What's your favorite Woody Allen film?

[Deja Q]

For me, it's either the 1996 classic "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" or the 1977 hit "Annie Hall".

His post-Annie Hall films seem to lack something, namely HUMOR, I could never get into them... they were almost morbid and freaky by comparison...

And why he's embarrassed about "What's Up..." is beyond me! From Miracle Whip to egg salads to "foreign version" to where people live to a spy meeting his mother on a ship (!), this movie is a non-stop laugh riot that outpaces modern comedies by about 70 MPH... It's also pure genius, I doubt it was easy taking a foreign film, thinking of any dialogue that would create even a remotely coherent story let alone a funny one and superimposing it on the original actors. The Lovin Spoonful's music score is great, too...

Edit: Here's a review of "Tiger Lily". http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/0/47269bf6b970187888256d730064baab?OpenDocument and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009Q4W7/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-4605119-4003048?v=glance&s=dvd&vi=customer-reviews for another!

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Love and Death.

LOL.

[Maple]

2. The ONLY

Woody Allen film I ever liked was 'The Sleeper'

[XanaDUer]

3. Love and Death, Hannah and her Sisters...

n/t.

[SOteric]

4. Radio Days

[Kool Kitty]

16. Another vote for "Radio Days".

I particularly liked the scene where Mr. Zipsky runs amok in the business district, wearing his underwear and brandishing an axe. Loved the music, too, but I love the music in all his films.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. OMG!

I only know one other person who likes "What's Up Tiger Lily?" ! I loooove that movie!

:bounce: :bounce:

[xray s]

8. Now you know two!

"Get the egg salad, ass!"

"Ohhh...an oriental girl"

"My snake is a little nervous...it's his wedding day...he's marrying a chicken!"


"Ok...listen up. Remember, we are on a ship...so don't go too far to the left, or the right, or to the left"

[Semi_subversive]

11. Now you know someone else.

I remember just about wetting myself watching that movie.

[Deja Q]

35. SWEET!

What's your favorite bit in it?

Admittedly there are so many.

But the one that had me rolling the most was where the hair or whatever started to innocently dangle on screen. Then comes the hand. The hair becomes anything but innocent as it starts roving around the edges of the screen and the hand follows, blocking the view of the Asian Robert Vaughn-lookalike with the snake... I don't recall the order, but eventually a second hand comes in to do some hand shadow puppets, and then that hand disappears followed by another that caresses the first hand, which then brings in Woody's and Louise Lasser's faces as they proceed to French kiss and then comment they shouldn't be doing all that in the projector room... Sadly it's not as funny now because I'm at home watching a DVD, the authentic 1966 audience saw it in a theatre where it must've had BIG laughs!

Before the DVD I had only seen the "American TV" version with the unfunny soundtrack. The DVD has the original theatrical soundtrack and it ROCKS! Another good bit was where the jailbreaker hijacks the car and forces out the woman the guy was French kissing. On the TV soundtrack, the woman says something about the car being a rental car. The theatrical soundtrack's version is actually funny, the woman kicked out complains about not being able to get her vibrator! It's how it's presented that makes it hilarious...

The bit where the two guys discuss where Wing Fat lives was great as well. The first guy points on the paper map and says "He lives here." The second guy says innocently "He lives on that piece of paper?" Again, it's hilarious in execution though the dialogue itself is silly.

[mitchum]

6. "Love and Death", "Bananas"

[gully]

7. There are so many very good Allen films.

Here is a list...

http://www.woodyallenmovies.com/woodyallenmovies.htm

I can't choose... :shrug:

[efhmc]

9. I absolutely cannot stand his whiney little person and that was long

before he married his daughter.

[NightTrain]

10. So many great ones...

...but I guess I'll choose 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors," the perfect blend of Woody Allen's brand of humor and the Bergman-esque existentialism with which he had long been fascinated.

[dweller]

15. Two votes for Crimes and Misdemeanors

and one for 'Zelig' also

dp

[shrike]

30. Crimes and Misdemeanors

Brilliant film.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

33. I second 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'

Martin Landau was fabulous.

I also liked Hannah and Her Sisters

[blessedleader]

12. The Trifecta

Annie hall
Purple Rose of Cairo
Husbands and Wives.

What's up Tiger Lily is awesome. . . Lovin' spoonful is one of my favorite bands. :-D

Sweet & Lowdown's his best new one. . . . his new one with Christian Ricci looks awesome. . . she looks like his best female lead since Diane Keaton!

[delete_bush]

13. Annie Hall

Witty, great dialogue, many timeless lines and scenes. And... Diane Keaton was hot!

[theemu]

14. Manhattan

The best looking, the best constructed characters, and the perfect blend between his comedic and dramatic storytelling.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. I was amazed by "Sweet and Lowdown"

Sean Penn and Samantha Morton.
The script.
The promoting of the music of Django Rheinhart and Stephane Grappelli.
The pseudo-documentary approach.
Morton upstaging Penn without saying a word, and Penn making room for her.

About $4 per rental. Upend the penny jar if you must.

--bkl
Not usually a WA fan.

[peacefreak]

23. I agree

Woody Allen didn't get in the way either.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

18. Going to The Mall

or something like that, with Bette Midler as his
wife who was also the first gal President I believe.
Basically they shopped and yelled and carried
packages and went up and down escalators. It
was good family fare and also very Bergmaneseque.

[radwriter0555]

19. The guy who married his wife's daughter? They got a name for that

kind of guy.

[NashVegas]

20. "Bringer of Karma"?

Recently I watched a Roman Polanski bio on one of the cable channels. When they got to the part about his rape of a 13 year old (which, according to court testimony, was NOT just statutory), Mia fell over herself apologizing for him, stuff along the lines of "it was so overblown," and "she didn't look like a little kid, she was mature," etc., etc.

[LuLu550]

21. Sleeper

I loved the part when they held "the nose" at gunpoint.
Still cracks me up!

[arwalden]

22. Sleeper and "Everything You Always Wanted To Know..."

.

[Booberdawg]

24. I don't like any of his films

Don't care for his style of humor.

And besides that he's a pervert - so not interested in getting to know his style.

[Deja Q]

29. We're all perverts in somebody's eyes. Besides,

it was his adopted daughter. Which is still wrong as such an act violates trust on a horrid level, but not as wrong as if she were his biological offspring! :scared:

[Booberdawg]

32. So , he is ...

morally perverted or criminally peverted. A daughter he nevertheless raised. That's fuckin' sick!

"Just sorta" does it for me - and he certainly qualifies.

[Deja Q]

34. Agreed. I did rather rationalize...

It is definitely sick.

I'm surprised he hasn't appeared on Jerry Springer, though it'd be amusing to see which one strips down for the audience... :eyes:

[Capn Sunshine]

25. Hannah and her Sisters

I actually wanted to see New York City after viewing that. What a lyrical valentine to the Big Apple. The cinematography was genius.

For humor, Sleeper.
Funny thing about Sleeper; it was shot on Paramount ranch which is nearby, and the vehicles from Sleeper remained parked on a lot off the freeway owned by the guy who built them for like ten years. It was interesting to be driving your tourist friends around and they'd be all "wow!!" and point and we'd just say "yeah, yeah, vehicles from Sleeper..."

[Kat45]

26. Annie Hall

That movie was so funny, and it was a great snapshot of the times (the seventies).

I also really liked "Everything You Always Wanted to Know...." I had tears coming out of my eyes laughing at that one. I loved the scene when they showed the inner workings, sperm and all, of a guy's body as he was about to....um, explode. :D

[Fenris]

27. Love and Death

The only film that I laugh at whenever I see it. The humor never fades.

[jerryster]

28. Woody Allen

Glad to see your post. Woody is still, to me, the only genius we have in American film. He writes, directs, often does the music. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite. I do recommend that everyone should see Broadway Danny Rose. It's one the most underrated films of his and it is absolutely terrific. Also, I consider one of my prized possessions to be a double VINYL album of stand up comedy by Woody.It's called Woody Allen: The Night Club Years. It's hilarious all the way thru, with his routine about shooting a moose possibly the funniest routine ever done by anyone. And I say this as a big fan of other comedians like Richard Pryor and Robin Williams. But Woody is the most diverse of them all. And he KILLED at the Oscars!!!

[shrike]

31. Sorry, but no one's funnier than Richard Pryor

And I don't have to listen to Woody's stand-up to know that.

But I loved Broadway Danny Rose. Wonderful movie.