Ben86

I've never really been into Woody Allen but I saw Deconstructing Harry last night and thought it was great. Are there are any other of his movies that are up to par with this one? Recommend me some of his greatest movies.

Shack

My favorites:

Sleeper
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Hannah and her Sisters
Crimes and Misdemeanors

all of which are better than Deconstructing Harry, in my opinion. Enjoy!

Richard Malloy

"Deconstructing Harry" gets pretty short shrift, but I also like it very much. One of his best latter-era movies IMO.

My favorites:

Early/slapstick:
What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Bananas
Sleeper

Transitional (slapstick/maturing comedy):
Love and Death

Prime era/more dramatic elements emerging:
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Hannah and Her Sisters

Leaning further away from straight comedy into the more purely dramatic:
Husbands and Wives
Crimes and Misdemeanors

Late-era comedy:
Deconstructing Harry
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Mighty Aphrodite

westerbergrules

OK, welcome to the club. Here goes my must see in order for a new WA fan:

To begin with...

Annie Hall - The best of the best

Hannah and Her Sisters - A overlooked masterpiece. Incredible ensemble performace.

Then lets get old school with ...

Love and Death - Be ready for a complete change in style from this later work, but hilarious.

Then go to the future with another meditaion on sex and death (done in a completely different way)...

Crimes and Misdemeanors - Maybe his most powerful film.

At your leisure, you should pick a few from this list:

Manhattan
Sleeper
Husbands and Wives
Purple Rose of Cairo
Shadows and Fog (why was this slammed in its day?)
Mighty Aphrodite
and oh my god, how could I have almost forgotten maybe his most funny movie, Bullets Over Broadway ("Don't speak!")

Enjoy

tommyp007

All the above...plus Curse of the Jade Scorpion

MrE

This thread is missing...
Play It Again Sam

ctowner1

Which he acted in and wrote part of the screenplay (IIRC), but did not direct. SO it's not a "True" Woody Allen movie (but well worth seeing, of course!)

Allan: That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollack, isn't it?
Museum Girl: Yes, it is.
Allan: What does it say to you?
Museum Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Allan: What are you doing Saturday night?
Museum Girl: Committing suicide.
Allan: What about Friday night?

garmonbozia

yes it does unfortunately, but it's my personal favorite Allen film to date because imo, it's his funniest film.

Richard Malloy

"Short shrift" is putting it mildly; "DH" was positively loathed in some quarters.

Not that I ever put much stock in Gene Siskel's opinion (though may he certainly rest in peace), but his opinion of "Deconstructing Harry" seemed a common one at the time. He seemed to have expected more gentle, sentimental fare, and found the wicked, lacerating humor of the film immensely distasteful. I seem to recall he employed the term "self-hating Jew" in his criticism (which I'm sure had Philip Roth wondering what the hell am I? chopped liver?). But I agree with you, garmonbozia, and think it's the sharpest, most personally revealing comedy Allen's done since the 1970s, excepting perhaps the devastating wit in the more dramatic "Husbands and Wives".

Hmmmm....

"Husbands and Wives" = Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage"
"Deconstructing Harry" = Bergman's "Wild Strawberries"

Josh Z

Another Deconstructing Harry fan here, and I'll second the nomination for Manhattan Murder Mystery as one of his better late-era films.

Zelig always seems to get overlooked. That's my personal favorite Allen picture.

ernestrp

Take the Money and Run was my favorite WA film. Never really cared for any of the others.

FantasticVSDoom

I think Radio Days is my favorite of what I have seen of his...I think I liked it a bit more than Annie Hall, eventhough I really enjoyed it as well. Actually Melinda and Melinda was pretty good for a new release by him considering they can be hit and miss.

smirnoff

I thought Anything Else was fantastic. The situational humor is very funny, as well as the great dialouge. To me this is just one of those easy to watch films, but not in the mindless sort of way. I think Jason Biggs just nails his character, and so do all the other actors for that matter. I haven't heard anyone elses opinion on this fairly new woody flick, but I think is his best. Granted, I haven't seen many.

Fielding Mellish

Crimes and Misdemeanors is my all-time favorite film.

Annie Hall and Manhattan are must-watches.


And, erhhm... I hear Bananas is pretty good...

Shannon Nutt

This is my favorite Woody movie as well...

garmonbozia

what does that make 'Interiors' ??

calhoun07

Just a word on Purple Rose of Cairo.... I think that comes from a period of Woody Allen's most original movies he's ever created. It's about a lonely housewife who finds comfort in her local movie theater, and she develops feelings for one of the actors on the screen, and to her surprise, the actor comes off the screen and into her life, for some interesting results. It's a great movie.

And I would recommend Zelig as well, easilly another favorite from that time period of incredible creativity from this director.

dhmac

Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers, perhaps (?)


Also, WA's Stardust Memories = Federico Fellini's 8½

dhmac

Woody Allen wrote the original stage play that Play It Again, Sam was based on, as well as the screenplay for the movie (which he alone wrote). And he, of course, starred in it too as the leading man. In fact, I think the only reason WA didn't also direct it himself is because he didn't have enough confidence in his ability as a director at the time (this was in 1971/1972). And I personally consider it a WA film not just because he wrote it and starred in it, but because it just "feels" like a WA film. So the fact that someone else actually directed it seems like a moot point to me.

Richard Malloy

I agree.... "Interiors" seems inspired by Bergman's "Cries and Whispers", with maybe a little "Autumn Sonata" thrown in.

And in addition to the obvious Shakespearean debt, I've often thought "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" is a take on Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night".

Is "Stardust Memories" = "8-1/2" the only obvious, erm, "homage" to Fellini by Woody?

Ginwen

My two favorites. I'd get Manhattan before any of the others you mentioned, but that's just me. I'm sure this movie makes some people pretty uncomfortable though, given the subject matter as it relates to his later actions.