I watch Broadway Danny Rose every Thanksgiving (as well as Planes Trains and Automobiles). The theme of Thanksgiving is deep in that one and not just a helium filled shoot out at the Thanksgiving parade. Haha. Great movie and my favorite movie overall.
May I interject one statement at this juncture? And I don't mean to be didactic or facetious in any way... You know, everything is not an anecdote! You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. You're a miracle - your posts have none of that! ... You know, when you're writing these little posts, here's an idea - Have a point! It makes it so much more interesting for the reader!
A little Woody footnote that I came across today: At the end of the new documentary "Back In Time", about the making of the "Back to the Future" movies, the various principals are asked over the closing credits where/when they would travel to in the past if the DeLorean was at their disposal. Michael J. Fox reveals that he was once asked this question with Woody Allen sitting next to him, and Woody's "rule of thumb" was to never pick a time earlier than the discovery of penicillin. Off the top of my head, "Zelig", "Midnight in Paris" and "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" all cut the penicillin deadline pretty close. A second Woody footnote, courtesy of Wikipedia: The film ("A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy") was nominated for one Razzie Award: Worst Actress, for Mia Farrow – the only time a Woody Allen film has been nominated for a Razzie.
Speaking of "back in time," I came across a quote from Woody's first wife - her first comment on him in nearly FIFTY (!) years, apparently. From a forthcoming bio due very soon, roughly timed for Woody's 80th birthday: Wondrous Woody, you inspired me with your enormous energy, creativity and charisma. I loved going to movies with you. I loved making music with you... After our teenage summer of love, marriage was difficult. You established a career. I completed four years of college. We supported each other, learnt about life and became adults. There was sadness, tears, laughter and love. I hope an interviewer asks about that - I was certainly surprised to read it.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy trivia: From IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084329/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
In an amazing feat of temporal displacement, in the 1983 film "Zelig" Woody answers the question he raised in the 1986 film "Hannah and Her Sisters" - "Why were there Nazis?"
Thinking backwards for just a bit ... a couple points I forgot to make along the way. In Annie Hall, there's a scene with a "mistake" in it that always bothers me when I see it. Its the scene where Woody & Shelley Duvall are in bed when Annie calls with an "emergency." After Woody kills the spider, Annie gets all teary-eyed and asks if there was someone in the room with him ("I thought I heard a voice"). But if you rewind and watch the scene with the phone call, Shelley doesn't make a peep when the phone rings, and you see the entire conversation, so Annie can't have heard a thing... Another thing I wanted to comment on was that in Stardust, (which, as Ray pointed out was the island between the Keaton and Farrow eras), it's interesting to note who plays Woody's secretary: Louise Lasser, returning to a Woody film for the first time since "Everything You Wanted to Know". Of course, Keaton would later return after lengthy absences in both Radio Days, for a (fairly pointless, IMO) cameo and full-time for Manhattan Murder Mystery. Funny how Woody's former love interests have shown up in his films years after their relationships ended. I guess we can expect Mia to return in an upcoming project soon.
That Zelig poster adorned my bedroom wall in my late teens, the most prized of my Woody posters. Nice to see it again. This was my favourite of his films at the time. Really groundbreaking an a technical sense and side-splittingly funny. I can't hear the name Zelig without thinking of his inspirational quote "It shows exactly what you can do, if you're a total psychotic." But for real inspirational stuff, the following might just be my all-time favourite Woody Allen line: "On his deathbed, Morris Zelig tells his son that life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering and the only advice he gives him is to save string." To me, the fact that this is the deathbed insight a father chooses to pass on to his son is brilliant. I am actually laughing as I type this. And that in itself probably says a lot about WA, that my personal funniest line represents the bleakest, most pessimistic worldview imaginable.
That's ok, because being a pessimist means never being disappointed. That line stumbled out of my mouth one time during a playful debate with my older brother, who's an insufferably cheery, always optimistic soul. I think it would fit well in the mouth of one of Woody's characters.
I've seen "Annie Hall" enough times to have that bother me as well. I justify it as Annie simply trying to feel him out - an attempt to ask him if he's been seeing someone else without appearing vulnerable ... which in the end makes her look even more vulnerable, really. I was just rewatching the first part of the PBS documentary, and Louise Lasser and Diane Keaton both speak of Woody so lovingly and glowingly in their contemporary interviews.
The birth of String Theory I saw "Zelig" on HBO or a similar outlet after its theatrical run. I think for the first few viewings I was too caught up in the technical wizardy. I've grown to love this film - it works on multiple levels - its's funny, it's moving and it's thought-provoking. Apart from loving Woody Allen films, I love song lyrics, and it seems like I associate one with many of his films, In this case, it's from John Prine's "Donald and Lydia": "There were spaces between Donald and whatever he said, Strangers had forced him to live in his head."
That "Why were there Nazis" clip ends with the old guy answering (off camera) that he doesn't know why there were Nazis; he doesn't even know how to use a can opener. This reminds me of an old Woody joke: Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends. Juxtaposing the profound with the ordinary is a common Woody trope.
The quote from Woody that I most admire regarding Zelig is as follows: "To me, the technique was fine. I mean, it was fun to do, and it was a small accomplishment, but it was the content of the film that interested me." About five minutes after Zelig came out, the technique became the important thing in Hollywood, and the content was an afterthought, written in the cab on the way to the shoot.
I'm glad you posted this, because it illustrates my only real gripe about this film - Woody's acting. I don't think his acting really bothers me in any of his other films, and he'd be the first one to say he has a narrow range, but it in this one, I think it's a weak link. There's a fair amount of Zelig's "hypnotized" dialogue played in the film, and it just takes me out of it, because I don't find it remotely convincing. I realize it's a comedy, and I also realize it's probably only me that's bothered by this, but I figured I'd mention it. Similarly, when Woody forces some of his usual masturbation jokes into this film, again, I just don't think they work. I doubt that was a word that was even uttered back in the day when this film takes place, and for some reason it just rings wrong for me. Yet I have no problem with Woody's standard "material" for jokes during the Napoleonic era (Love & Death) or the future (Sleeper). Perhaps I should talk with my analyst about this...
For me personally, I don't mind Woody's inauthentic "hypnotized" acting much like I've never been bothered by Ed Norton sleepwalking with his arms stretched out in front of him. I'm not even sure what realistic hypnosis-talk and sleep-walking looks like - I'm okay with the comedic cliches. Woody's hypnotized acting certainly didn't get any better by "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion".
