I'm pretty sure there are clips of Rob Reiner saying explicitly that they wanted to make "When Harry Met Sally" like Woody would have. The final scene of Billy Crystal running to the New Years party is basically a shot for shot remake of the end of Manhattan when Ike runs to see Tracy.
I might be basic - but I do find Annie Hall to be peak Woody. He's never funnier, or more heartfelt - and when you consider the influence on the entire romantic comedy genre, it's got to be one of the most important films of the past 50 years. Glad you got to see this on the big screen! I'm screening it with my film society in March (soonest date we could get)
I will always have a soft spot for Annie Hall but my other favorites are Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Broadway Danny Rose and Husbands and Wives, which I recently rewatched for the first time in a while. That movie has a particular, raw realism to it.
I think Annie Hall IS his best in a kind of way. It was the first time he really had the guts to go for a full melding of his humour and a full story arc - which he'd been way too tame about in Play it again Sam. Annie Hall has a kind of perfection. A set of sketches, and yet strung together into a compelling narrative. You can kind of see the seams of the garment, but in a way that somehow adds to the total effect.
Like that Woody Allen is the link between Ingmar Bergman and Nora Efron. Efron‘s “ Heartburn” her most Bergmanesque. At the time of making “Interiors “ I think woody Allen pronounced it was his homage to Bergman but he’s has made so many films since. All three use the plot device of three sisters like Chekov… at 17 I was mesmerized with Ingmar Bergman movies. And wow I have watched a lot of Woody Allen.
What a fascinating way to see Allen's work: as a link between Bergman and Ephron! My favorite Allen movie by far (and I think is one of his very best) is Crimes and Misdemeanors. That one comes across as a riff on Plato's "ring of Gyges" thought experiment from the Republic.
Annie Hall is definitely a top Woody Allen movie and a foundational film. Its construction is archetypal, the arc of a simple love story, two individuals who are fundamentally very different but still fall in love, make contact, share, within an urban context that is their natural environment (New York is often another character in Allen's films). This is the essence of Allen's humanism and cinematic style. Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point are also amongst his highest achievements.
Manhattan above all, a maturity version of Annie Hall, is a stylistically impeccable if understated, powerful but always self-ironic look at what makes us humans who strive to live and love with joie de vivre but also ethically, at ease in our milieu (the city), desperate to find love and intellectual fulfilment without ever taking ourselves too seriously. Our struggles are real and serious, our triumphs are ephemeral, thin like the air. But we can always smile and even laugh, and it's the magician Allen that makes all of this happen, little frame after little frame.
I'm pretty sure there are clips of Rob Reiner saying explicitly that they wanted to make "When Harry Met Sally" like Woody would have. The final scene of Billy Crystal running to the New Years party is basically a shot for shot remake of the end of Manhattan when Ike runs to see Tracy.
I might be basic - but I do find Annie Hall to be peak Woody. He's never funnier, or more heartfelt - and when you consider the influence on the entire romantic comedy genre, it's got to be one of the most important films of the past 50 years. Glad you got to see this on the big screen! I'm screening it with my film society in March (soonest date we could get)
I will always have a soft spot for Annie Hall but my other favorites are Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Broadway Danny Rose and Husbands and Wives, which I recently rewatched for the first time in a while. That movie has a particular, raw realism to it.
Yeah there is something about husbands and wives
It is my favorite Judy Davis performance.
https://youtu.be/2daA2-OwXbE?si=YSVmBO_k_zcMaqDP
Re-watched this myself recently. A Top 5 Woody, but I think "Hannah and Her Sisters" is the absolute best; I can watch that film over and over.
I think Annie Hall IS his best in a kind of way. It was the first time he really had the guts to go for a full melding of his humour and a full story arc - which he'd been way too tame about in Play it again Sam. Annie Hall has a kind of perfection. A set of sketches, and yet strung together into a compelling narrative. You can kind of see the seams of the garment, but in a way that somehow adds to the total effect.
Anyway, right now I'm due back on planet earth.
… and Annie sings “It had to be you” at the jazz club. When Harry met Sally is surely a homage. Both beautiful films.
yes excellent point
It feels like peak Allen to me Thanks for this one!
Such a great film, so many perfect lines....'I can walk to the curb from here' is a regular family saying....
I just LOVE this film. The spiders, the lobster, the cool way he reverses his car after the final goodbye...seen it so many times. What a combination.
Like that Woody Allen is the link between Ingmar Bergman and Nora Efron. Efron‘s “ Heartburn” her most Bergmanesque. At the time of making “Interiors “ I think woody Allen pronounced it was his homage to Bergman but he’s has made so many films since. All three use the plot device of three sisters like Chekov… at 17 I was mesmerized with Ingmar Bergman movies. And wow I have watched a lot of Woody Allen.
“I saw Annie Hall, which was put on the big screen this weekend as tribute to Diane Keaton’s death”
It was not a tribute to her death which surely we all are sad about. It was a tribute to Keaton ON her death. Different.
Christopher Walken as Annie's brother is what makes me laugh the most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp3NWzLzaek
His monologues in both "Annie Hall" and "Pulp Fiction" are such pure genius. I use "I'm due back on planet Earth" at least once a week.
What a fascinating way to see Allen's work: as a link between Bergman and Ephron! My favorite Allen movie by far (and I think is one of his very best) is Crimes and Misdemeanors. That one comes across as a riff on Plato's "ring of Gyges" thought experiment from the Republic.
Annie Hall is definitely a top Woody Allen movie and a foundational film. Its construction is archetypal, the arc of a simple love story, two individuals who are fundamentally very different but still fall in love, make contact, share, within an urban context that is their natural environment (New York is often another character in Allen's films). This is the essence of Allen's humanism and cinematic style. Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point are also amongst his highest achievements.
Manhattan above all, a maturity version of Annie Hall, is a stylistically impeccable if understated, powerful but always self-ironic look at what makes us humans who strive to live and love with joie de vivre but also ethically, at ease in our milieu (the city), desperate to find love and intellectual fulfilment without ever taking ourselves too seriously. Our struggles are real and serious, our triumphs are ephemeral, thin like the air. But we can always smile and even laugh, and it's the magician Allen that makes all of this happen, little frame after little frame.
apparently lots of reviewers dismissed WHMS as an Annie Hall rip-off at the time.
(i love them both for the record)
It feels like peak Allen to me