Small Time Crooks

a film by Woody Allen

Closing the cycle Conociendo a Elaine May by Vértigo, this feel-good cookie comedy stars Allen himself, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant is a typical Hugh Grant role and, surprise surprise, Elaine May.

Scoop

a film by Woody Allen

According to Wikipedia, Scoop is considered to be one of Woody Allen’s weakest films. So what? I enjoyed it much more than his other collaborations with Scarlett Johansson, viz. the “critically acclaimed” Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, none of which I’d like to watch again.

Ms. Johansson shines in this romantic comedy while Sid “The Great Splendini” himself makes very authentic Woody Allen — or is it the other way around?

Love and Death

a film by Woody Allen

I don’t sweeten my tea or coffee, but I enjoy reading what is written on Spanish sugar sachets. Our last day on Fuerteventura, we had coffee in our favourite pasteleria in Antigua. One of the sachets had this Woody Allen joke on it:

El sexo sin amor es una experiencia vacía. Pero como experiencia vacía es una de las mejores.

Now that we have two teenagers in the house, I thought it is appropriate to watch the source of the above quote with them. They watched and loved Sleeper and Zelig, but I was a bit afraid that the humour of Love and Death would be lost on them (blissfully ignorant of Tolstoyevsky etc.) I really shouldn’t have. The movie was a roaring success. Now they are going to annoy me randomly quoting it. Because every single line is a classic.

Zelig

a film by Woody Allen

Last night, or rather in the small hours of Sunday morning, I watched Zelig once again — this time, with Spanish subtitles (which amused me a lot). I find the protagonist of this “mockumentary” more touching and, well, more believable than other Allen’s characters.

The clip below contains one of my favourite scenes in the movie, viz. the escape of Zelig and Fletcher from Nazis on the airplane upside-down.

Zwei fanatische, idiotische, amerikanische Dummköpfe, kriminelle Schweinehunde, die Zelig und Fletcher heißen, ruinierten in einer wichtigen Rede unseres Führers Adolf Hitler den besten Witz...

Das ist fantastisch. Absolutely brilliant.

Hannah and Her Sisters

a film by Woody Allen

According to IMDb,

Woody Allen was originally going to have a more downbeat ending, but the studios asked him to make it more upbeat.

What a shame. I find the coda unconvincing. I don’t know what exactly Allen had in mind, but I would expect him to reserve the happy ending only for two “losers” of the story, i.e. Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Mickey (Allen).

Never mind that. Hannah and Her Sisters is a great film. Julie Kavner (yes, the voice of Marge Simpson!) is brilliant in a “small” role of Gail, Mickey’s deadpan assistant. The black and white movie Mickey watches in the cinema after his failed suicide is Marx Brothers’ classic, Duck Soup.

Annie Hall

a film by Woody Allen

In Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen and Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall!) seemingly play themselves. Well, Allen always plays himself. At times, the movie looks like a documentary — a really good one though, with some multi-layer time travel and stuff. It has far too many absolutely brilliant quotes to pick one. Maybe Jeff Goldblum on the payphone: “Hello? I forgot my mantra!”

Something that Allen’s hero apparently fails to do is simply to tell Annie that he loves her.

Sleeper

a film by Woody Allen

Sleeper (1973) is probably the funniest Woody Allen movie. Incidentally, I learned about this and other Woody Allen films back in the 1970s from an old (even then it was already old) issue of Америка (Amerika) magazine which just happened to lay around our house. It featured some snapshots from Sleeper, including the one with Allen as a robot butler handling an orb. I did not watch the movie itself until some 20 years later.

Interestingly, the credits say “Music by Woody Allen with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral and Ragtime Orchestra”, featuring Allen on clarinet. However, according to this comprehensive guide, “the score actually consists entirely of Dixieland/Tin Pan Alley standards, mostly written during the 1920s”.

P.S. 6 February 2024. Just re-watched Sleeper in Teatro Guiniguada. This is the first time I saw it on the big screen. The 50-year-old film lost none of its charm and humour.