MovieChat Forums > Deconstructing Harry (1998) Discussion > The last real Woody Allen film

The last real Woody Allen film

posted 17 years ago by connorratliff
15 replies | jump to latest

Yes, Sweet And Lowdown was also great-- Small Time Crooks had its minor charms -- and Match Point marked an unexpected return from the sheer incompetence of the four abysmal features that immediately preceded it-- but Deconstructing Harry was, in many ways, the end of a certain type of Woody Allen film.

DH is a comedy, and is one of his strangest films, but it's still a film about relationships, and it's structurally ambitious and sort of novelistic. It seems like the natural comedic impression from the (much more serious) Husbands & Wives, which itself was the darker follow-up, in a way, to Hannah & Her Sisters, which was a film that seemed connected to movies like Annie Hall and Manhattan. In between all those films, there are other dark masterworks like Crimes & Misdemeanors, Another Woman, and more fanciful films like Purple Rose, Zelig... (I can't list them all, he made too many great ones between 1973 and 1994...)

But after DH, he never successfully returned to this particular type of New York relationship film, in part because he has abandoned films where he writes about characters his own age. This one-- about a guy his age caught up with too many younger women-- was the last time. He, thankfully, wrote more to his age when paired with Tracy Ullman in STC, and that film certainly felt like a movie about an older couple, and that was one of the things that really made it work. But by the time he next returned to a film about love and romance and relationships, Anything Else, he was writing about people in their 20s, and he just DOES NOT know how to write characters that age. He fared no better writing for younger characters in Melinda And Melinda. The dialogue that used to sound so perfect in films like Hannah and Manhattan now sounds warmed over and unconvincing coming out of actors that are generations younger than him in the present day...

I can remember watching Husbands And Wives and Manhattan Murder Mystery in the early 90s and thinking, "I can't wait to see what kind of films Woody makes as he gets older." I was looking forward to the insights about aging and getting closer to death, how he would deal with them as interestingly as he faced down the big questions of middle age. Instead, Deconstructing Harry seems to be his last real shot at this-- the end of the road, as he writes about a man his own age, who can't behave like a mature adult, who can't handle adult responsibility and who instead seeks solace in a world of imagination. Although I believe this film was his satire on his "perceived" image in some of the media -- (ie "So you think all my films are strictly autobiographical? Well, how 'bout if I write myself as "The Meanest Man In The World" (original title)? NOW, do you think I'm being 'autobiographical'??)

The sad part is that, while Woody was obviously going over the top to write his character as so much worse than his actual public image-- whores, drugs, non-stop profanity and vulgarity-- the film sort of came true in the following years. His films have become less and less "about" anything. Sweet And Lowdown was really the last film where he had a serious point and made it well. Even Match Point, with its themes of murder and morality, was more of a "thriller" than a film like Crimes And Misdemeanors, which was a serious meditation on similar themes.

Where is Allen's film about getting older? Where is Allen's film about friends dying and getting sick? Where is his film about feeling out of touch with the present day culture? These are the things that are surely happening to him in his life, and he's writing British crime thrillers. The truth is, I don't know if the Woody Allen of today is capable of making a serious film like Another Woman anymore. THAT was a film about getting older and facing up to the life you've lived, and what is left in front of you-- his best film about getting older, and he made it almost twenty years ago. If Bergman was still making films like Saraband into his old age, Woody should be trying to be just as ambitious, instead of turning out junk like Scoop, re-cycling old jokes from his earlier films.

Re-watching Deconstructing Harry now, I can see it's a film that has definite strengths and weaknesses-- but it's an ambitious film, and it's got a definite connection to his previous films, both in terms of style and content.

I wish he would put together a film for some of the actors he used to work with, before his films relied on so many celebrity cameos. He should write a drama, for Sam Waterston and Dianne Wiest, about a couple getting older. He should film it on a smaller scale than his regular films, perhaps for television, as Bergman did. I wish he would stop packing his films with movie stars in their 20s and start facing the final phase of his film career by dealing with life honestly, the way he did in middle age. Deconstructing Harry is an honest film, and a brave one, and he hasn't been half so brave since....

[–] The_White_Hotel 17 years ago

Great post jediryan, I concur in particular with this:

""I can't wait to see what kind of films Woody makes as he gets older." I was looking forward to the insights about aging and getting closer to death, how he would deal with them as interestingly as he faced down the big questions of middle age."

I was thinking exactly that the other day, I'd love to see him make a film about what it's like to have been married to the same person for forty years (and maybe about what happens when they're gone) or about cultural marginalization as a result of retirement, but he doesn't seem interested in this sort of obsevation anymore. One of the most heartbreaking parts of any of his movies is the old man's monologue in Another Woman that begins (paraphrasing) "Now I am nearing the end of my life, I have little but regret.." and I thought that this was the sort of direction Woody might head in as he nears the end of his (after all, he's been obsessed with death for decades) but I have been very disappointed with pretty much all of his output since Sweet and Lowdown.

"I of course can't swim so I never have to face it"

[–] piperian396 17 years ago

I wish he would write for his own age group again, it is horrible that now that he is older, he wants to write for younger people again. That must be his big problem now. Now that he is older, he doesn't want to be old, so he writes for younger people. Anything Else was a good example of this. It's a bummer.

"The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced."-FZ

[–] connorratliff 17 years ago

There was a TINY, tiny touch of something hopeful in the (otherwise not very good) SCOOP. It was that his character was an old man, and he was ALONE, and he was saddened by it. The part where Scarlet is asking him if he had any family, and he responds that he HAD a wife, but she left him because he was emotionally immature...

well, it segues into a kind of so-so joke ("I had a GREAT response, but i raised my hand and she WOULD NOT call on me...") but for a brief moment, I felt that twinge of what it would be like if Woody was willing to write something truly sad and heartfelt, the way he did in movies like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Purple Rose Of Cairo, Another Woman, Crimes & Misdemeanors, and even as recently as Sweet & Lowdown. I wish he would write something about himself as an old man where he wasn't doing "schtick" and was instead really being genuine. When you look at his acting in a movie like Husbands & Wives, it makes you wonder when THAT Woody Allen will ever make another movie. He's a really subtle actor when he wants to be, and lately, it doesn't seem like he wants to be....

[–] outlaw_blues_ 17 years ago

While I agree mostly with your points, I can't say I agree completely. It was a great posting though, thanks for that - I can't say that Jade Scorpion was incompetent and a waste - it is a pretty good spin on film noir (check similarities with Maltese Falcon, for one) and, along with Small Time Crooks and perhaps Scoop, it fits in ok as good light material from him. Hollywood Ending too, while not great, is better now if you watch it knowing what has happened with Woody's career (American studio BS, going to Europe, the metaphors of his "blindness", etc) than when I first saw it, so there are redeeming qualities to that one as well.

Anything Else and Melinda & Melinda I do agree though came off as him appear to be out of touch and not willing to really try. Part of that was casting - had those characters been in their late 30's or early 40's, it would have worked much better.

Match Point and Cassandra's Dream (I saw in Toronto) are good and work on some of the philosophy stuff and open up new avenues for Woody, so I'm not complaining - esp compared to Anything Else or Melinda & Melinda. They're certainly (esp Match Point) in the top half of his films overall, which is quite a compliment considering both how many he has made and how many great films he does have to fill that top half list.

But I do hear your point about Woody not writing about "himself" any more, or at least not yet. I recommend picking up Eric Lax's book, as there are hints of scripts yet to come that he's worked on or had to put on the backburner for whatever reason. He had a film about an old man who tried to commit suicide when he was younger by jumping out of a window but lived and now lives with a limp and his past or something, which sounds much more like what you're talking about and the Woody of old. Woody says in the book he was very, very excited over the script and was very eager to film it but Letty (his sister) and Soon Yi talked him out of it because they said it would be seen as "way too autobiographical", so he pulled it at the last minute and wrote Scoop instead in the last two weeks before he had a deadline for a film deal to fulfill in England. But, knowing Woody, that idea will resurface sooner or later, as he literally never throws out ideas, just re-works them a bit (eg Sweet & Lowdown's idea coming from the early 70's, "The Jazz Baby" or his desire to make a musical in the mid 70's eventually being done in '96 with Everyone Says I Love You, etc etc etc).

Add on top of that the fact that Woody says in the book he plans on concentrating on drama first now, and we're more than likely going to get some "serious" works from him from here on. He, of course, says his own acting career might now be finished as he does not write serious roles for himself, but that there is no opposition to drama from producers and studios as there was before, esp with Match Point pulling $80 million and his best ever financial success. His next film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is said to be in the vain of classic Woody, being listed as a drama - comedy and Woody himself compared it to "Manhattan". Bardem, the leading man, also said it was in that vein and, being the leading man in the film, said that he did not attempt to play a Woody-like character - so this could be more than promising, even though it is still based with younger people.

Reading through Lax's book, I do believe there is hints at suggesting his aging vantage point is his motivation now days as he sees life being more tragic than comic, so I think there is hope for what you're saying to come yet.

[–] romancingthegutter 17 years ago

Having just read the Eric Lax book, I guess I should inform you that Woody mentioned something along those lines as one of the two movies he still really wants to make yet - a road trip film that features an aging man and his wife going across the country in a car - and he mentioned he would like to cast Diane Keaton in it.

And even better news - is that with the Spain funding thing where he is now going to get the funding but have to shoot outside the country, he is apparently planning a film in either NYC or San Francisco - or... both? That is two pictures down the line apparently, but that could very well be the film with Keaton he mentioned, and one quite in line with what you were thinking of about Allen and aging.

We will see!

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] itlyb 16 years ago

seeing how this post is already over a year old, I take it VCB might have changed some of your views. It truly is one of the best Woody Allen movies, and I would rank Match Point even higher than VCB.

what I like most about those two films is that they are not as typical for Allen (even if MP is close in its topic to CAM, it's got a different setting and overall feel).

I don't agree that Allen has lost touch. Sure, he's become less consistent, but the man has been writing and directing a movie a year for 4 decades now, Jesus Christ! some are better, but the more important thing is that he still knocks out a masterpiece now and then, which is absolutely unparalleled, I believe.

I could care less what he writes about. Sure, some of the themes you suggested would make interesting movies, especially coming from Allen, but stuff like VCB is absolutely convincing and as exciting as everything this man has made in his so called prime.

[–] tibifidus 16 years ago

I second that,except VCB is better than Matchpoint in my view. Spain and Woody Allen really combined, and a female woody allen character, so dodgy, so subtle, marvelous.
.
As for Deconstructing Harry, he drew the big guns...and pointed them at...himself. He spread his arms and said "Yeah this is me, what's the deal, any problem about it?", media image and all that. I thought the structure was brilliant and obviously great casting. Maybe too full of greats, but I guess that was the intent, another pull on the media: give one of the biggest cameo-rain of all times.

I wouldn't recommend this film for Allen begginers...it's too misleading and ironic, but that's also a Woody Allen classic movie feature. Maybe I'm losing my sense over here, but whatever, great movie. We Love you Woody!

[–] Adebesi 15 years ago

Funny you should say that about recommending this for beginners. One of my friends who wasnt really into Woody watched Mighty Aphrodite and quite liked it and said he wanted to watch another good one. Partly because it is quite dark and partly because it is one of my favourite of his films I went with DH and I am pretty sure he liked it. But I think it was partly down to the person involved - something like Annie Hall might have been a bit too sentimental for his tastes. You are certainly right that DH is not going to give you an accurate impression of what his other films are like.... though are there any that would?

[–] AnthoBenebet 15 years ago

I completely agree, and it is stated in my review @ http://reviewfix.com/2009/07/deconstructing-allen/

[–] MisterWhiplash 15 years ago

Now that it's 2010, have you seen Whatever Works? To me, that's the best full-on Woody 'comedy' since Deconstructing Harry (though like D.H. dealing with very serious issues). I don't quite agree about Melinda & Melinda, I thought it was well-written, albeit I haven't seen the film since in theaters in five years, and I found Anything Else to be kind of underrated, though lacking in casting Jason Biggs in the lead. It actually felt like a neo-Annie-Hall to a degree, and he cast himself well as a *beep* mentor character. Sadly it might be that Allen, like Clint Eastwood, doesn't see that many good roles can come his way in his old age, and is more interested in directing. But the only real slumps I've seen from him were Jade Scorpion and Hollywood Ending, both undercooked pictures that he seemed to rush off from the bottom of his desk drawer. And Match Point in its own way is as morally complex and interesting as Crimes & Misdemeanors, only with the younger set and lacking the humor of the Allen/Alda storyline.

Watch my new short film Lines of Glory (NR): http://www.youtube.com/jackandzackfilms

[–] zmurray-660-592033 15 years ago

And what about Interiors? - certainly a film about families struggling with their elders getting older. But it sounds like the OP should manage Allen - a Waterston/Wiest couple sounds interesting.

[–] ellery-6 14 years ago

Great post, it articulates a lot of what I feel about his trajectory as a filmmaker. There are some other issues I had with Midnight in Paris, but ultimately, this is probably the factor that REALLY holds me back from loving it. There seem to be two types of Woody Allen fans: 1) those who are really open to any type of films he does; and 2) those who are so in love with most of his earlier work, and the themes he explored, and the laughs, that they become almost overprotective of his legacy and want his films to continue in that direction. Otherwise, it doesn't "feel like a Woody Allen film." I think you and I definitely fall in the latter camp. We can appreciate some of his post-DH films and think they"re "nice" and "pleasant" and gently witty, but it's not what we've come to expect from a Woody Allen film, and we want that back.

I also agree with everything you said about not writing for his own age, what he could potentially do with his films vs the reality, etc. And DH was the last film of his I really LOVED, and you very much hit the nail on the head as to why.

When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello.