Woody Allen and his New York
by The Flamingo
As I promised in my previous article, I will release a series of posts with small reviews on Woody Allen’s movies that he directed and written and why I liked them. This article is about his films where New York plays a central part. Although, most of his filmography is shot in this amazing city (because he’s a New Yorker through and through) not all of his movies treat New York as a central character. I gathered here all the movies I watched until now, that made an impact on this theme. Here is the list in no particular order:
Manhattan (1979) – “He idolised it, he romanticised out of proportion, a town seen still by him in black and white colors” and that pulsed with Gershwin music, a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture (“a society desensitized by drugs, television, crime, garbage, decaying values”). I loved the intellectual “snobbish” dialogue between characters about cinema, painters, writers, music and philosophy and the humorous interpretation of “existential reality”. This is so uncharacteristic for nowadays movies which lack everything except visual effects. Woody Allen specializes in relationships with ups and downs, with love triangles, or rectangular or all kinds of geometrical shapes in this movie. His character lives in the past, he idealizes love, he accepts no compromises in a relationship, that’s why he is 40 and twice divorced, going back and forth between a 17 year old high school girl and the mistress of his married best friend. It’s not quite a comedy, it’s one of his films that lean to his black humor side and also the characters’ thoughts and their suffering is quite dramatic.
Actors: Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen.
Awards: won 15 awards.
Annie Hall (1977) – Woody Allen’s inspiration comes from his personal life or that of people around him, the movies are very good because they are personal, he writes what he knows. Can’t imagine himself living elsewhere than New York. This film is less about the qualities of his beloved city and more about why everywhere else is awful in comparison. For example: “the only cultural thing that happens in L.A. is turning left on a red light”. The countryside makes him nervous, there are crickets everywhere, screens with dead moths behind them, no place to go to dinner, even the Manson family possibly in the vicinity (they were very famous back then…for all the wrong reasons). He is obsessed with antisemitism in this film and he is convinced that the rest of the country looks at New York like they are the left wing communist Jewish homosexual pornographers. The movie is about a relationship of course, which ends badly, although it’s a comedy, no love triangle or other forms, just a relationship from the beginning till the end. Got Dianne Keaton the Oscar. I think Woody Allen is like NYC, he is an island unto himself.
Actors: Diane Keaton, Woody Allen.
Awards won: 30.
Rainy day in New York (2019) – This movie is his most recent one and it’s a Valentine dedicated to days long gone. This romantic comedy has an unrealistic display of young characters today…maybe the way Woody Allen would wish it would be. They are 20 year old students talking about the likes of Grace Kelly, Gone with the Wind, Irving Berlin, Maurice Chevalier and Charlie Parker and wearing tweed and old fashioned cashmere sweaters. I love this “reality” of his, it’s so old fashioned and right in my niche. This movie is an ode to New York’s cultural Manhattan, with the best old fashioned places where in Woody Allen’s opinion a well educated person would go. He keeps talking about The Carlyle with the piano player who sings old Broadway tunes, about The Pierre Hotel with a park view, an exposition at MOMA, about Daniel’s French restaurant and carriage rides in Central Park. He is a veritable New York snob. The shots in beautiful grand upper Manhattan apartments, modern or old fashioned, with walls full with beautiful paintings are truly beautiful. The MET steps obviously couldn’t be looked over. The final scene, the romantic kiss under the Delacorte Clock in Central Park is the cherry on this New York cake.
Actors: Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Liev Schreiber, Jude Law.
Awards won: 3.
Whatever works (2009) – This is a comedy which stars Larry David, who plays himself. It depicts his depressing view on life with a heavy dose of black humor. He is a nasty rude character, a misanthrope, but also a very deep rooted New Yorker. This movie shows the lower part of Manhattan, China Town, also lots of other neighborhoods presented apart from Allen’s adored posh Manhattan. There are some nice tourist attractions shown: like Grant’s tomb and a rare view of the Statue of Liberty, also Times Square. It’s a very funny movie in a sordid kind of way, full of existential issues, anxieties, full of all the world’s horrors. Allen has an obsession with relationships between older intellectual men and pretty younger women, who are wooed by a man’s brain and sense of humor. All in all this is one of my favorite comedies.
Actors: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Henry Cavill.
Awards won: 2.
Radio Days (1987) – It’s a nice movie with an old vibe about the days when the main form of entertainment was the radio. He presents the story of his middle class Jewish family in this radio days context, before the tv. The radio played a huge role in the lives of people and families who gathered all together around it, especially during the Second World War to listen to the news, to stories, music and entertainment programmes. It’s funny to see the same prejudices as today also present more than 70 years ago: the tv spoils the children today, the radio did the job back then.
For the first time I saw the beautiful New York Island with the Rockaway Beach, wet and gloomy, with old buildings and a romantic feel to it. Allen offers a glimpse of the 30’s Coney Island, the beautiful peer. The exquisite restaurant King Cole Dining Room of St Regis Hotel is displayed, also a lot of other restaurants, tearooms and nightclubs. The Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn is also displayed, also we get to see the Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center, which is grand and unexpected, with tall golden chandeliers. My favorite sights were the rooftop views over the old Manhattan, full of vintage commercial posters and flickering lights of clubs and restaurants.
In this movie, Allen tells different stories associated with radio songs that he used to hear in that particular period. It’s nice he shows how radio theater was done. He also offers some insight into the upper class social lights life from back then.
This comedy is Allen’s typical nostalgia for New York’s old and golden days. I will end this review with one of my favorite Woody Allen quotes: “this world could be so wonderful, if it wasn’t for certain people”.
Actors: there is a huge cast for this movie, some of them: Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Larry David, Jeff Daniels, Diane Keaton.
Awards won: 3
Celebrity (1998) – This comedy is shot in black and white “Manhattan” style, also it’s that type of movie in which a lot of very popular stars from that era are playing small parts. Allan’s typical character, not played by himself this time, is at the center of this comedy. It has the usual ark of a middle aged married man who is tired of his wife and wants to play around. He navigates through the volatile life of New York celebrities, either trying to score it big as a screenwriter or just to play around with them. Like he says in the movie, knowing which celebrities are trendy and interesting is like taking the pulse of the people, to see what a nation is really worth.
New York has again a central role in this movie a bit more on the upper scale in comparison to others, just because it revolves around celebrities. There are a lot of iconic but also not so well known places featured in this movie. It begins with the famous Park Avenue. There’s also a dramatic as well as comical fight between the main character who wants a divorce from his wife, set in the “Ladies Pavilion” in Central Park in the dead of night. What I liked the most visually and as a landmark, was the fashion show and scenes shot with Queensboro Bridge in the background. Most of the scenes are shot in very well known luxurious restaurants and nightclubs like: Barbetta, Jean-Georges, El Flamingo, Elaine’s. One of the last scenes shot on the East River, with the main character in his underwear and one of his lovers disposing of his novel as revenge is very gratifying but also makes you feel bad for the schmuck.
Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Winona Ryder, Melanie Grifftith, Judy Davis, Charlize Theron, Joe Montegna, Leonardo di Caprio.
Hollywood ending (2002) – A ruined Hollywood director gets one more chance to shoot a movie in the scenery of Manhattan. It’s a great comedy, the director goes psychosomatic blind because of the stress and has to direct the picture without letting anyone know about his condition, else he will get fired. Some great buildings are displayed, but what I liked most is the amazing Plaza Hotel inside and out (Home alone 2 came to mind). The bar in the Carlyle hotel is one of Woody’s favorite locations, it’s really exquisite with the warm colored painted walls and the jazz playing in the background. This bar is on my New York bucket list. Some amazing sunsets over the Manhattan buildings are to be admired from the Central Park. This is one of his colorful movies, beautifully artistic.
Actors: Tea Leoni, Woody Allen.
Crimes and misdemeanors (1989) – This movie is a philosophical topic debated, mainly the morality and ethics of certain actions and ways of living. Also the existence of God and blind faith is put into question throughout the story. On one side this is definitely a drama, the drama of a man who turns into a killer out of desperation. On the other side there is also the story of a documentary director who struggles to stand out, with a huge grudge against his successful brother-in-law, all of it presented in a very comic fashion. “What makes New York such a funny place is that there’s so much tension and pain and misery and craziness here and I think that’s the first part of comedy”.
“I love New York, it’s like a thousand straight lines looking for a punchline”. New York is here represented by The Waldorf-Astoria hotel where a Jewish wedding is taking place. The Bleecker Street Cinema running old movies is a very charming location.
Actors: Martin Landau, Angelica Huston, Alan Alda, Mia Farrow, Woody Allen.
Awards won: 16
Zelig (1983) – This is an old documentary style movie, shot in black and white, about a man without any identity, but who blends in like a chameleon as any character. A surreal documentary, with old captures of New York from the interwar period, which are altered so that the character Zelig, played by Woody Allen, is featured. It also includes lots of real people who were very famous back then. It’s a movie for real American connoisseurs.
Actors: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow
Awards won: 7
New York stories (1989) – Three New York stories focused on art and artists, directed by three different directors.
The Martin Scorsese story: this is a very suburban artsy New York, 80’s style, focused on the contemporary artistic world, with parties at expositions, underground soulful comedic acts, shabby bars, everything surrounded by very appropriate 80’s music. A mature painter falls in love with his very young intern.
The Francis Ford Coppola’s story: this is the high life version of New York, with middle school kids at its center, private schools, living in fancy hotels and wearing luxury brands, grand parties, everything quite satirical presented: tiny humans behaving like rich adults. This one has a flute player and his little painter daughter as main characters.
The Woody Allen story: middle class Manhattan comedy, with a Jewish 50 year old man with mother complexes. This one is a little strange…it handles the art of the occult, in a very funny, sarcastic way. The background of the movie is focused on the New York famous skyline.
Actors: Nick Nolte, Steve Buscemi, Adrien Brody, Gia Coppola, Mia Farrow, Woody Allen.
Awards won: 1
After seeing almost all of Allen’s entire New York filmography, I can say I know New York better than other cities that I frequently visited. Funny thing is I never set foot in New York, all my knowledge being extended just to movies. New York is definitely on my bucket list and also the places featured in Woody’s works. His fascination with this city is overwhelming and also very contagious.
Photo from Image by Oleksy @Ohurtsov from Pixabay.
