Written by James M. Tate / 10/02/2016 / No comments / caper , comedy , crime , heist , ninties , woody allen , zeroes
FUTURISTIC MICE ONE: THREE TIERS OF WOODY ALLEN CINEMA
Woody in PLAY IT AGAIN SAM with Diana Davalos |
A with such a long-running timeline from either EARLY, MIDDLE or LATTER Allen Cinema, it would take three volumes to cover, and WAR AND PEACE (his inspiration for the First Tier's last picture, also the best and funniest) had only two volumes: So let's make do and, as quickly as possible, summarize Woody's Three-Tier, Career-Long Cycle, before delving into article-reviews in following posts, starting with The First, which we'll call EARLY FUNNY ALLEN, relying mostly on machine gun paced comedy (that Allen called "Slap-Dash") with genre-based themes being satirized in the process, going from 1969 to 1975 covering classic themes like American Crime, Science Fiction or Russian Literature, with TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN and LOVE AND DEATH serving as Tier One's bookends (actually, his first "directorial" was a dubbed-over Japanese movie retitled WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY?, but it's not organic enough to start with)... And to note, PLAY IT AGAIN SAM is an important part of the canon despite the fact it's Woody's hit play adapted to the screen by director Herbert Ross... According to actress Jennifer Salt in a personal correspondence, Woody was in pretty much in charge, at least during her scenes... PLAY IT AGAIN is the vehicle that made Woody's First Tier more conventional, and less completely-bizarre... Not that that's a bad thing...
Second of First Tier Early Funny Allen Cinema |
This eclectic Second Tier, that we'll call PIVOTAL ALLEN, also included extremely-serious Ingmar Bergman style dramas (which we'll cover, when it happens, in one fell swoop... painfully!) and went from 1977's smash hit ANNIE HALL all the way to, let's say... even though his all-time classic-creative peak was in the first of many Dostoevsky-based/Film Noir hybrids, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS... his cathartic shaky-cam calm before the game-changing storm in the documentary-style HUSBANDS AND WIVES: To many, after the Woody vs Mia Farrow controversial split hit not only tabloids with the jarring subject of "Marrying One's Very Own Step-Daughter," a girl he'd been around as she was being raised, from a very young age, by his longtime girlfriend/common-law wife and cinematic ingenue, Woody was seen in a brand new light, mostly covered in an (at that time) impenetrable veil of creepy darkness – others, including and especially die-hard, lifelong fans, felt it didn't make any difference, hiding their heads like a giant ostrich, and that you can and should separate an artist's private life from their art...
Third of Second-Tier Pivotal Allen Cinema |
Six years into the Third Tier, Woody & friend in SMALL TIME CROOKS |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
All Time Popular
-
Robyn Hilton enters into an eclectic exploitation comedy career in Wonder Women circa 1973 As mentioned a few posts ago, ROBYN HILTON, b...
-
year: 1978 cast: Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Kathleen Lloyd, Tony Alva, Pam Kenneally rating: ***1/2 Although promoted as a Leif Garr...
-
Kari Michaelsen in Saturday the 14th year: 1982 In LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a popular comedy that took the vampire genre by satire, Richard ...
-
Cornelia Sharpe in BUSTING Year: 1974 Rating: **** Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, makin...
-
Mary-Louise Weller in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE, directed by John Landis and produced by Ivan Reitman, stars John Be...
-
Kerri Green and John Candy in SUMMER RENTAL Year: 1985 John Candy, in his first leading role, plays a burnt-out air traffic controller ...
-
Robyn Hilton on STARSKY AND HUTCH Model/Actress ROBYN HILTON played Mel Brook's secretary in BLAZING SADDLES and turns up in an epis...
-
Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...
-
CADDDYSHACK is best known for the iconic leading actors: Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray, but originally the ...
-
Elizabeth James and Tom Laughlin on equal ground YEAR: 1967 THE BORN LOSERS wasn't supposed to happen but thank God it did since BIL...
Featured Post
RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'
Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2 After HEAVY TRAFFIC where cult director Ralph Bakshi inser...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.