"Drop Dead City" Documentary Revisits 1975 Fiscal Crisis
New York Gov. Hugh L. Carey (right) tried to enact legislation to help New York City avoid bankruptcy during the 1975 fiscal crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Gorry, File)
The New York Daily News ran an indelible headline in 1975. With a towering font and a bold photo of the President, it read: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” At that time, New York City Mayor Abe Beame was pleading for a federal bailout and President Gerald Ford refused to budge. New York was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. That crisis became the spark for Michael Rohatyn and Peter Yost’s new film, "Drop Dead City."
Rohatyn, one of the film’s co-producers, directors, and writers, said his story built on the material gathered by the local reporters covering the story. “A lot of the film is made up of newsreels. It was a story and a crisis that was very much driven by journalism,” Rohatyn said.
Fellow producer-director Yost explained that capturing a story about this crisis was a tall order.
“It's invisible,” he said. “It's kind of wonky, but that drew us to it, and the more we dug, the more important it seemed.”
"Drop Dead City" screens at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m, followed by a panel discussion with Rohatyn and Yost, moderated by journalist and Fordham alumnus Steve Dunlop.
This story ran on the What’s What podcast from WFUV on Oct, 20, 2025.
