Watched Woody Allen's 1977 Romantic Comedy "Annie Hall"
"A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark."
--Alvy Singer (as played by Woody Allen)
1977 was the year before I was born. When I think of this year, I think of Star Wars, which of course was groundbreaking in its use of special effects and its science fiction storytelling. However, Star Wars did not win the Academy Award for Best Picture nor did George Lucas win one for Best Directing. Annie Hall won Best Picture, and Woody Allen won Best Director. On the AFI 100, Annie Hall sits at number 35.
This film was directed and co-written by Woody Allen, and he also stars as Alvy Singer, a neurotic, Jewish comedian from New York.
Diane Keaton plays the title character Annie Hall. She's outstanding in this movie, and her portrayal of a ditzy yet charming Midwesterner. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.
The movie chronicles their relationship and for the time was unique in how it implemented flashbacks to tell the story of both characters backstories. Another aspect that was really different at the time is how the film would break in certain parts, and Alvy would talk to the audience. Nowadays, you can see that in a lot of films, but I think this was something that wasn't done much at the time.
There were also some pretty notable cameos, including Shelley Duvall, Carol Kane, and Christopher Walken. Even in this romantic comedy, Walken is still creepy.
I enjoyed this film. There were a lot of great laughs in it, and I think it shows an interesting picture of relationships. Before Annie Hall, Woody Allen did more straight comedies, and this really showed he could blend social commentary with those comedic elements. It's the precursor to the modern romantic comedy. It's not my favorite movie out there, but it's good. I laughed out loud during the cocaine scene. That was fun!
Related Item:
Annie Hall on DVD
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