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Scott Kirkpatrick is the frontman of Crossroads of America Records band Chemic. One of Louisville’s best up-and-comers. He’s also a movie enthusiast. Since we like good music and (mostly bad) movies, we’ve asked Scott to school us cinematic neophytes (Blake excluded). Here’s his first attempt, a series about everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Woody Allen.
There’s been much dialogue about the validity of Woody Allen’s contributions to the world of film. There’s also been quite a bit of rhetoric about Woody Allen’s troubles off-screen — and his possible lack of moral judgment. This isn’t about questioning moral judgment, so we’ll concentrate on the former.
I believe, with all of my opinionated vigor, that Woody Allen belongs on the extremely short list of Great American Auteurs. I’m not talking about a list that includes names like Romero, Spielberg and George Lucas — more about the likes of Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese and maybe Robert Altman on a good day. I also fully expect Wes Anderson to be added to this list if he keeps his creative juices flowing for a few more films at least.
That being said, Allen has, more or less, made a movie every single year since 1967, when he bought the rights to a Japanese spy drama and over-dubbed it with a wonderfully ridiculous storyline about a stolen egg salad recipe. This movie, What’s Up, Tiger Lilly?, was the start of a long and celebrated career for Allen. He would hone his aesthetic, break it, then return to it, then perfect it again and again.
Woody Allen is best known for his movies featuring a revolving and ever-changing cast of characters who all interact with a nebbish and neurotic self-aware Jewish man in New York — played by none other than Allen himself. Another character that was prominent in almost all of his movies until recently is the city of New York and often, more specifically, Central Park. The city seems to have a life all of its own, and there’s no doubt Allen is in love with NYC. This culminated in his love letter to the city in the form of the film Manhattan. It could easily be argued that almost every one of his films is a love letter to the city, because he infuses it with so much beauty and captures it with his romanticizing eye.
It’s well known that almost any actor and actress in Hollywood would beat down the walls of heaven and hell to be cast in one of his movies. It seems that playing in a Woody Allen movie gets you the right amount of publicity with a heaping dose of artistic street cred. There is no doubt that there are some not-enjoyable Woody Allen movies, but more often than not, his movies rarely disappoint — especially if you’re one who follows the aesthetic he’s so well-known for.
In the artistic world, you a school of thought that believes an artist should stick to a key aesthetic and mine it for its full potential. Allen’s certainly done that, and even recently has broadened his aesthetic to mirror, yet expand what he was previously known for. Instead of characterizing the city of New York, he moved his personification across the Atlantic to London. Another aspect, which I haven’t touched on yet, is that he often focused on a single female actress and featured her in several films, elevating her to an off-beat heroine who, in his eyes, seemed to be Beauty personified. Classic Woody Allen starlets include Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow and Dianne Wiess, but these leading ladies have been updated in Woody’s frequent use and featuring of the lovely Scarlett Johannson (my personal favorites are Mia Farrow and Diane Keaton).
The world of Woody Allen can be a tough one to wade through. That’s where I come in! I’ve literally watched almost every single one of his movies (with a few exceptions which I’m working on ridding) and I thought I would give you a list of a few films to start out with. This list contains gems from various stages of Allen’s career and should give you a fairly good idea of whether or not you’ll enjoy his catalog. If it isn’t ridiculously obvious by now, I am a fan.
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1. Annie Hall (1977) — This is, without much contention, the best entry in Woody’s entire catalog. This won the Best Picture Oscar in ‘77. It’s a nearly-perfect blend of romantic comedy, artistic musings, childhood and relationship satirization — and a celebration of self-loathing — but not in an off-putting kind of way. It’s marvelous. One of my Top 10 favorite films of all time. Rating: A+ |
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2. Scoop (2006) — This is a late-career entry from Mr. Allen. It’s one of those films that substitutues New York for London and Mia Farrow/Diane Keaton for Scarlett Johansson. It is a pretty standard Woody-Allen-murder-mystery-movie (see: Manhattan Murder Mystery) elevated to new heights by the interaction between Allen and Johansson and the often hilarious interaction between a deceased journalist and a few real world inhabitants. Rating : B+ |
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3. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) — This, I believe, is by-far one of the most underrated of Allen’s entire catalog. The movie is sweet, creative in its blurring of the lines between fiction and fact and features knock-out performances by Mia Farrow and, especially, a young Jeff Daniels. Rating: B+ |
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4. Small Time Crooks (2000) — This particular film came as the last breath of fresh air before a string of post-millennium Woody Allen films that failed to live up to his previous standard (see: Anything Else, Hollywood Ending, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion). It was a return to form for Allen after he tried a very different, yet successful venture with The Sweet and Lowdown. It wouldn’t get this good again until Scoop, 6 years later. Rating: B |
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5. Bananas (1971) — This is an early entry from this great auteur and it involves an underachieving New York gentleman who goes down to a Latin American country to help the rebellion in order to impress/get back at the girl who broke his heart. Madness and hilarity ensue, and Allen is a master of reigning that in to help us see just how subtle his ridiculousness can really be. Rating: B+ |
Any questions, class?
If I wanted a nap, I’d take an ambien.
Woodie Allen is the key example of pseudo-intellectual New York City based art. Nothing exciting, nothing interesting, nothing dangerous. He makes New York City seem as slow as the south.
Sorry, I’m not too versed in film, and I don’t know how to talk about it, but his films have always come across as pieces that worked really well to a very specific upper-westside psuedo-bohemian crowd but get lost over the years, and the only reason they survive is that people are afraid to say they don’t like them.
I want to watch Woody Allen movies now…
I like the one movie he did where it’s about bank robbery then totally not about bank robbery. Was that STC?
For those interested souls, there is another Allen primer availabe at http://goodsmallfilms.blogspot.com entitled The Lay of the Land. Good Small Films is an Allen-related blog.
um hello, where are my three favorites?
Manhattan!
Play It Again, Sam!
Love and Death!
Those are the best! Don’t see Scoop!
Also, to bearface: you haven’t seen any early Woody Allen. If you had, you would understand that a good bit of what he’s famous for is marrying intellectual humor (not pseudo-intellectual, you jerk) with slapstick comedy. The guy can sling a fart joke and a not-so-obscure Crime and Punishment reference in the same scene. Not to mention the later dramas like Hannah and Her Sisters or Crimes and Misdemeanors. His characters are dense and complicated, the plots are fantastic, and his dialog is always pitch-perfect. Also, no one writes women better, and that’s the truth.
Jimmy,
Don’t worry. This is only part 1 of 4. I think you’ll like what’s coming. And what’s wrong with Scoop!? Also, you’re right about him and writing women, although I think he can be a little harsh at times.
Jay,
Yes, that is STC. There is also a lot of bank robbery plot in Take the Money and Run, but I think you are thinking of STC where they open up a cookie shop.
Here’s the thing: Small Time Crooks and Scoop are two of his worst films, no question. They are also better than 90% of the stuff released in their respective years…hence the elite grouping with Welles and Scorsese. When you compare a Woody Allen film to a Woody Allen film, sometimes he comes up short. Such is life when you can only be measured against yourself. You can’t make Manhattan every year, it’s impossible.
And if you restrict the conversation to screenwriters, no other American writer is even close. Class of his own.