Ralph Bunche Park

Ralph Bunche Park is a small public park in Midtown Manhattan, squeezed between First Avenue and the elevated streets of Tudor City directly opposite the United Nations Headquarters. The park was created around the time the United Nations complex was built in the late 1940s, when First Avenue was widened and the old street pattern along the eastern edge of Tudor City was substantially altered. Originally known as United Nations Plaza Park, it was renamed Ralph J. Bunche Park in 1979 in honour of the American diplomat and political scientist Ralph Bunche, who worked for the United Nations and became the first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize when he was awarded the honour in 1950. Despite covering less than a quarter of an acre, the park contains several notable monuments. Most recognisable is the curved granite Isaiah Wall, inscribed with the biblical passage beginning “They shall beat their swords into plowshares”, beside a winding staircase connecting First Avenue with East 43rd Street above. The staircase was named the Sharansky Steps in 1981 after Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. In front of the wall stands Peace Form One, a 50-foot stainless-steel obelisk by Daniel LaRue Johnson dedicated to Bunche in 1980, while a plaque at the southern end commemorates civil-rights leader Bayard Rustin. The park was formally designated New York City’s first Peace Park in 1985 and, because of its position directly opposite the United Nations, has long been used for demonstrations and gatherings concerning international affairs.

Ralph Bunche Park has appeared in Ciao! Manhattan (1972), A Perfect Murder (1998) and U.S. Marshals (1998). The Isaiah Wall and the adjoining Sharansky Steps are particularly recognisable in Ciao! Manhattan (1972) and U.S. Marshals (1998), while A Perfect Murder (1998) uses the park together with the East 43rd Street cul-de-sac above it for a short sequence involving Emily Taylor, her husband Steven and her lover David Shaw. The location works especially well on screen because the United Nations Headquarters is immediately across First Avenue, while the steep rise into Tudor City gives filmmakers several very different-looking settings within only a few metres.

In Ciao! Manhattan (1972), Ralph Bunche Park appears during a sequence filmed in Tudor City in the spring of 1967, several years before the troubled production was finally completed. Edie Sedgwick and Paul America are first seen taking in the view towards the United Nations and East River from Tudor City before joining Viva and the others. The group then moves around the corner to the Isaiah Wall, where Sedgwick turns the location into an impromptu fashion shoot. Wearing a leopard-patterned coat, she poses dramatically around the stairwell and against the wall beside Prospect Tower, with Baby Jane Holzer among the group. The scene has the loose, improvised quality found throughout much of the film, and the real Tudor City surroundings are used almost exactly as they existed rather than being disguised as another location. Co-director David Weisman lived nearby at 336 East 43rd Street at the time, making the area an especially convenient location for the production.

In A Perfect Murder (1998), Ralph Bunche Park and the adjoining East 43rd Street cul-de-sac are used during a brief but easily recognisable scene involving Emily Taylor and her lover David Shaw. Emily is on her lunch break from her job at the United Nations and is supposed to meet David, who is waiting for her at the elevated end of East 43rd Street above the park. Before she reaches him, however, her husband Steven unexpectedly intercepts her on First Avenue and suggests that they have lunch together. David watches from above as Emily gets into Steven’s black car and drives away. The scene is filmed looking uphill from the Ralph Bunche Park side towards David, with the Chrysler Building clearly visible far behind him. Also visible beside him is one of the distinctive U.N. Way lampposts decorated with the flags of United Nations member states, part of a streetscape installed along East 43rd Street in the mid-1990s. The unusual difference in elevation between First Avenue and Tudor City allows David to remain physically separated from Emily while still watching what happens below, making the real geography of Ralph Bunche Park an important part of how the scene is staged.

In U.S. Marshals (1998), Ralph Bunche Park appears after fugitive Mark Sheridan returns to New York while trying to uncover the conspiracy that has left him accused of murdering two federal agents. Sheridan is shown beside the Isaiah Wall while looking for somewhere to stay near the United Nations. He rents an apartment in neighbouring Prospect Tower at 45 Tudor City Place, attracted in part by its commanding view towards the United Nations complex. The location is particularly useful to him because he is secretly watching Chinese diplomat Xiang Chen, whose involvement may help him discover who framed him. Gerard and his team eventually trace Sheridan to Prospect Tower after the building’s deskman recognises his photograph, but Sheridan has already managed to slip away. The sequence links Ralph Bunche Park directly with the neighbouring apartment building: the Isaiah Wall introduces Sheridan’s arrival in Tudor City before the action moves only a few metres uphill into Prospect Tower.

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