"Who's a fellow *Woody Allen fan & who's seen his "Cafe, Society?"

[spence]

  Trying this again, last post went bye, bye for some reason???

 

1stly & most importantly, what other fans are there out there of *"THE WOODMAN"-WOODY ALLEN-(l935-)

 

I know he's an acquired taste to many, but what other true-blue fellow fans are out there in TCM land & beyond, of his?

 

& who's had a shot to check out his newest latest & #46th film to date: "Café, Society?"

 

Due to not living in a major market-(NYC, LA & Chicago) we may not even get it, plus, as most fans know his films don't generally  do very well at the $Box-0ffice$ matter of fact, his biggest hit by far yet was "Midnight in Paris" (2010) ($71m.) (strong ***-out of 4 stars) & it won the little genius his 3rd Best 0. Screenplay *Oscar.-(he already holds all-time record for most writing nods w/18 td)  Runner-up is still *Billy Wilder-(l906-2002)

 

Besides that what are what we say on TCM as "Essentials" of his?

& as w/all "Guest Programmers" I'll limit my choices to only (4) & maybe a runner-up  I know they must do that due to time,etc

 

 1. *"Annie Hall" (l977)-(even defeated "Star Wars" for BP & BD *Gold)

 2. "Manhattan" (l979)-(close call for me, due to that incredible Gershwin music & B & W cinematography. Matter of fact, for those ceremonies that year, many protestors were utside the auditorium-(fellow cinematographers) upset that this was "snubbed" in that category. The winner for '79 was "APOCALYPSE NOW"-(though I think they got it correct in the end!)

3. "Hannah & His Sisters" (l986) ($36m.)

4. "Broadway Danny Rose" (l984) ($10m.)-(& marvelous Mia has yet to be even a contender?)

& 5th "Purple Rose of Cairo" (l985) ($11m.)

 

(HONORABLE MENTION: I jjust adore 1972's "Play It Again, Sam" though & he didn't direct this one)

 

His own pix: "Crimes & Misdemeanors" (l989) ($18m.) & "Midnight in Paris"

[Emily Dean]

Well I have always liked Woody Allen and keep his private life antics separate from his filmography.  My favourites are as follows:

 

Radio Days

Sleeper

Zelig

Hannah and Her Sisters

The Purple Rose of Cairo

 

Unfortunately I too live in an area not frequented by Woody Allen's films and have to wait for either DVD issues or streaming.  Besides the dialogue (and I swear it is always Woody speaking) the music is great and the cinematography is delightful.   I truly think his movies were the first to give me a true sense of NYC. 

[drednm]

Many excellent films.... Had watched Love and Death the other night and had forgotten how funny it is. For funny:

 

Annie Hall

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

Radio Days

Sleeper

Small Time Crooks

Broadway Danny Rose

Play It Again Sam

 

For drama

 

Interiors

Blue Jasmine

September

Manhattan

Husbands and Wives

Scoop

Match Point

 

 

 

[whistlingypsy]

I have had something of a love-hate relationship with the films of Woody Allen over the years, which has more recently mellowed into a can't wait to see what he does next sensibility. I agree with Emily that his choice of music/songs for the soundtrack is one element I loved from the beginning. I prefer his nostalgic visions of the past, and his early work reflects his developing style as a filmmaker, but his tendency to revisit certain subjects can produce mixed results. I recently caught Irrational Man (2015) and found it interesting, but a weak attempt to duplicate his Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), which is far superior.

 

Radio Days (1987); Midnight In Paris (2011); Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); Sweet and Lowdown (1999); What's New Pussycat (1965), his screenplay/his acting/he did not direct

[spence]

   What about this newest release?

[rayban]

The Mia Farrow Scandal put a severe dent in my long-time appreciation of Woody Allen and his films.

 

But, gradually, I did work my way back.

 

He is such a unique and gifted fillmmaker.

 

I like his not-exactly-expected films like "Match Point" and "Blue Jasmine".

 

And even the not-so-successful ones like "To Rome, With Love" have his unique sensibility.

 

The Mia Farrow Scandal came up again in the recent past - and, of course, it will never, ever go away, will it?

 

(In 2014, their adopted daughter, Dylan, repeated her sexual abuse charges from the early 90's.)

 

But I often wonder how much of a negative effect it has had on his on-going cinematic career.

 

Today, he is definitely considered "a marginal filmmaker".

[Osfan]

I am a huge fan of The Wood Man- no alleged scandal could change my opinion of his work. I liked him as a stand-up in the 1960's, loved him in films like "Casino Royale", saw "Take The Money And Run" upon it's original theatrical release (to this day I still call it a GUB, and whenever I am in a line with a group I feel as though we are making an immense charm bracelet), laugh hysterically at "What's Up, Tiger Lilly?", and whenever I am at the deli counter I order cole slaw for 10,000 men. Any four woody Allen films would make for a wonderful evening of programming, and I especially love "Hannah and Her Sisters" 'coz it's New York in the 1980's, "Annie Hall" 'coz it's New York in the 1970's, "Radio Days" 'coz it's new York in the 1930's..... Hell, New York in any decade. "Crimes and Misdemeanors", as well as "Interiors" for the darker side of this great filmmaker, would round out the lineup. Never saw a Woody Allen film that I didn't like. His characters always ring true, the music is always fantastic, the settings are always interesting. I look forward to seeing "Café Society", but I, too, live in a market where it's not likely to show. Guess I'll have to wait for NETFLIX.

[rayban]

Mia Farrow might never be able to let go of the Mia Farrow/Woody Allen Scandal.

 

Not too long ago, she announced that their only biological child, Ronan, might actually have a different father - Frank Sinatra.

 

I loved the creative collaboration between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow.

 

In a documentary that aired on PBS, he said that Mia Farrow had tremendous range.

 

And I agree, Miss Farrow did.

[Swithin]

Woody Allen's films all play in New York City, and we can certainly relate to them.  I like some of them very much, others not so much. Cafe Society opens at my neighborhood theater later this week.

 

Favorites (I think the first two on my list are masterpieces):

 

Radio Days

Manhattan

Broadway Danny Rose

Zelig

Annie Hall

Interiors

Midnight in Paris (maybe not great, but better than most of his recent films)

 

Least favorites

 

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Play It Again Sam

Take the Money and Run

 

I have mixed feelings about Hannah and her Sisters, but I think it's a very good film. I think What's Up, Tiger Lily? is very clever and has some great lines. I thought Blue Jasmine overrated.

[film lover 293]

Have not seen "Cafe,  Society"; doubt the film will make it here.

 

One of my favorites is "Everyone Says I Love You" (1996)--The film is uneven, vocally, but is charming and the dancing isn't bad.  Drew Barrymore is rather good, and Goldie Hawn has a marvelous part near the films' end.  Films' score is by multiple composers, including Rodgers and Hart ("Mimi") and Cole Porter ('Looking at You"), just to name two songs.  Film flopped at the box-office, but is worth a viewing if you can find it.

[drednm]

For my money, one of Allen's funniest bits is the extended Blanche DuBois scene in Sleeper, which may be his all-round funniest film. It lacks the bittersweet quality of his best films, but it's funny. Bittersweet is something lacking in nearly ALL films of the last 20 years ... unless it's a cartoon. Says a lot about current filmmakers.

 

As for Blue Jasmine ... Brilliant casting of Cate Blanchett.

 

Whether Woody has any real say in casting, I have no idea, but his strong roles for women and the casting of top talents like Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow (before she went nuts), Cate Blanchett, Judy Davis, Gena Rowlands, Anjelica Huston, Geraldine Page, Elaine Stritch, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz ... have led to some very memorable films.

[spence]

The Mia Farrow Scandal put a severe dent in my long-time appreciation of Woody Allen and his films.

 

But, gradually, I did work my way back.

 

He is such a unique and gifted fillmmaker.

 

I like his not-exactly-expected films like "Match Point" and "Blue Jasmine".

 

And even the not-so-successful ones like "To Rome, With Love" have his unique sensibility.

 

The Mia Farrow Scandal came up again in the recent past - and, of course, it will never, ever go away, will it?

 

(In 2014, their adopted daughter, Dylan, repeated her sexual abuse charges from the early 90's.)

 

But I often wonder how much of a negative effect it has had on his on-going cinematic career.

 

Today, he is definitely considered "a marginal filmmaker".

YOU MUST TRY & SEPARATE THE 2 THINGS THOUGH (TRIVIA: ALTHOUGH *"THE CHAIRMAN: SINATRA" TRIED TO ALWAYS INSIST HE WASN'T CONNECTED TO "THE MOB" AFTER THAT SCANDAL *FRANK ASKED HER "IF SHE WANTED *WOODY'S LEGS BROKEN"  A TRUE STORY

 

& HER SON RONAN FARROW-(l987/88-)  WAS BRIEFLY A HOST ON MSNBC & MIA PUBLICLY INSISTED HE WAS *SINATRA'S SON-(P.S. Go check him out on the net)

 

I'VE ALWAYS INSISTED THAT SHE WAS "SNUBBED" A COUPLE OF TIMES BY HER PEERS IN THE *ACADEMY, MOSTLY FOR "DANNY ROSE" & "RADIO DAYS" & MOST CRITIC'S CITE 1990's "ALICE"

[laffite]

DREDM--I would think that Woody has absolute control over casting. The credits say Juliet Taylor. I wonder if she even exists.

 

---

 

Some spoilers here

 

Radio Days must be one of the best (if not thee best) of nostalgia films. It made me nostalgic and I wasn't even born yet (just barely). The blind date scene at the dining table is terrific. The final words of the movie (voice over by Allen) states that "the memories are getting dimmer and dimmer." That was 40 years after when he said it. After watching it more recently (two or three years ago) those words resonate to a level of poignancy that had me nearly in tears.

 

Hannah and her Sisters won me over when I first saw it but a later relatively recent viewing put me off a little. Mickey's (Woody Allen) story is the best part and very funny. Michael Caine is slime committing the worst kind of adultery. I'm not prudish about these things, at least in movies, but I got hit the wrong way I guess, something so distasteful about it. And Mickey getting married at the end is off the wall. But, okay, lots of good stuff.

 

Manhattan is perfect. Woody's acting was phenomenal, especially when he begins to get an inkling of his own self. And the off-center composition of some of those camera shots. Woody has forbidden pan-and-scan, those shots couldn't be represented that way.

 

Annie Hall, probably the most entertaining of them all, if you take a reading on a minute-by-minute basis.

 

Zelig and The Purple Rose of Cairo are so well conceived and unique.

 

I've also seen Vicki Cristina Barcelona, To Rome with Love, Bullets over Broadway, Sweet and Lowdown, Midnight in Paris. Match Point, and Cassandra's Dream.

 

=====

[Swithin]

 

Radio Days must be one of the best (if not thee best) of nostalgia films. It made me nostalgic and I wasn't even born yet (just barely). The blind date scene at the dining table is terrific. The final words of the movie (voice over by Allen) states that "the memories are getting dimmer and dimmer." That was 40 years after when he said it. After watching it more recently (two or three years ago) those words resonate to a level of poignancy that had me nearly in tears.

 

Lafitte, I agree with so many of your comments.  I think Radio Days is a brilliant film -- as  a New Yorker I value it above all his others. I love Woody's  characters of the 1940s. As the children of immigrants, they're more concerned with the simpler things of life.  There are so many wonderful scenes in Radio Days. The funniest, for me, is the whole sequence with Danny Aiello, Mia Farrow, and Gina DeAngeles. The most beautiful scenes are the songs "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," sung by Diane Keaton; and "I Don't Want to Walk Without You Baby" sung by Mia Farrow. The most evocative song may be Kitty Carlisle Hart singing 'They're Either too Young or Too Old." But the whole movie is quite perfect. These are the New Yorkers of my parents generation, and I really love them. Woody draws them beautifully.

 

Manhattan, of a later time -- my own -- is irresistible, from that incredible opening. No New Yorker can resist it.

 

 

[drednm]

Radio Days is indeed just about perfect. It tends to be ignored because Woody Allen isn't in it and because it's not a star vehicle. But there are great performances in it: Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Julie Kavner, the wonderful Gina DeAngelis (sometimes DeAngeles), and little gems from Richard Portnow, Michael Tucker, Danny Aiello, Tony Roberts, Renee Lippin, Diane Keaton, Kitty Carlisle, Josh Mostel, and Seth Green. Larry David plays the Communist neighbor. And look fast for William H. Macy, Jeff Daniels, Mercedes Ruehl, and Kenneth Mars. And bravo to the music. Just wonderful.

[sewhite2000]

I recently read Woody: A Biography by David Evanier and highly recommend it to any and all who think Woody is guilty. The book does an excellent job of showing just how off-kilter Mia Farrow is. Much I didn't know. The whole business about taking his daughter off into an attic, for example, that's stolen straight from the lyrics of a song by Dory Previn, who was Mia's friend until she started having an affair with her husband. No charges were ever filed, A psychiatrist who interviewed both Farrow and the daughter told the New York Times in his expert opinion that the allegations were inconsistent from interview to interview and seemed to have been coached into the little girl to the point that she herself was uncertain what was reality. Made me feel better about the whole thing. I'm sorry that so many of my friends who are only casual film fans have closed their minds and hearts to any sympathy for Woody, so certain are they that they know everything about him when they haven't read one per cent of the stuff I've read.

 

Him ending up with Soon-Yi I can't deny is always going to be perceived at best as really weird. But I'm tired of people I know calling Soon-Yi Woody's "daughter" or his "adopted daughter", neither of which are true. I correct everyone I hear say that, but all I ever get are blank stares.

 

The matter had kind of quietly gone away over 20 years or more, but I guess when Woody got back in the spotlight with Midnight in Paris, which I think was his most financially successful film ever, and then that was followed by Cate Blanchett winning an Oscar for Blue Jasmine, Mia/Dylan/Ronan went into full attack mode again. 

[drednm]

I recently read Woody: A Biography by David Evanier and highly recommend it to any and all who think Woody is guilty. The book does an excellent job of showing just how off-kilter Mia Farrow is. Much I didn't know. The whole business about taking his daughter off into an attic, for example, that's stolen straight from the lyrics of a song by Dory Previn, who was Mia's friend until she started having an affair with her husband. No charges were ever filed, A psychiatrist who interviewed both Farrow and the daughter told the New York Times in his expert opinion that the allegations were inconsistent from interview to interview and seemed to have been coached into the little girl to the point that she herself was uncertain what was reality. Made me feel better about the whole thing. I'm sorry that so many of my friends who are only casual film fans have closed their minds and hearts to any sympathy for Woody, so certain are they that they know everything about him when they haven't read one per cent of the stuff I've read.

 

Him ending up with Soon-Yi I can't deny is always going to be perceived at best as really weird. But I'm tired of people I know calling Soon-Yi Woody's "daughter" or his "adopted daughter", neither of which are true. I correct everyone I hear say that, but all I ever get are blank stares.

 

The matter had kind of quietly gone away over 20 years or more, but I guess when Woody got back in the spotlight with Midnight in Paris, which I think was his most financially successful film ever, and then that was followed by Cate Blanchett winning an Oscar for Blue Jasmine, Mia/Dylan/Ronan went into full attack mode again. 

 

Plus it's Farrow's brother who is or was in jail, convicted of child molestation. If he wasn't around when the kid was supposedly molested, then it's a case of Farrow's denial and projection and just plain nutty revenge against WA. Nothing in her adult life evinces much assurance or normalcy, from her affairs to her needy compulsion to surround herself with children, whom WA seems to have avoided to the point on not even living with Farrow.

[CaveGirl]

I recently read Woody: A Biography by David Evanier and highly recommend it to any and all who think Woody is guilty. The book does an excellent job of showing just how off-kilter Mia Farrow is. Much I didn't know. The whole business about taking his daughter off into an attic, for example, that's stolen straight from the lyrics of a song by Dory Previn, who was Mia's friend until she started having an affair with her husband. No charges were ever filed, A psychiatrist who interviewed both Farrow and the daughter told the New York Times in his expert opinion that the allegations were inconsistent from interview to interview and seemed to have been coached into the little girl to the point that she herself was uncertain what was reality. Made me feel better about the whole thing. I'm sorry that so many of my friends who are only casual film fans have closed their minds and hearts to any sympathy for Woody, so certain are they that they know everything about him when they haven't read one per cent of the stuff I've read.

 

Him ending up with Soon-Yi I can't deny is always going to be perceived at best as really weird. But I'm tired of people I know calling Soon-Yi Woody's "daughter" or his "adopted daughter", neither of which are true. I correct everyone I hear say that, but all I ever get are blank stares.

 

The matter had kind of quietly gone away over 20 years or more, but I guess when Woody got back in the spotlight with Midnight in Paris, which I think was his most financially successful film ever, and then that was followed by Cate Blanchett winning an Oscar for Blue Jasmine, Mia/Dylan/Ronan went into full attack mode again. 

I always thought Mia was a bit off the rails, from the haircutting episode during "Peyton Place" to trying to get Old Blue Eyes to marry her and then doesn't it seem like being with Woody Allen was definitely a good career move for her mostly moribund acting ambitions?

 

So I look forward to reading this book and thanks for sharing info about it!

 

And this is not because I am a big Woody fan, because I'm not. Used to like him but kind of got over it as the years passed.

[rayban]

Let's face it, in falling in love with his mistress' very young and, yes, adopted daughter, and then breaking the news to Mia Farrow via nude photos on his mantelpiece, Woody Allen exhibited some very questionable and very despicable behavior. 

[sewhite2000]

drednm, yes the book talks about Farrow's brother as well.

[drednm]

Let's face it, in falling in love with his mistress' very young and, yes, adopted daughter, and then breaking the news to Mia Farrow via nude photos on his mantelpiece, Woody Allen exhibited some very questionable and very despicable behavior. 

 

Doesn't sound like him at ALL...... My guess is it's another Farrow yarn. But I'd rather watch one of his movies than guess about this kind of crap.... That said, still waiting for Farrow's Mommie Dearest book on growing up with her famous actress mom and director dad.....

[RoyCronin]

For some time Mia has struck me as being somewhat....I don't know..maybe neurasthenic?  But that has suited her well in the parts given to her by Woody.  I loved her performances in most of them and have been a long time fan of Woody himself.  

 

I love Hannah and Her Sisters, Alice, Radio Days and somewhat more somber, Another Woman.

[rayban]

For some time Mia has struck me as being somewhat....I don't know..maybe neurasthenic?  But that has suited her well in the parts given to her by Woody.  I loved her performances in most of them and have been a long time fan of Woody himself.  

 

I love Hannah and Her Sisters, Alice, Radio Days and somewhat more somber, Another Woman.

Mia Farrow is a major talent with immense range.

 

She was very important to the success of the films that she and Woody Allen made together.

 

By letting his former mistress "rave on" and saying little or nothing himself, Mr. Allen has been very clever.

 

And why shouldn't Soon-Yi Previn's adoptive mother feel very hurt and very angry - and definitely betrayed?

 

This child was found "abandoned" in the streets and didn't even know her own age.

 

Mia Farrow took her in, adopted her and even gave her a privileged life.

[darkblue]

I'm very much a Woody Allen fan. Whenever I'm asked for my favorite director(s), his is usually the first name I think of.

 

I like all his movies - but especially those that came after 'Annie Hall'. I'm never uninterested in anything he's made, and I'm often completely engrossed in them.

[Swithin]

I'm very much a Woody Allen fan. Whenever I'm asked for my favorite director(s), his is usually the first name I think of.

 

I like all his movies - but especially those that came after 'Annie Hall'. I'm never uninterested in anything he's made, and I'm often completely engrossed in them.

 

darkblue that's the most intelligent thing you've ever said.