh Carey, the Governor—all rich, powerful, and civic-minded figures who teamed up to rescue the profligate Gotham from bankruptcy. Certainly, those three did a lot. But a new documentary, Drop Dead City, casts a wider net, giving voice to the cops, firemen, city officials, union leaders, and ordinary citizens who also did their part to help (and actually had a lot more to lose). The film’s title refers to the infamous New York Daily News headline, but what the grainy film footage conveys is a time when middle- and working-class people could still live in the city—not well (graffiti-covered subways, grime, and drugs) but vibrantly and with a sense of ownership. The fiscal crisis was averted, but New York changed forever. —Alessandra Stanley