What are currently your 3 (or even 5 fave picks, if 3 makes it too difficult) personal favorite Woody Allen films made and released so far and please say why (for either the writing, the acting and casting, the direction, or a combo of all of these factors) for each film named.
The present top 3 would have to be...
3. Deconstructing Harry
2. Manhattan
1. Hannah and her Sisters
These three strike me as being the most profound films of his career. I can't articulate why, exactly, though I've often tried.
Love and Death, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Bananas, Husbands and Wives, and Annie Hall are all clamouring to break onto the list. Play it Again, Sam, and The Front, likewise, bearing in mind the non-directing handicap clause.
Can't keep it to three, not even five:
1. Love and Death -- Too many jokes for one Napoleonic Invasion to contain.
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors -- Martin, Jerry, Anjelica. How do you make murder a reasonable choice? Woody nails it.
3. Radio Days -- I re-ran Gina DeAngeles' scene 20 times. Literally. Still the funniest scene not in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
4. Stardust Memories -- Love the white space. And thirty years later, I still don't know how it ends.
5. Manhattan -- Great music, great city, great movie.
6. Broadway Danny Rose -- Terribly underrated movie. Great performance by Farrow, wonderful story about loyalty, betrayal, perseverance.
Honorable Mention: Annie Hall, September, Sleeper, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Take the Money and Run.
Five Favourites would be...
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Broadway Danny Rose
Annie Hall
Cassandra's Dream
Crimes and Misdemeanors
(as of now)...
I think these films represent singularly the different kinds of style Woody Allen has worked in over the yers and certainly represent his worldview and philosophy quite astutely and formally they're all quite different and interesting. And the acting is just fantastic.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
Need to check out Broadway Danny Rose and Cassandra's Dream
My favourites as of now -
Annie Hall
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Manhattan
I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona recently and was disappointed. Do those characters exist? I know Allen has always been an atheist liberal with an unconventional take on marriage and relationships. But the infatuation with Europe and an aversion towards hardworking "conventional" Americans is sometimes hard to take.
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I know Allen has always been an atheist liberal with an unconventional take on marriage and relationships.
What does him being an "atheist" have to do with his liberalism and unconventionality. His most recent film Whatever Works is his most direct attack on monogamy and it features Bible thumpers as beneficiaries.
But the infatuation with Europe and an aversion towards conservative Americans is sometimes hard to take.
Well watch Cassandra's Dream or Match Point, London has never looked bleaker or colder than in those two movies.
Woody looks at continental Europe always from a romanticized American's perspective. In the case of Vicky Cristina Barcelona two American students and he is honest and self-critical about that.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
1. Manhattan....beautifully directed, hilarious, and the most honest film about relationships I've seen
2. The Purple Rose of Cairo....something so light and whimsical on the surface is really so deep and profound, and that ending is killer
3. Mighty Aphrodite....always manages to put a smile on my face. "When you're smiling...."
This list could change next week. Annie Hall, Sleeper, Hannah & Her Sisters, Deconstructing Harry, Another Woman and Celebrity usually creep into my top five as well.
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I know it might be an unpopular choice, but "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" is one of my favorites. It's just a fun film with a really strong cast. It was also the first Woody Allen movie I ever saw, so that might have something to do with it.
shareIn no particular order, really..
Alice
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Manhattan
Everyone Says I Love You
Granted, other than these, the only Woody Allen films I've watched are A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy and Bananas. Have a lot of catching up to do. Everyone has Annie Hall and Match Point on their lists.
1. Stardust Memories -- no question! A seamless multi-layering of comedy, pathos and music. I finally realized that whether you are talking about a scene from the film or from the film within the film or from the film within the other film, it is all the same.
2. Radio Days -- A reminder that a now diminishing medium can bring us together. Wistful and poignant.
3. Love and Death -- still has me laughing out loud when I am alone, 35+years later.
Honorable Mentions:
4. Manhattan -- especially the end scene. Has me running to Chaplin's City Lights to compare how they handle the subtlety of this scene. Superb! And Gershwin, Gershwin, Gershwin!
5. Annie Hall -- My introduction to Allen cinema. Still holds up. I still love Diane Keaton. The brief cameo with a young Christopher Walken is priceless!
1. Match Point - Not the first Allen's movie I watched, but the one that made me wanna go for more and discover all the other Allen's movies. I find its... cleansiness? amusing. Everything looks so aseptic, I love it. Plus, I find the chemistry between the beautiful Scarlett and the sexy Rhys Meyers mesmerizing.
2. Whatever works - I didn't like it that much the first time, but afterwards its become a personal favorite. I absolutely love the message this movie delivers.
3. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Maybe it's more of an easy watch, but I think it's very funny, original, and love the relationship between Helen Hunt and Woody Allen.
1. The Purple Rose of Cairo--melancholy at moments, gut-burstingly funny at others...a tender, warm homage to Woody's love of films via his scribe, Mia Farrow, and the perfectly cast Jeff Daniels.
2. Crimes and Misdemeanours--Dark and heavy in subject matter--kudos to Allen in his ability to make such an entertaining, thought provoking flick out of such sensitive material.
3. Broadway Danny Rose--'nuff said; Woody's best performance, catchy tunes, and his best ending ever.
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I have only seen 3 Woody Allen films so for. Purple Rose of Cairo, Anna Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters, but I loved all 3 of them.
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