Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Tonight’s film is our third and final Woody Allen movie this year. Allen has directed 40 feature films since 1966. That’s almost one a year. Clearly the Wood-man has something, some talent, respected enough to maintain his work year after year. What is it? What brings loyal fans back to a Woody Allen film time after time?

Part of it is an affinity for Allen’s humor; his New York self-deprecating neurotic voice comes out of his early career as a stand-up comedian, capable of riffing on anything and turning it into something funny or thought-provoking. In many ways, Allen’s career (and one might argue that he has had a number of mini-careers) reminds us of the great work of someone like Chaplin. It has an arc, and it is driven not by plots or genres or technology, but by genius. That’s a big word, so perhaps we mean it in the more Renaissance sense: the unique spirit of an individual. Woody Allen films are, above all else, Woody Allen films.

Even those that do not star Woody Allen, in fact. Bullets Over Broadway is the first since (after 23 previous films in which he did star). But the humor, the pacing, the feel is all Allen. Does John Cusack play a “Woody Allen” character? We’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Another defining element of the Allen film is its emphasis on community. No matter what style of film he’s working with, every film features an ensemble cast, which if you don’t remember the term, refers to a large group of people, no one of whom stands out as protagonist. The group is the protagonist. In addition, most of his movies have moments which remind one of being at a sort of cocktail party. Yes, we know you don’t go to cocktail parties (does anyone, anymore?), but that’s the feel. It’s the moment when people seem to gather and just have a relatively intellectual conversation that doesn’t go in any particular narrative direction. It’s very naturalistic, so much so that one can be a little surprised when a screenwriting credit turns up at the end of the film. You mean it wasn’t all ad-libbed?

Allen’s ability to capture this kind of moment, to explore it, to use it to build theme, to find what it is that makes people human is probably, for your humble narrator, the most specific reason why he returns to Woody Allen films regularly. William Saroyan has a novel (1943) called The Human Comedy, and I’ve always felt that would be a good title for Allen’s collected works because he’s so deft at capturing upper-middle class East Coast people in their environment and so often his exploration leads to wry observations about the human condition.

Finally, Allen films rarely pass without what I’d call an indelible moment, something unforgettable that people talk about and remember over the years. In Sleeper it might be the orgasmatron or the orb, two objects that satirize 1970s self-absorption. In Annie Hall it’s probably the lobster scene, which emphasizes Alvy’s less-than-heroic nature (he’s scared of the lobsters he’s trying to cook for Annie) and makes us aware of just how formulaic romantic involvement can become, of the hyper-defined roles that we play, male and female, in relationships. Tonight, in Bullets Over Broadway, see if you don’t walk out repeating Dianne Wiest’s famous line from the film. Ask yourself: What makes such a simple line so memorable? And what does it tell us about her character? And what is the broader target of Allen’s humor at that moment?

What we might like most about Allen’s films is that after they’re over there is always something to talk about over a soda. He has invited us into the conversations of his movies so often that it’s clear we, his audience, are also part of the films’ communities. So the next time an Allen film comes out (there’s one due out in a few months called You Will Meet a Dark Stranger), you can be sure – you’re invited back.

R. Findlay
Film Club Adviser

Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977)

In 1977 Woody Allen directed Annie Hall, winning four Academy Awards and over thousands of fans across the world. Annie Hall is a romantic comedy involving Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Allen, who both acts and directs, produced many successful films prior to Annie Hall yet the 1977 romantic comedy is arguably his best. Allen followed this success with Manhattan (1979) and other films such as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Allen’s success continued into the 21st century with his film Match Point’s nomination for an Academy Award (Best Original Screenplay).

One thing that makes Allen unique is that he is one of a small group of famous directors, such as Roman Polanski, Zach Braff, Quentin Tarantino, and Alfred Hitchcock, who have also acted in their own films.

Directors who appear in their own films will forever be related back to Sir Alfred Hitchcock from the United Kingdom, who made a cameo appearance in most of his films. For example, in his classic horror film The Birds, Hitchcock leaves a building with his two white terriers on leashes as the female lead enters. In Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train he is seen trying to carry a large bass fiddle onto a train car, the shape of which mirrors his own heavy set body.

Likewise, other directors have had small roles in their own films. Tarantino casts himself as minor roles throughout his films, including Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds. In Inglourious Basterds Tarantino plays a German soldier who awaits his scalping as well as an American soldier.

It is much more rare for a director to star in his or her own movie. Zach Braff actually starred as the lead male actor for his movie, Garden State, but that’s just one movie. Allen has directed almost 40 full-length feature films and starred in almost all of them. (Film Club will show the best Woody Allen film without Woody Allen in it, Bullets Over Broadway, next month.) While one can point to great actor-directors like Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, and Kenneth Branagh, none of them had near the body of work that Allen does.

So Allen’s starring as the lead male role, alongside three decades of famous actresses, including Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow, Helena Bonham Carter, and most recently Scarlett Johansson, makes him unique. And fortunately Allen has proved himself as a more-than-capable actor; his performance in Annie Hall is spectacular. He even received a nomination for an Academy Award for his performance.

Conor Dowdle
SPA Film Club

Woody Allen’s Sleeper (1973)

Woody Allen is kind of a funny guy. The critics think so. With five films on the AFI 100 years…100 Laughs list, he is the most represented director. The viewers think so, too. He has a rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is only brought down by the poorly conceived films he acted in. And we think so. Sleeper, a comedy from 1973, is one of his funnier movies.

Allen stars as Miles Monroe, a health food-selling Brooklynite who undergoes nonconsensual cryogenic freezing. When he is defrosted 200 years later by scientists who hope that he can help overthrow the evil dictator in charge (a scene which Mike Myers and Austin Powers took more than a few cues from), the world is a very different place. This setting change from the tangible, real modern world to a completely goofy figment of Allen’s imagination allows for as many creative additions as he wants. The people of the 22nd century are all slightly robotic and vapid, and when the government police show up to arrest the scientists who have thawed Miles, he panics, scatters, and ends up posing as a robot in the house of Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), a poet in her own time. Cue a disastrous dinner party, slapstick jokes, and a new head for Miles the robot. Since robot Miles does not want to lose his human head, he kidnaps Luna. More hilarity ensues as they run from the police. Eventually, Miles is captured and brainwashed. Then rescued. Then involved in a plot to kill the evil dictator. (But struggles against adversity really aren’t the point in Sleeper.)

Funny writing, clever dialogue, and smart jokes characterize many Woody Allen movies. He is a cerebral writer and director, and it comes out in his humor much of the time. Sleeper represents a break from the later, more traditional Woody Allen mode. There are far more physical, Buster Keaton- and Charlie Chaplin-esque jokes, such as Allen’s robot impression, and the debacle that occurs in the fix-it shop. Physical humor turns out to be something that Woody Allen does very well. He has plenty of ironic and satirical humor, as always, but also includes props like the ‘Orgasmatron’(you’re not going to find an explanation here) and ‘the orb,’ a device that, when held, gives its user a sense of euphoria.

Sleeper also pays homage to scenes from other movies throughout. When Miles is attempting to get back to sanity, he flashes into a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire,” playing Blanche DuBois, and Luna is forced to step into the role of Stanley Kowalski (by doing a ludicrous Marlon Brando impression) to steer him back to the real world. Also, Allen mimics the famous Marx Brothers scene involving a full-length mirror.

If you’re more familiar with Allen from his later more intellectual style in films like Hannah and Her Sisters, Annie Hall, or Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the comedic romp in Sleeper may catch you by surprise. Not that the movie isn’t intellectual, but it also includes and relies on humor that fans of the Three Stooges might enjoy. Yes, there’s a bit with a banana peel. A very big banana peel. If you’re a snob, you may have trouble enjoying it, but if you’re out to enjoy laughs any way they come, Sleeper is an easy one to sit down to.

Sam Rock
SPA Film Club

Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973)

Screened with:
Chuck Jones' "One Froggy Evening" (1955)

If you only know of Woody Allen as a recent, sad, old whiny character, badly miscast in his own movies (Curse of the Scorpion, anyone?), and you are not familiar with the younger Allen, who invokes the early film clown Buster Keaton and infuses his spirit with neurotic absurdity, then you're in for a treat. 1973's Sleeper finds Allen still working his stand-up comedy roots into his film, but beginning to develop a more socially astute work.

Here he plays Miles Monroe, a man cryogenically frozen in 1973 and revived 200 years in the future into a totalitarian society where he is adopted by a rebel underground in their struggle against a Big Brother-like ruler. While this sounds like a drama, Allen takes the typical dystopian vision (think Brave New World or 1984 or A Clockwork Orange) and turns it into satire.

The result is a great movie, full of images that have stood the test of time -- the "orb," the orgasmatron -- and raucous gags. Mike Myers, in his first Austin Powers movie, even blatantly plagiarized Allen's scene where Miles is revived. In the film world, it's considered "homage," and it's a way of recognizing a director's iconic touch.

Your Humble Commentator even thinks this film deserved an award. The Academy, however, tends to favor the dramatic over the comic. (Quick: Of the ten Best Picture Academy Awards in the 1970s, name the one comedy awarded.*)

And in 1973, the Best Picture Oscar went to George Roy Hill's The Sting. We here at Classic Films Central feel that comedy is overlooked too frequently. After all, which is more worthy of our notice -- drama, which helps us deeply explore the serious aspects of our lives? Or comedy, which helps us laugh at the serious aspects of our lives? This is not a rhetorical question.

Woody Allen once said, "Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all." For you, seeing Sleeper should solve that problem.

R. Findlay
Film Club Adviser

*Answer: Woody Allen's comedy Annie Hall won in 1977.