Beats gooey nachos: retro sweets.

We love watching old movies in hotel screening rooms, the ultimate anti-multiplex (the chairs! the sound system! the champagne!).

Last month W New York Downtown initiated “New York in Film,” a smart if brief summer series of old movies curated by savvy New Yorkers. And just like that W joined the (too) small society of New York hotels, including the Crosby Street Hotel and Tribeca Grand, that screen movies to anyone who purchases a ticket, not just red carpeters and opening nighers.

Round one was Sweet Charity, chosen – and chatted up — by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. On July 31, the series wraps with Midnight Cowboy (1969), John Schlesinger’s dark drama with Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo and Jon Voight as John Buck, hand-picked by director Spike Lee who calls the movie “an example of how New York can be so glorious and painful at the same time.”

Like Mizrahi, Lee will attend the screening and introduce the film. What can you expect? Great candy, for starters. Here’s our take on Mizrahi night.

The $30 ticket includes the movie, open bar, a dazzling selection of retro sweets and an opportunity to check out the 360-degree views from the Private Residences Lounge on the W’s 31^st floor.  Proceeds go to the NYU Film School, Lee’s charity of choice.

W New York Downtown, 123 Washington Street (entrance at Albany Street); 646 826-8600. Tickets for the July 31 screening can be purchased at http://www.whotelsnewyork.com/calendar

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