One my favorite movies too, and by far my favorite Woody Allen-portrayed character. Danny Rose has a humble sincerity and genuine likability -- rare character traits in WA roles (IMO).
"The Purple Rose Of Cairo" is effective on so many levels. There is a light, comedic story, intertwined with an existential tragedy. There is commentary on using entertainment to escape reality to the point where life isn't even really faced anymore. There is insight into the notion that fictional characters are far more upstanding than the flawed individuals who create them or play them. To continue my ad hoc "song lyric that goes with the movie" thread, this one comes from Elvis Costello ("All This Useless Beauty"): "Something you missed didn't even exist It was just an ideal, is it such a surprise?" Tom Baxter is the impossible ideal, Gil Shepherd is the disappointing reality. And while I'm at: For "Broadway Danny Rose": "In Jersey anything's legal, as long as you don't get caught." (Bob Dylan) For "Zelig": "I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them." (Bob Dylan)
1986 - "Hannah and Her Sisters" Arguably the best film Woody has ever made. The trailer seems to dwell on drama and negativity far more than the film does.
Not my favourite, but certainly top five (Manhattan, Annie Hall, Hannah, Crimes and Misdemeanours and...?)
Dang, I only found this thread this morning. I've missed out on many of my favorites! HAHS is probably the best movie WA made, if not my own personal favorite. WA had a real streak going - lots of wonderful films in this period of his career, and HAHS tops it off. My mom was a big movie buff, but she always though of WA as one of those silly slapstick people. I had her watch HAHS and while she didn't change her opinion of WA, she did enjoy the film. So many powerful performances in this film, especially Max Von Sydow and Barbara Hershey in their break-up scene. And the fight between Norma and Evan is also top-notch acting from Maureen O'Hara and Lloyd Nolan. And the lunch scene with the three sisters. And the ending is really perfect. And Carrie Fisher. HAHA. I'll stop now.
Utterly astounding to think that, in four years, Woody wrote directed and starred in Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Hannah and Her Sisters. Was out of town for a few days and may try to go back to Purple Rose for some comments, but Ray nailed my appreciation for that film pretty well... Hannah will likely get its annual viewing in the next 48 hours for me. One thing I definitely DON'T like about it, is that for the first time in many years, it sported a very routine poster, IMO. This looks like it could be anyone's movie, as opposed to most of the preceding ones that I've posted in this thread.
That may be my favorite scene in any movie ever. This is his best film. Has anyone seen Fanny and Alexander the Bergman film which inspired Hannah? I think the only Bergman film I've seen was Through a Glass Darkly which I found unimpressive.
Yup, Hannah And Her Sisters is another classic. One that I've watched over and over again. Interesting little tidbit... I had recently watched this on a newly purchased blu-ray. During the sidewalk scene where Elliot (Michael Caine) sets up an "accidental" run in with (Lee) Barbara Hershey, I noticed the street sign and decided to look up exactly where it was shot (I've always been fascinated by this scene because of the streetscape, and always thought it was in a somewhat isolated part of NYC). As it turned out, I realized that I had actually walked down that very street, at that exact location, a few times in the recent past, but would have never guessed it was the same spot by the look in the movie. It's been more than 20 years since the film was made, and the buildings and storefronts there have been thoroughly renovated.
Speaking of interesting tidbits, did anyone notice anything truly unique about that Hannah trailer? Yes, there are FIVE SECONDS OF UNRELEASED MATERIAL THERE! Woo-hoo! The bit with Carrie F & Sam W in front of a painting (1:07-1:12) is from a scene that must have been cut from the film. For all of us who've been hankering for some "bonus scenes" from Woody's movies - there it is!! Hope you enjoyed it!
Yes, I went through every Bergman film that Netflix would send me. If you'd like to give him another try to impress you, I would suggest "Wild Strawberries". It happens to be on YouTube in its entirety:
The character of Hannah reminds me in some ways of the character that Katharine Hepburn played in "The Philadelphia Story" (one of my favorite films). They share the perceived "fault" of being insufficiently needy, and too perfect. This is another film where Mia Farrow gives a terrific performance (she had a few out and out duds), but pretty much EVERYONE does.
We're still 30 years of films away from discussing it, but Woody's 2016 film has completed shooting and has moved into post-production. http://www.woodyallenpages.com/2015...m-part-1-the-premise-the-cast-and-characters/
The real ones want fictional lives, the fictional ones want real lives. All the above is spot-on. I love the "levels" in the writing of this one. Woody gets to get in his usual gripes about the emptiness of the universe and so forth, but it's done more subtly in the context of this story: - You should turn the projector off. - No! Don't turn the projector off. No, no. It gets black and we disappear. - Easy, easy. Easy. Easy, my son. We're all in this together. - Yes, but you don't understand what it's like to disappear. To be nothing. To be annihilated. Don't turn the projector off... OR: - You do believe in God, don't you? - Meaning...? - The reason for everything, the world, the universe. - I think I know what you mean. The men who wrote The Purple Rose of Cairo. Irving Sachs and RH Levine, who collaborate on films. - No, I'm talking about something much bigger than that. No, think for a minute. A reason for everything. Otherwise it'd be like a movie with no point ... and no happy ending. I think Woody even gets to play with some of the characterization/criticism of his own films with some of the dialogue, when the "audience" is watching the onscreen characters, adrift without a plot: Look at this. They sit around and talk, and no action? Nothing happens? I want my money back... I also enjoy how all the characters in the film within the film see themselves as the lead character. Watching it again last week, I noticed that the actor "Gil Shepherd" isn't even listed on the movie theatre's marquee, so Cecilia is certainly being accurate when she says "Even though you're not the main character, you're the one you look at." Of course, "Tom Baxter" is crushed by that comment... I said in some other post about Woody here that no one does "bittersweet" as well as he does. Whether it's Annie and him not getting back together, Tracy leaving for London, or Cecilia drifting back into the Jewel theatre at the end of this picture, they're all wonderfully bittersweet moments. I'd forgotten what a truly remarkable film this one was. I'd always placed it in my "top tier" of Woody films, but watching it last week made me think I'd nevertheless "under-rated" it, to use proper forum terminology.
I recall many critics were afraid Woody was escaping up his own metaphysical ******* with his Bergman fixation, as if he'd had his funny bone surgically removed. It's true, Interiors isn't exactly a laff riot, and Stardust Memories didn't do much to dispel the critics' fear. But I never lost faith in Woody's artistic vision, and even though he's had plenty of misses in his career, the hits have been worth it. Hannah and her Sisters even more than Annie Hall perfected the rom-com formula, with an ensemble of actors at least 20 years older than you'd see in a similar movie today. I mean seriously, who would cast a Caine or von Sydow type in a Hollywood movie in 2015? Maybe Woody Allen.
Very well said! It may be coincidental that Irving Sachs is one of the "creators" in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and Mickey Sachs (Woody's character in "Hannah and Her Sisters") has his life saved, in part, by the movies. Not to get all Biblical here, but Cecilia's return to her wretched life reminds me of something Jesus says: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Cecilia gives the world of reality whatever it demands of her without even putting up a real fight - her husband can cheat on her and gamble away the money she worked for in her demanding job, he can even physically abuse her, as long as she has the refuge of the other world (the movies), she no longer cares. The movies are her house of worship. The ending of "Purple Rose" is what really, truly got me hooked on Woody Allen films. It is honest, it is somewhat bleak, but Woody himself would probably argue that we are all choosing our own personal diversions to stop thinking about what happens when the projector is turned off for the last time. At least Cecilia has one such diversion that she loves with such a passion that it allows her to deal with the misery of her existence.
I agree that Hannah was the peak for Woody. So much to love, but for me, it's the Max von Sydow character, hidden behind a plastic sheet, unable to "be around people," railing against Nazis, televangelists and wrestlers. His speeches are among the best Woody ever wrote, in my opinion, and this character is also worthy of discussion in the context of how WA inserts aspects of himself in his films. It's hard not to think that Woody on some level feels like this character does about the world. And for me, the older I get, the more I find myself identifying with him.
To follow up, conversely, the happy ending (happy endingS, in fact) in "Hannah and Her Sisters", seem almost borrowed from "Whatever Works" (which was written well before "Hannah" but made well after it). Everyone gets what they seek, even Frederick perhaps, who I can picture heading off to live as a hermit on an island (as he does in Bergman's "The Passion of Anna").
In almost all his films, even when we don't get Woody on screen we still tend to get a "Woody character". In "Interiors" I'd argue that it's Diane Keaton's character, who doesn't want to achieve immortality through her work, but through never dying. In "Hannah" we get the bonus - two Woody characters - the wisecracking hypochondriac (Mickey) and the bleak nihilist (Frederick). Who can blame Lee for needing some respite from this guy? No wonder she falls for Elliot and his romantic ideals and his e.e. cummings poems.
Interesting tidbit here I had never heard - apparently the studio wanted Woody to alter the "Purple Rose" script so that HE could play the Tom Baxter character after Michael Keaton was let go.
Hannah and Her Sisters is certainly a high point in Allen's career, but I'm not so sure it's the peak. Stardust Memories and Zelig were vastly under-rated, I thought, and so are some of his more recent films. I'm a Woody Allen completist, by the way. I have to have everything he puts out -- the books, the films, the plays, the CD's.
