Woody Allen's Best Work?

I'm a week late chiming in here but I can't let the topic pass me by as a major fan of Woody Allen's filmography. Before Woody's quality started to dip and I found Pedro Almodovar, he was my favorite living director.

I can't find a suitable link to the original text that won't charge me money (dagnabbit) but apparently The Times of London asked Woody Allen to name his best films last month and his answers have had the internet all atwitter if not a twitter (I have yet to see Woody Allen "trend" even if he's contributed far more to society than, say, Justin Beiber).

Anyway, in case you didn't hear or would still like to discuss (Always up for a Woody!), the legendary writer/director/comic chose these six films as the cream of his crop. I've listed them in chronological order.

Woody's favorites

• Zelig (1983)
  
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
  
• Husbands and Wives (1992)
  
• Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
  
• Match Point (2005)
  
• Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)

I find the list completely fascinating. I think how artists view their own work is always of interest even though I think, by and large, artists are not the best judges of their own work. Creation and criticism being two completely different skill sets (which is also what you can blame so many dumb Oscar honors on), especially about one's one work since there's no way to see it from a suitable distance

The obvious talking point is that Allen shunned what history has arguably favored as his holy trinity: Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters. I was aware even as far back as 1987 that Woody didn't think as highly of Hannah and Her Sisters as the public and Oscar voters did -- he was all about David Lynch's Blue Velvet in 1986 if I recall -- and thought he'd done something wrong with Hannah when it became popular. But that he wouldn't list his late 70s giants as his best does surprise me.

Oscar's favorite Woody Allen pictures
Hall (5 noms/4 wins) Bullets (7 noms/ 1 win) Hannah (7 noms/ 3wins)

But then, no one seems to agree on these things. If you look around the web (Cinematical, Vanity Fair, Ken Levine, Awards Daily) everyone claims a different "best". To my mind that's a healthy argument that the man has made a lot of fine films, even if he himself doesn't think so stating

I've squandered an opportunity that people would kill for. I have had complete artistic freedom... There are a few better than others, half a dozen, but it's a surprising paucity of worthwhile celluloid.

It surely wouldn't kill him to slow down a little bit and fine tune his screenplays these days -- the concept is often better than the execution, now -- but I think he underestimates his early work.

The Best of Woody according to Nathaniel? This is how I'd personally rank them.

Nathaniel's favorites

1. Manhattan (1979)
2. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
3. Annie Hall (1977)
   (all three are perfection)
   
4. Husbands and Wives (1992)
   (disgustingly underappreciated due to the scandalous climate in which it premiered)
   
5. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
   (also terrific)
6. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
   (give or take a few others depending on my mood. But this one is just so rewatchable/funny.)
   

A lot of critics swear by Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) but I seem to have totally forgotten it. I cannot recall one single thing about it (???) A revisit is definitely in order.

You know what you have to do in the comments, don't you?

Further Archived Reading
Woody's Muses, Ranked By Number of Films ~ Mia Farrow reigns. Scarlett Johansson is still such a newbie, all told.

Monologue: Diane Keaton is Looking For Mr. Goodbar

Monday Monologue

When people think about Diane Keaton in the 70s, there are probably a couple of stray thoughts for The Godfather but 8 times out of 10 they're thinking of Annie Hall (1977). The same year that she entered the cinematic pantheon as that neurotic androgynous fashion plate, she nailed another role: the grade school teacher with a dirty mind in Looking For Mr. Goodbar.


When we first meet Theresa, a professor (Alan Feinstein) is reading her personal paper about "confession" aloud while she fantasizes about having sex with him. Later that evening she's at his apartment grading his papers and he praises her for her understanding of syntax and grammar. Not exactly what she had in mind when she took the T.A. job. Theresa was thinking of something along the lines of T & A.


He asks if she's in pain (she has a bad back), and she responds, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Nothing about you is obvious..." he answers in what might qualify as the most perceptive thing anyone will ever say to Diane Keaton in a movie not directed by Woody Allen.

But what is wrong with Theresa's back? The question annoys her since the professor is holding her when he asks it, but his embrace isn't the carnal one she'd prefer. She backs away from him, and begins to walk around the room.

Polio. When I was six. Left me with a limp til I was eleven. That's when they operated to straighten my spine. Scoliosis they said.

Her monologue is interrupted here with the jarring sound cue of an x-ray flapped on to a light box.

At this point the director Richard Brooks flashes to a younger version of Theresa who interjects in tearful fear, "Papa. Papa." The interruptions continue, though they're visual rather than verbal now. "After that..." Theresa begins, but rather than hearing her explanation (at first) we're seeing a montage of soundless still images of Theresa's childhood: a nightmare of casts, x-rays, shame and misery. Seventies movies were so blissfully experimental with their film grammar, even when they had actresses as riveting as Keaton and could have coasted with unimaginative close-ups.

I came home wearing a plaster cast. They put me on a bed downstairs in the living room where everyone could watch, day and night. For one whole year and two days. They prayed a lot. It was God's will they said.

I never did understand what terrible thing I did, you know, to make God so angry?

What's fascinating about Keaton's performance throughout the scene is the way she's conveying, rather unexpectedly, both the distant physical memory that defined her and a calculated manipulation of her physical present. The memory is emotional but the reciting is equally physical as she paces and pivots. She's constantly recalibrating the space between herself and her potential lover and maybe even bridging the distance between her immobile young self and the sensual adult woman she wants to be. Is she using this story and moment for sympathy (she claims she doesn't want it) or merely buying time to work up her sexual confidence? Possibly both.

The professor tries to interrupt her, but she doesn't let him.

No. No. I hate people feeling sorry.

I'd rather be seduced than comforted.

And with that, purpose vocalized, she's snapped back to the movie's opening scene; Theresa is totally focused on the man before her as an object of carnal pleasure. He chuckles, moving away from her advance and a flicker of self-doubt and confusion crosses her face. But Theresa is not moving through the room anymore. She's planted her feet. She unzips her blouse. Soon enough, mere moments after he zips her back up in half-hearted protest, he's unzipping her again. Keaton punctuates this expertly played scene by placing her hands expectantly on her hips, with some impossible combination of bitchy vixenish triumph and arguably virginal thrill.


He's hers. For the night. Many lovers to follow.

Even if Annie Hall had not existed (god forbid!), you could still make a case for Keaton as 1977's Best Actress. In truth, since we're on the subject, I prefer Diane Keaton's dramatic characters to her comedic ones, Ms. Hall excepted of course. It's that 'la-di-da' persona that stuck, but Keaton is underappreciated as a dramatic force. There's an inimitable erotic fire in her best work, despite a screen persona and physicality that more readily draw attention to neurotic fussiness.

Nothing about her is obvious.
*

J Edgar Linker

Just Jared Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to play J Edgar Hoover. Hmmm... I'm not quite sure I see it. I like Leo but I really don't need him to take as many Oscar bait roles as he does. I'm sort of anxious for them to cave and give him the Oscar because I suspect maybe he'll lighten up a bit afterwards... maybe do another Catch Me If You Can like project maybe?
Peel Slowly Great Annie Hall gag dumbed down. This post is so sad. And true!
Film School Rejects had the best of all the web's April Fools joking yesterday (that I came across at least). It infected the whole site humourously without cause any lying pain.
ioncinema We Need To Talk About Kevin gets its Kevin? That creepy boy from Afterschool (*shudder)?
L Magazine Meet Oscar's first best actress Janet Gaynor (onscreen of course)
Movies Online Netflix Instant Watch as the new Wal-Mart Bin

"I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype"

Carol Kane in Annie Hall (1977)

Monday Monologue with Christopher Walken (Pt 1)

Alvy, this is my room. Can I confess something?


I tell you this because, as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving on the road at night I see two headlights coming toward me fast, I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly head on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion, the sound of shattering glass, the flames rising out of the flowing gasoline.

-Christopher Walken as "Duane Hall"

...right well --we have to go now, Chris. We're due back on planet Earth. (Christopher Walken is a nutjob. Or at least he plays one utterly convincingly onscreen.
*

Grammie Hall

Just a little something for Passover

AFI: The New Top 100 List

The Revised Greatest American Films List
I'm happy to see Blade Runner, Nashville, and Cabaret added. They all hold high rank in my own favorites listing. What say ye about this new lineup? (To be helpful I've added their previous AFI ranking to the right --big changes in bold)

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) same
2. "The Godfather" (1972) 3
3. "Casablanca" (1942) 2
4. "Raging Bull" (1980) 24
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) 10
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 4
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) 5
8. "Schindler's List" (1993) 9
9. "Vertigo" (1958) 61
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) 6


11. "City Lights" (1931) 76
12. "The Searchers" (1956) 96
13. "Star Wars" (1977) 15
14. "Psycho" (1960) 18
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) 22
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) 12
17. "The Graduate" (1967) 7
18. "The General" (1927) new
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954) 8
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) 11

21. "Chinatown" (1974) 19
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959) 14
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) 21
24. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 25
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 34
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) 29
27. "High Noon" (1952) 33
28. "All About Eve" (1950) 16
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944) 38
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979) 28

31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) 23
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) same
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) 20
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) 49
35. "Annie Hall" (1977) 31
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) 13
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) same
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) 30
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) 26
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) 55

41. "King Kong" (1933) 43
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) 27
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) 36
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) 51
45. "Shane" (1953) 69
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934) 35
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) 45
48. "Rear Window" (1954) 42
49. "Intolerance" (1916) new
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) new

51. "West Side Story" (1961) 41
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976) 47
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978) 79
54. "M*A*S*H" (1970) 56
55. "North by Northwest" (1959) 40
56. "Jaws" (1975) 48
57. "Rocky" (1976) 78
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925) 74
59. "Nashville" (1975) new
60. "Duck Soup" (1933) 85

61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) new
62. "American Graffiti" (1973) 77
63. "Cabaret" (1972) new
64. "Network" (1976) 66
65. "The African Queen" (1951) 17
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) 60
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) new
68. "Unforgiven" (1992) 98
69. "Tootsie" (1982) 62
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) 46 (i still don't understand how this one qualifies as American)

71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) new
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) new
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) 50
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) 65
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) new
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) 71
77. "All the President's Men" (1976) new
78. "Modern Times" (1936) 81
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) 80
80. "The Apartment" (1960) 93

81. "Spartacus" (1960) new
82. "Sunrise" (1927) new
83. "Titanic" (1997) new
84. "Easy Rider" (1969) 88
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) new
86. "Platoon" (1986) 83
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957) new
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) 97
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) new
90. "Swing Time" (1936) new

91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982) new
92. "Goodfellas" (1990) 94
93. "The French Connection" (1971) 70
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994) 95
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971) new
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989) new
97. "Blade Runner" (1982) new
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) 100
99. "Toy Story" (1995) new
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959) 72

<---they're tearing him apart: James Dean lost BOTH his spots on the top 100. And Monty Clift too. Argh. The films that fell out were...Doctor Zhivago #39, North by Northwest #40, Birth of a Nation #44, From Here To Eternity #52, Amadeus #53, All Quiet on the Western Front #54, The Third Man #57, Fantasia #58, Rebel Without a Cause #59, Stagecoach #63, Close Encounters of the Third Kind #64, The Manchurian Candidate #67, An American in Paris #68, Wuthering Heights #73, Dances With Wolves #75, Giant #82, Fargo #84, Mutiny on the Bounty #86, Frankenstein #87, Patton #89, The Jazz Singer #90, My Fair Lady #91, A Place in the Sun #92, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner #99

weirdest entry: Sophie's Choice... almost never listed in any "best of", apart from Meryl Streep's astonishing performance, is in the top 100 --They collectively name it the 6th best of the entire 80s decade. Whaaaa?

lesson learned: nothing below the top 30 is ever safe. It all depends on who they poll and which way the winds blow.

20:07 (Dating Histories)

New Series (let me know what you think in the comments). Each morning I will post a screenshot from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie. Just because! Along with the line o dialogue being spoken if there is one...

Jerry the actor: It's like, when I think of dying. Know how I'd like to die?
Younger Annie Hall: No. How?
Jerry the actor: I'd like to get torn apart by wild animals.
Alvy Singer: Heavy. Eaten by some squirrels?
Older Annie Hall: Hey, listen. I mean... he was a terrific actor.