Woody Allen’s 5 Most Endearing Films
Woody Allen’s 5 Must-See Films Endeared by a Wide Array of Audiences.
I placed ‘Sleeper’ (1973) at #5 as one of Allen’s funniest films - Along with the Herb Ross directed ‘Play It Again Sam’ (1972) using Allen’s play and screenplay of the same name, these are his best early 70’s pre-Annie Hall films. Sleeper more slap-stick and Play It Again Sam a precursor to Annie Hall, but both set up several scenes like a stand-up routine patched together into a film story-line. It worked better in Sleeper and Sam than any of his earlier slap-stick and satire comedies, and Allen mastered this technique to just the right frequency - a little goes a long way, and no one does this better than Allen.
Ross brings his astute choreographic skills to ‘Sam’ giving this film a unique “romp” feel to compliment Allen’s movie making process. Sam has several scenes set up like we will later see 5 years later in Annie Hall, using Keaton and Roberts to play off of, with the film location moving from Manhattan to LA at midpoint in the film, all blue prints used in Annie Hall.
Play It Again Sam is one of Allen’s hidden gems that most every Allen fan has seen, but at-large Gen-X Y and Z audiences may not have seen. The quips are non-stop but not manic. Exceptional pacing and editing by Herb Ross raises the bar of this film. Ross clearly influenced Allen’s film making style, refined and paying-off in one of the all-time greatest comedy film classics ‘Annie Hall’.
After the success of Sleeper, Allen began to take on a clearly different mission in film making, aiming at making more complex Ingmar Bergman styled films (among other great influences) focused on the complexities of neurosis laced love relationships, but still integrated (saturated) with Allen’s quips in almost every scene, lest we forget he is at his core a comedy writer. His efforts in Play It Again Sam were clearly the direction he wanted to take, and one of the all-time greatest romantic comedies was on the horizon.
Allen’s most popular film ‘Annie Hall’ (1977) is a truly iconic 1970s film. At least partly autobiographical, the story integrates Allen’s and Keaton’s real-life off-screen love relationship (and individual neurosis) into the story. The connection with the audiences of that period was huge - Keaton’s character styling even created a wildly popular fashion style “the Annie Hall Look”. Annie Hall is simply a “must-see” film, and sits on many Top 100 Greatest Films lists for good reason - it is Allen’s greatest and most endearing film, and #4 on my “Top 10 Greatest Comedy Films” list (1960-Present).
There is simply no comedy film Director/Screenwriter that does this narrated story telling form better in the comedy genre than Woody Allen. Frank Capra was witty and humorous, but Allen keeps the comedy on equal or greater ground than the drama (tied to complex relationships and personalities, focusing on the protagonist’s inner angst) - he resides atop the genre he evolved and redefined for 5 decades, influencing film-makers/screen-writers like Judd Apatow, Charlie Kaufman, Wes Andersen, and the Coen Brothers, making Woody Allen one of the most influential and important film makers. He also established the interstate highway for stand-up comics to make the jump to hyper-space of serious oscar-worthy acting, opening the flood gates for comics like Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and many others.
After Annie Hall, Allen attracted pretty much any actor he wanted, so his films’ casts are loaded with top talent, especially those that work well in an ensemble format, and often leaning on his favorite alumni for key roles.
Woody Allen’s studio lot is almost always his beloved Manhattan, never failing to capture the city’s architectural beauty, style, and vibe.
No film has done that as well as ‘Manhattan’, a truly beautiful work of cinematic art empowering Director of Photography Gordon Willis to film in b&w in order to capture the contrasting shadows and shades of grey of New York City.
I placed ‘Sleeper’ (1973) at #5 as one of Allen’s funniest films - Along with the Herb Ross directed ‘Play It Again Sam’ (1972) using Allen’s play and screenplay of the same name, these are his best early 70’s pre-Annie Hall films. Sleeper more slap-stick and Play It Again Sam a precursor to Annie Hall, but both set up several scenes like a stand-up routine patched together into a film story-line. It worked better in Sleeper and Sam than any of his earlier slap-stick and satire comedies, and Allen mastered this technique to just the right frequency - a little goes a long way, and no one does this better than Allen.
Ross brings his astute choreographic skills to ‘Sam’ giving this film a unique “romp” feel to compliment Allen’s movie making process. Sam has several scenes set up like we will later see 5 years later in Annie Hall, using Keaton and Roberts to play off of, with the film location moving from Manhattan to LA at midpoint in the film, all blue prints used in Annie Hall.
Play It Again Sam is one of Allen’s hidden gems that most every Allen fan has seen, but at-large Gen-X Y and Z audiences may not have seen. The quips are non-stop but not manic. Exceptional pacing and editing by Herb Ross raises the bar of this film. Ross clearly influenced Allen’s film making style, refined and paying-off in one of the all-time greatest comedy film classics ‘Annie Hall’.
After the success of Sleeper, Allen began to take on a clearly different mission in film making, aiming at making more complex Ingmar Bergman styled films (among other great influences) focused on the complexities of neurosis laced love relationships, but still integrated (saturated) with Allen’s quips in almost every scene, lest we forget he is at his core a comedy writer. His efforts in Play It Again Sam were clearly the direction he wanted to take, and one of the all-time greatest romantic comedies was on the horizon.
Allen’s most popular film ‘Annie Hall’ (1977) is a truly iconic 1970s film. At least partly autobiographical, the story integrates Allen’s and Keaton’s real-life off-screen love relationship (and individual neurosis) into the story. The connection with the audiences of that period was huge - Keaton’s character styling even created a wildly popular fashion style “the Annie Hall Look”. Annie Hall is simply a “must-see” film, and sits on many Top 100 Greatest Films lists for good reason - it is Allen’s greatest and most endearing film, and #4 on my “Top 10 Greatest Comedy Films” list (1960-Present).
There is simply no comedy film Director/Screenwriter that does this narrated story telling form better in the comedy genre than Woody Allen. Frank Capra was witty and humorous, but Allen keeps the comedy on equal or greater ground than the drama (tied to complex relationships and personalities, focusing on the protagonist’s inner angst) - he resides atop the genre he evolved and redefined for 5 decades, influencing film-makers/screen-writers like Judd Apatow, Charlie Kaufman, Wes Andersen, and the Coen Brothers, making Woody Allen one of the most influential and important film makers. He also established the interstate highway for stand-up comics to make the jump to hyper-space of serious oscar-worthy acting, opening the flood gates for comics like Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and many others.
After Annie Hall, Allen attracted pretty much any actor he wanted, so his films’ casts are loaded with top talent, especially those that work well in an ensemble format, and often leaning on his favorite alumni for key roles.
Woody Allen’s studio lot is almost always his beloved Manhattan, never failing to capture the city’s architectural beauty, style, and vibe.
No film has done that as well as ‘Manhattan’, a truly beautiful work of cinematic art empowering Director of Photography Gordon Willis to film in b&w in order to capture the contrasting shadows and shades of grey of New York City.
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