The foremost American filmmaker of the 1970s and 1980s, Woody Allen has written, directed, and starred in an impressive body of work, exhibiting an extraordinary ability to grow and change as a filmmaker. Woody Allen was born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, New York, and lived a life not terribly unlike his young protagonist's in his autobiographical film, Radio Days (1987). While still in high school, Woody Allen was selling jokes that appeared in Earl Wilson's syndicated newspaper column. After flunking out of New York University (he failed motion picture production), he joined the NBC Writer's Program and, at the ripe age of 18, began to write for television, eventually teaming up with such writers for the classic 1950s TV series Your Show of Shows as NEIL SIMON, MEL BROOKS, and CARL REINER.
Woody Allen first came to national attention during the early 1960s when, instead of writing for others, he told his own jokes as a stand-up comic. His comic persona, developed during those nightclub years, was a truly modern creation - the neurotic everyman.
In 1964, he was paid $35,000 to rewrite the screenplay of What's New, Pussycat? The film became the most successful comedy of its time, earning $17 million. Though unhappy with the changes made in his work, Woody Allen was suddenly a recognized screenwriter and actor (he had a small part in the movie).
His next film project was What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966). This unique comedy was created by redubbing a Japanese spy thriller and giving it an entirely new comic sound track. With a Japanese superspy named Phil Moscowitz in search of the stolen recipe for the world's greatest egg salad, this James Bond spoof became a cult classic.
It wasn't until 1969, however, that Woody Allen was given a $1.6 million budget to write, direct, and star in his own film. The result was Take the Money and Run. It was followed by Bananas (1971), a film many fans consider his funniest. Both films were hits, and these two back-to-back moneymakers gave Woody Allen the freedom to continue making his own kind of films without studio interference.
Considering that Woody Allen writes, directs, and stars in the majority of his movies, his output throughout the last two decades has been remarkable. Not counting Tiger Lily, he has written and directed more than 18 high-quality films. His 1977 film Annie Hall was a landmark comedy. It won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress (Diane Keaton), Best Screenplay (with Marshall Brickman), and Best Director. Though he didn't win, Woody Allen was also nominated for Best Actor. It was the biggest sweep of top nominations since ORSON WELLES's CITIZEN KANE (1941), and it was the first comedy since the 1930s to be honored as Best Picture. But then Annie Hall was more than a comedy. Woody Allen had juxtaposed comic human foibles with the sadness of a relationship gone awry and created a hysterical yet sweet love story.
It seemed as if Woody Allen had reached the pinnacle of his creative and commercial powers. He could have gone on to make Annie Hall clones, but instead he chose a new direction, writing and directing Interiors (1978), a Bergmanesque film that was purposefully lacking in humor; Woody Allen refused to do the expected.
Interiors is an example of Woody Allen's constant experimentation to find a new voice. A notable aspect of this filmic searching is how often he has managed to create successful movies without seriously repeating himself. Manhattan (1979), Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Another Woman (1988), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) have all established Woody Allen as an independent-minded AUTEUR who has been able to create a vision of the world that is distinctly his own. Although not all of his films have been hits, all of them have been provocative and compelling.
Woody Allen's comic antecedents are many. His New York Jewish humor is in the great tradition of Groucho Marx. His impeccable comic timing came from studying Bob Hope movies. But both as a filmmaker and as a comic personality, Woody Allen is closest to Charlie Chaplin. Like Chaplin, he created a character of the little man who triumphs (after a fashion) against all odds, and, like Chaplin, he has allowed his meek character to grow and change with his increasingly sophisticated artistic vision.
Unfortunately, Woody Allen's reputation suffered when he became romantically involved with lover Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, whom he later married. Woody Allen's films of the 1990s, before and after the Soon-Yi affair, are of varying quality. Farrow was still on board for Alice (1990) and the neglected but brilliantly moody and atmospheric Shadows and Fog (1992). Other high-quality films were to follow: Husbands and Wives (1992), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and Deconstructing Harry (1997). But a falloff was in evidence by the later 1990s, in such films as Celebrity (1998), Small-Time Crooks (2000), and the lightweight Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).
However, there is no ignoring the fact that Woody Allen has directed more than 30 quality films and has been proclaimed Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle several times - for Annie Hall (1978), for Manhattan (1979), and for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
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