Growing up Woody

Beginning tomorrow, and running through the 11th of January, Film Forum will be presenting a Woody Allen retrospective, including twenty-five of the director's features, two films he's acted in (The Front and Play it Again, Sam), and the documentary Wild Man Blues. Filmbrain's alter ego (writing under his nom de plume) has a piece over at The Reeler about the influence the nebbishy director's films had on the emotional development of this New York City street kid. It's part of larger package that includes quotes from such notables as Manohla Dargis, Philip Glass, James Toback and Harvey Weinstein on the septuagenarian director. The New Year's Day double feature of Sleeper and Bananas sounds like a perfect way to work off that hangover. Hope to see you there!

Comments

[zik]

I mean, Woody Allen.

[mike]

It seems to me that Toback's quote that the Woodman has stayed true to himself and never veered off course is the truest of them all.

It is easy to think of the Woodman’s influence on my own life. For example, there is a large African-American Woman who gets on the Long Island Rail Road at Rosedale. She fashions a medium sized afro. My friend (also a Woody fan) and I have, for the past 20 years, referred to her as “J. Edgar Hoover”, a reference to Bananas.

My mother never laughed at any of Woody Allen’s films except for one time. In “Sleeper” when the scientist is telling Miles that a madman by the name of Albert Shankar got hold of a nuclear warhead. My mother, a New York City public school teacher, had tears rolling down her face and difficulty catching her breath.

And, finally, for me the scene that sums it all up is the dream sequence in Bananas in which Woody and Allen Garfield, two Jews both up on crosses, are fighting over a parking space.

It really is that hard to park in Manhattan.

[Bruce]

Filmbrain's comment about "Manhattan" in the linked article alluded to the moment that I lost a lot of respect for Mr. Allen. Much of the point of the film was about making correct ethical decisions, and the filmmaker evidently didn't feel there was anything wrong with a guy in his 40s dating a high school girl. He might have been "true to himself", but that can be a mixed blessing.

[dubarry]

my second husband and i were watching sleeper in a revival house in paris a number of years ago. we were the only two that let out a long loud hoot at the shanker line -- his mother and mine both nyc public school teachers.