Your Five Favorite Woody Allen Movies--and Why

[Fletch]

Love the use of the Art Tatum-Ben Webster sides, the mentioning of Sam Waterston character's father having been blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and the fact that music and foreign films figure in these people's lives, like most people who populate Allen's films.

All right, great, but at the same time, Allen could be said to "claim" the music on his soundtracks as a kind of cultural property. In a way, he restamps it with a certain authenticity of place and context as well as time, as something that might even rightfully "belong" to his kind of folks: a certain generation and class of intellectual New Yorkers.

Whether it actually is most relevant to a certain generation and class of intellectual New Yorkers could be argued, but there is some body of critical analysis that says it's great enough to belong to the ages. (Then again, if the critics mostly come from that generation of New Yorkers, there's a real question...)

 

[Nathan Dodge]

All right, great, but at the same time, Allen could be said to "claim" the music on his soundtracks as a kind of cultural property. In a way, he restamps it with a certain authenticity of place and context as well as time, as something that might even rightfully "belong" to his kind of folks: a certain generation and class of intellectual New Yorkers.

Whether it actually is most relevant to a certain generation and class of intellectual New Yorkers could be argued, but there is some body of critical analysis that says it's great enough to belong to the ages. (Then again, if the critics mostly come from that generation of New Yorkers, there's a real question...)

I'm not so sure the baby boomers--or anyone else--can claim "ownership" of that music. I've always viewed the presence of that (mostly) pre-1950--Allen's self-proclaimed "cut off year" for most of his interests--music and film as an extention of Woody's own personal taste. I'm always impressed at how he weaves those songs and Golden Age nostalgia into a more contemporary sensibility. For someone as cynical as he is, Woody has a streak of sentimentality (which runs across his back, not down it ) and wistfulness about his work that plays into the feel of those songs, something that transcends all generations.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Husbands & Wives (1992)

Just watched this for the first time in a while. Yes, Husbands & Wives is one of Woody's best films! Everything about is just so impressive and well done. Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, and even Juliette Lewis--who reminds me of an ex-girlfriend of mine in this, a spoiled intelligent rich girl--also is fine here. In fact, the Woody-Juliette portions of the movie are my favorite, though the two most intense scenes involve the other couple. Judy Davis and her erstwhile date to the opera, and the embarrassing argument between Sydney Pollack and Lysette Anthony's character, Samantha, is visceral.

Of the three women, Mia's character comes off the worst.

One of my favorite bits in it is the beginning, when Gabe Roth (Woody) is watching some scholar on TV quoting Albert Einstein, who said "God doesn't play dice with the universe", to which Gabe responds, "No, he just plays hide and seek."

I didn't even mind the "shaky cam" documentary-style stuff.

 

[Fletch]

I've always viewed the presence of that (mostly) pre-1950--Allen's self-proclaimed "cut off year" for most of his interests--music and film as an extention of Woody's own personal taste. I'm always impressed at how he weaves those songs and Golden Age nostalgia into a more contemporary sensibility.

That's what I was trying to get at. It's as tho the music is part of being Woody, but also part of being in his world - a narrow, New York-centered world, that's warm but more than a bit stifling.

It's too bad, because altho the music heightens the appeal of his work, he's become so well known for using it that I think it actually makes the music less accessible outside of that context. Sort of like what The Godfather - or better yet Godfather's Pizza - did for fedoras.

For someone as cynical as he is, Woody has a streak of sentimentality (which runs across his back, not down it ) and wistfulness about his work that plays into the feel of those songs, something that transcends all generations.

A cynic is almost always a romantic at heart. I know I am.

But still. Louis Armstrong playing Stardust in 1931 is beautiful. Mariel Hemingway with her hair pulled back in 1978 is beautiful. Holding a long take on her and just playing the record is two beautiful things at first. Then it's creepy. Then it's existentially chilling. What if all you had in life was that one record and that one image?

Woody does something incredible there. He makes all that beauty superficial, then tries to tell us it's a happy ending.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Probably Annie Hall. I've seen it countless times. I need to watch his other earlier (pre 2000) films again, it's been too long. I haven't seen anything of his that's more recent.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Shadows and Fog (1992)

I enjoyed this one more for the cinematic atmosphere it created rather than anything relating to the plot. I was quite impressed with John Cusack and John Malkovich's scene together. In fact, this is the first time I've noticed a Cusack performance. I'm sure Woody was impressed, as well, having cast him in Bullets Over Broadway.

On a more degenerate note, Shadows and Fog was a favorite of a friend of mine, who must've seen the film in the theater three or four times. Around that time he was seeing some artsy middle-aged woman who also happened to be a heroin addict...oh, the trivialities we remember.

 

[Doctor Strange]

It's a seriously odd flick, even by Woody's standards. It doesn't really work, but I dig its pervasive Kafkaesque paranoia; gorgeous, German Expressionist-inspired, b/w cinematography; the unbelievable cast; and general weirdness.

Trivia: at the time, it was Woody's most expensive production due to its enormous city set (the largest set ever built at NYC's Kaufman Astoria studios)... and it did even worse business than his films typically do. It was such a flop that it ended his run of releasing through Orion Pictures.

Kleinman: A deranged person is supposed to have the strength of ten men. I have the strength of one small boy... with polio.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

It's a seriously odd flick, even by Woody's standards. It doesn't really work, but I dig its pervasive Kafkaesque paranoia; gorgeous, German Expressionist-inspired, b/w cinematography; the unbelievable cast; and general weirdness.

Trivia: at the time, it was Woody's most expensive production due to its enormous city set (the largest set ever built at NYC's Kaufman Astoria studios)... and it did even worse business than his films typically do. It was such a flop that it ended his run of releasing through Orion Pictures.

Kleinman: A deranged person is supposed to have the strength of ten men. I have the strength of one small boy... with polio.

I think Orion Pictures was already off the rails by that point, so Woody would've been already "studio shopping."

Shadows and Fog is adapted from Allen's own play, Death. Have you read it, Doc? I'll have to seek it out myself and make comparisons in terms of what was/wasn't left out of the movie.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Nope. I do have a couple of his short story collections somewhere. And I actually saw his play The Floating Light Bulb in its original 1981 production. (And coincidentally, I actually had a floating light bulb of my own back in my magician days in the early 70s!)

 

[Edward]

I'm not sure I have seen enough of his oeuvre to make a qualified judgement on this, but...

I loved Play it Again, Sam for the notion of being visited by the Ghost of Bogart. Were it me, though, I'd be far more interested in having him take me clothes shopping than something as trivial as romantic advice. Otherwise, Celebrity sticks out. Only one of his I have seen in the cinema, and wonderful performances all round. The film that opened my eyes to the notion that Lenny Dicaprio might have more to offer then Generic Pretty Boy. The stand-out performance, however, is Kenny Brannagh playing Woody Allen playing the lead. I don't think I have ever seen a more spot on impression of anyone.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Some self pluggery in the great tradition of this olde boarde...

I've reviewed Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery in my somewhat ongoing series on Husband and Wife Detectives.

 

[Sam Craig]

Love and Death
Sleeper
Whats up Tiger Lilly
Curse of the Jade Scorpion
and
Bananas

None of your business re "why"

Sam

 

[Nathan Dodge]

None of your business re "why"

That's fine. Just attempting to bring some conversation to this board instead of endless lists.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

My own top five list is ever changing, so I've dropped Alice from the list and replaced it with Deconstructing Harry. I love the film's vulgarity, quick-jump editing, the use of Annie Ross' Twisted as its theme, and the excellent performances of Judy Davis, Kirstie Alley, Billy Crystal (that's right!), and Woody himself. In fact, with the exception of Elizabeth Shue, everyone is fantastic. I'm still reeling over the fact that the typing job of Affleck-Damon beat Allen in the Best Original Screenplay in the Oscars that year.

Deconstructing Harry has dozens of great lines, many of which cannot be reproduced on this forum.