{"id":26739,"date":"2012-07-25T13:40:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26739"},"modified":"2021-01-08T20:55:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T03:55:29","slug":"woody-allen-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26739","title":{"rendered":"Woody Allen Round-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Woody-Allen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Woody-Allen-108x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Woody Allen\" width=\"108\" height=\"128\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-26740\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Woody-Allen-108x128.jpg 108w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Woody-Allen-253x300.jpg 253w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Woody-Allen.jpg 338w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 108px) 100vw, 108px\" \/><\/a>I&#8217;ve now posted on all 18 of the Woody Allen titles listed in Peary&#8217;s <em>GFTFF<\/em> &#8212; which happens to cover every single feature he directed (and\/or starred in) up to the time of the book&#8217;s release. Interestingly, I&#8217;m voting all but one as &#8220;Must See&#8221; &#8212; providing evidence either of Allen&#8217;s indisputable genius during the first half of his lengthy career, and\/or my personal fondness for his work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1281\"><em>What&#8217;s Up, Tiger Lily?<\/em> (1966)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26606\"><em>Take the Money and Run<\/em> (1969)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26565\"><em>Bananas<\/em> (1971)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1279\"><em>Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask<\/em> (1972)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3814\"><em>Play It Again, Sam<\/em> (1972)<\/a> (directed by Herbert Ross) &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7183\"><em>Sleeper<\/em> (1973)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26419\"><em>Love and Death<\/em> (1975)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26580\"><em>The Front<\/em> (1976)<\/a> (directed by Martin Ritt; written by Walter Bernstein) &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26700\"><em>Annie Hall<\/em> (1977)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26676\"><em>Interiors<\/em> (1978)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5188\"><em>Manhattan<\/em> (1979)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26596\"><em>Stardust Memories<\/em> (1980)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5753\"><em>A Midsummer Night&#8217;s Sex Comedy<\/em> (1982)<\/a> <strong>(not must see)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5717\"><em>Zelig<\/em> (1983)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26669\"><em>Broadway Danny Rose<\/em> (1984)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26546\"><em>The Purple Rose of Cairo<\/em> (1985)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26621\"><em>Hannah and Her Sisters<\/em> (1986)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26587\"><em>Radio Days<\/em> (1987)<\/a> &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For Allen fans, it&#8217;s nearly impossible to pick a favorite title from the above list, or even a few favorites, given that so many of his earlier movies delight on a variety of different levels. Like many others, I have a personal fondness for <em>Annie Hall<\/em> (it&#8217;s probably the Allen title I find most consistently clever, enjoyable, and romantic) &#8212; but I also wouldn&#8217;t want to live without repeat visits of <em>Sleeper<\/em> or <em>Zelig<\/em> (close runners-up). <em>Manhattan<\/em> earns my dubious vote as the most highly regarded Allen film which I find least personally satisfying, though (naturally) there&#8217;s much about it to appreciate &#8212; and I&#8217;ll try it again in later years to see if my opinion has changed.  <\/p>\n<p>Having recently rewatched so many of Allen&#8217;s films during a short period of time, I&#8217;m once again enormously impressed by the trajectory of his creative vision &#8212; shifting from his &#8220;early, funny&#8221; films (each an enjoyably gonzo comedic treat), to the heartbreaking yet life-affirming insight of <em>Annie Hall<\/em>, to the devastating emotional rigor of <em>Interiors<\/em>, to the complexity and joy of <em>Hannah and Her Sisters<\/em>. Meanwhile, those interested in tracing thematic trends across an auteur&#8217;s lifelong vision will surely have a field day with Allen&#8217;s work, given how much of it is based so closely on elements of his own life &#8212; carefully crafted as fictional narrative, yet oh-so-clearly a manifestation of his own idiosyncrasies and interests. Some parallels are obvious &#8212; i.e., the close overlap between the three grown sisters in <em>Interiors<\/em> and those in <em>Hannah and Her Sisters<\/em>. Others are subtler &#8212; i.e., as Peary astutely points out in <em>Cult Movies 3<\/em>, the connection between Alvy Singer&#8217;s initially liberating yet ultimately claustrophobic &#8220;mentoring&#8221; of &#8220;naive&#8221; Annie Hall, and the &#8220;imposing, Nosferatu-like&#8221; role played by &#8220;Max von Sydow as Barbara Hershey&#8217;s possessive, soon-to-be-dumped mentor&#8221; in <em>Hannah and Her Sisters<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Any discussion of Allen&#8217;s career would, of course, be incomplete without mentioning what he&#8217;s produced since 1987 &#8212; which amounts to an astonishing film-a-year, much of it (unfortunately) not worthy of a film fanatic&#8217;s attention. Below is a chronological list of his theatrically-released full-length features as of 2012:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>September<\/em> (1987)<\/li>\n<li><em>Another Woman<\/em> (1988) <strong>(not must see, but recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/em> (1989) &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><em>Alice<\/em> (1990) <strong>(not must see, but recommended for Allen fans)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Shadows and Fog<\/em> (1991)<\/li>\n<li><em>Husbands and Wives<\/em> (1992) <strong>(not must see, but recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Manhattan Murder Mystery<\/em> (1993) &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><em>Bullets Over Broadway<\/em> (1994)<\/li>\n<li><em>Mighty Aphrodite<\/em> (1995) <strong>(not must see, but recommended simply for Sorvino&#8217;s performance)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Everyone Says I Love You<\/em> (1996)<\/li>\n<li><em>Deconstructing Harry<\/em> (1997) <strong>(not must see, but recommended once for diehard Allen fans)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Celebrity<\/em> (1998)<\/li>\n<li><em>Sweet and Lowdown<\/em> (1999)<\/li>\n<li><em>Small Time Crooks<\/em> (2000) &#8212; <span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">MUST SEE<\/span><\/li>\n<li><em>The Curse of the Jade Scorpion<\/em> (2001) <strong>(not must see, but recommended for Allen fans)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Hollywood Ending<\/em> (2002)<\/li>\n<li><em>Anything Else<\/em> (2003) <strong>(not must see; skip this one)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Melinda and Melinda<\/em> (2004)<\/li>\n<li><em>Match Point<\/em> (2005)<\/li>\n<li><em>Scoop<\/em> (2006) <strong>(not must see, but recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Cassandra&#8217;s Dream<\/em> (2007) <strong>(not must see, but recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Vicky Cristina Barcelona<\/em> (2008) <strong>(not must see)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Whatever Works<\/em> (2009) <strong>(not must see)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger<\/em> (2010) <strong>(not must see, but mildly recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>Midnight in Paris<\/em> (2011) <strong>(not must see, but recommended)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>To Rome with Love<\/em> (2012)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s been too long since I&#8217;ve seen many of these films to say definitively whether I&#8217;d vote them as &#8220;modern must-see&#8221; titles or not &#8212; but the ratio of essential to non-essential titles in this list will certainly be much, much lower. I&#8217;ll check back in later, as I rewatch the second half of Allen&#8217;s oeuvre and carefully select the wheat from the chaff. [<strong>ADDENDUM:<\/strong> I&#8217;m casting my votes now, as I rewatch these later titles; as predicted, very few are &#8220;must see&#8221;, though a surprising number are recommended &#8212; at least for Allen fans.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S. (8\/9\/12):<\/strong> I recently stumbled upon this indispensable website\/blog for Allen fans:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.everywoodyallenmovie.com\/\">http:\/\/www.everywoodyallenmovie.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s dedicated to much the same project I&#8217;ve been engaged in myself recently, albeit on a grander, much more detailed scale. You&#8217;ll find yourself unable to stop clicking from title to title, reading Trevor&#8217;s insights into each Allen film as he watches them in chronological order and makes extensive thematic connections. What&#8217;s most interesting to me is how strongly we differ in our critical opinions of many of Allen&#8217;s later titles, demonstrating once again how fickle and subjective Allen-allegiance can be; I think it ultimately comes down to each viewer needing to decide for him\/herself whether any given (post-1987) title is worth watching or not. At any rate, definitely check his site out! <\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S.S. (1\/8\/21):<\/strong> Well, life keeps evolving, as does the internet. It appears that everywoodyallenfilm.com is no longer, and I can&#8217;t find traces of it anywhere &#8212; however, for diehard fans, there are other sites devoted to covering Allen&#8217;s oeuvre and ongoing projects, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodyallen.com\/\">https:\/\/www.woodyallen.com\/<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.woodyallenpages.com\/\">http:\/\/www.woodyallenpages.com\/<\/a>. Allen has remained as prolific as ever, continuing to churn out roughly a movie a year since 2012 for a total of 7 additional feature-length films and a T.V. mini-series &#8212; none of which, sadly, I have any interest in checking out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve now posted on all 18 of the Woody Allen titles listed in Peary&#8217;s GFTFF &#8212; which happens to cover every single feature he directed (and\/or starred in) up to the time of the book&#8217;s release. Interestingly, I&#8217;m voting all but one as &#8220;Must See&#8221; &#8212; providing evidence either of Allen&#8217;s indisputable genius during the first half of his lengthy career, and\/or my personal fondness for his work: What&#8217;s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) &#8212; MUST SEE Take the Money and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=26739\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogroll"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26739"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62418,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26739\/revisions\/62418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}