The Woody Allen Discussion Thread: "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" on TCM Sept. 22

Let's talk about the films of this brilliant but controversial New York filmmaker.

His career has shown growth from his first movie, WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY? where he bought the rights to an obscure, bad Asian film and dubbed in funny English dialogue all the way to the Academy Award winning ANNIE HALL. He's shown growth as a writer and director throughout his career as well as wonderful growth in his appreciation of visuals through work with great cinematographers such as Gordon Willis.

So what will it be? Props for the Woodman?
Or eggs and tomatoes?

 

Just ask a mod to change the name of the old one and use it. We don't need double threads.

 

I'm just gonna let the other thread die off, so it won't be a double thread situation.
If anyone wants to talk about the Woody film ZELIG, we can do it here.

I think one of Woody's best films of the last decade was BULLETS OVER BROADWAY due in no small part to the fact that he wasn't in it. I certainly like Woody in his earlier movies, but he's now in his mid-sixties and it's hard for a guy his age to carry a movie. I mean let's think about it, if he wasn't the writer and director, how many people would be hiring him on the merits of his acting chops? He's a great filmmaker and a remarkable comic genius but Woody, from now on stay BEHIND the camera. (And yes, I do love old people!)

 

Gordon Willis' work is stunning during the "coming of age" Allen films, paticularly in Manhattan. The planetarium scene is simply breathtaking. The Wood man himself said that he learned much about the art of filmmaking from Willis.

The last Woody film I saw for the first time was Broadway Danny Rose. There was a lot of good in that film but I wouldn't rank it among my favorites. Though, I must say he really submersed himself in the role of Danny Rose. More so than any character he's ever played and that's including Stardust Memories and Deconstructing Harry.

Mad props to the Wood Man!

~PAd

 

Visually, I think MANHATTAN is Woody's strongest film and one of the greatest black and white films ever. The shots with the bridge are AWESOME!

 

I'm not a big fan of Woody.

But a buddy gave a big recommendation
for BULLETS OVER BROADWAY so I saw it.
I liked it a lot and laughed.
John Cusack and Chaz Palmienteri were great.

Anybody got any recommendations for his other
movies?

 

Because I loved the on screen chemistry between Woody and Diane Keaton I never gave movies with Mia much of a chance. Annie Hall is of course one of my favorites.

I agree, Woody should stay behind the camera from now on. He wasn't a looker to begin with, now that he's older it's hard to envision him in a leading romantic lead.

 

Woody did some good stuff, but he had his problems. I agree that he should stay back of the camera from now on.

By the by, I'm the creator of the AFI List topic down below and right now we're going down the 100 Funniest list, taking a look at each of the movies in turn. As one might guess, Allen has several films on the list.

So, when there is an Allen film up for discussion, I'll post a link in here with a note telling you which film is up for discussion. If you've seen it, just follow the link and give your comments.

 

I like HANNAH AND HER SISTERS a lot.

 

IMO, Hannah and Her Sisters is a comercial-friendly version of Interiors. Not that it's a bad thing, they're both good movies but the simalarities are very prevalent.

~PAd

 

Okay, fellas, Sleeper is up for discussion in my AFI topic.

Drop by and give your opinion, yes?

 

When i was a boy living in Colorado we would often drive past the futuristic house they used in Sleepers.

 

Colorado? Are you SURE?

I can barely believe Woody would leave Manhattan to shoot something in Colorado!
(though I know he did shoot Love and Death in Europe)

 

I believe I heard on TCm that Sleeper did venture out of Woody's beloved NY. And what about "Everybody says I love you" with Natalie Portman? Went to paris, Venice, etc.

~PAd

 

I'd like to give a mention to Allen's dramas. I know purists prefer his comedies and he has certainly been responsible for some of the very best the cinema has ever produced. But, for me, without his dramas, he would be a one dimensional filmmaker and, thus, not terribly interesting.

My favorite of all his dramas, and, by extension, his films, is 'Another Woman'. This small (rt: 88mins) gem is as perfect an example of succinct characterizations, writing, and acting as I've ever seen. It's an illustration of a supremely talented filmmaker at the height of his powers. Gena Rowlands gives her best performance as a woman whose emotions have been so repressed for so long, that she doesn't realize that she's basically a robot. Over the course of writing a new novel, innocuous incidents happen to her to provoke thoughts of regret and bruised relationships. The final summation where she reflects on an afternoon in the park with an old flame (beautifully played by Gene Hackman), set to Satie's music, is a moment of cinematic bliss.

Before that, there was the Woodman's first foray into drama: "Interiors". Simply one of the most beautifully photographed movies of the 70s, Allen and Gordon Willis conjure up more meaning in a shot of a blank wall then most filmmakers can in entire epics. While the plotless story might strike some as dull, and the dialogue too theatrical and arch for others, I found this to be an emotionally wrenching movie about how people delude themselves into happiness, and what happens when that facade collapses under tragedy. It also offers one of the most stunning suicide scenes I can ever remember.

The one other pure drama is 'September', a movie which I cannot speak to as I didn't care for it and haven't studied it.

Of course, what separates Allen's movies are that there is so much drama in his comedies, particularly in his post-Manhattan era. 'Hannah and Her Sisters' is hilarious and heartbreaking, especially in depicting the follies of its three sisters. And 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' (my personal fave) has dramatic elements that can rightfully, and without exaggeration, be called profound. 'Husbands and Wives' is as naked an examination of modern malaise in marriage that I've ever seen.

Yes, Allen's movies are inundated by the ghost of Ingmar Bergman, but that's not to say they don't have a life of their own. Few filmmakers, I think, has turned a mirror to modern society and its behaviors as honestly and brillantly as Woody Allen.

 

I doubt I could explicate my thoughts concerning Woody's dramas any better than Bresson's post. While I still believe that Manhattan takes the cake as the most beautifully photographed of all Allen films, Interiors is a close second. I love how the empty and callous "interiors" of the homes communicate the mother's desensitization.

I was watching a special biography made especially for TCM where Woody would discuss his catalog of films. He mentioned that if anything, Interiors was an "intresting failure" and when commenting on the suicide scene at the end, said that the shot where the father's new wife performs cpr on the daughter that tried to rescue her mother, it was supposed to evoke images of a "re-birth." The "new mother" was giving her a second chance at life.

~PAd

 

I always cringe when I see or hear directors who say they are principally focused on the "only important" aspects of film: story, characters, and dialogue. I just want to scream "Look at a Woody Allen movie!!!" This guy's the best screenwriter ever, one of the best director of actors ever (yet, he does very little directing, according to what his actors have said, which is a testament to the awesomeness of his writing), and he knows how to perfectly visualize his movies for maximum impact. Props obviously goes to the likes of Gordon Willis, Carlo DiPalma, and Sven Nykvist for helping the Woodman be a complete filmmaker.

 

Hey...any guy who loves Gustav Mahler and manages to make so many references to him in so many of his movies is OK with me.

 

A lot of Woody Allen's comedy is inspired by Bob Hope movies. Just check out Hope's movies like ROAD TO MOROCCO, PALEFACE, and THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

Yeah waheennay, Woody's made mention of as much in some interviews. Paticularly in the early comedies.

~PAd

 

Okay, guys! Bananas is up for discussion in my AFI Topic.

Come by and give your opinions, if you've seen it.

 

**must up thread!**

The Woodman was a huge inspiration for me and my filmmaking aspiriations. He showed me that you don't have to make Lucas/Spielberg sized epics in order to make incredible movies.

Bresson, I admire his dramas a lot too. I wish he would do more of them, especially now. He keeps making goofy comedies which I thought he was trying to get away from. I like 'em and all, but does it seem to anybody else that his last 4 or 5 movies are all the same thing? (Of course, in a broad sense you could say that about his last 30 films. )

 

I saw EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX a few days ago. It is now my favorite comedy, though it is a bit less clever and intelligent than Woody's other movies. What's better than some old sexual raunchiness?

 

Okay, guys, Take the Money and Run is up for discussion in my AFI Topic.

Do stop by and give your thoughts on this film, if you've seen it.

 

Rogue, I'd offer comments in your AFI thread, but it seems so far you've picked his earlier films and I'm not as familiar with those. Sorry.