BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry

Subject: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 10:43 AM

I saw a piece of this movie on Youtube last night. Woody Allen was whining on and on to his 6th psychiatrist about all the troubles he was having in life...his desire to screw every woman he meets...his writer's block...his unresolved emotional issues...etc...

When I see that pretentious little nebbish droning on like that I want to just SMACK! him one upside the head or maybe dunk him by the heels upsidedown in a barrel of ice water or something.

Anybody else feel this way when listening to Woody Allen complain? ;-D Anyone got a good remedy for Woody's problems?

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 12:02 PM

Perhaps on the inside he is every man (and woman). But he makes money doing it.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: bobad
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 01:22 PM

Chill out - it's a caricature.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: RangerSteve
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 02:22 PM

Never saw DH. But the caracature does become tiring after awhile. It works in Broadway Danny Rose, Manhattan Murder Mystery and a couple of others, only because in the end, Woody discovers that he does, in fact, posess a pair of testicles and becomes the hero. I have a feeling that there are only a few plots in Allen's brain, and he keeps re-writing them.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 03:16 PM

I KNOW it's a caricature, bobad, and I don't really get upset over it. I'm already chilled out. ;-) But why do I suspect that it's a lot like the real Woody Allen anyway? I wonder what Diane Keaton would say?

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: bobad
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 03:32 PM

"I have a feeling that there are only a few plots in Allen's brain, and he keeps re-writing them."

His movies tend to be character driven rather than plot driven and if you don't like the characters then you probably won't like the movies.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 03:45 PM

Matter of fact, I DO like most of his movies. Absolutely LOVE some of them. I still find the character of the little whiny Schlemiel he usually plays annoying...but also very amusing at the same time. When I say I just want to SMACK! him, I'm saying it with a grin on my face.

Alan Alda has played some spectacular sleaze-balls lately, by the way, and he did so in one or two of Woody Allen's movies...plus the DeCaprio one about Howard Hughes. I have never realized just how creepy Alan Alda can be till I saw those films. He just oozes dishonesty and moral corruption when he plays those parts. It must be a hoot for an actor to get a role like that. I bet they love it.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: DougR
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 05:20 PM

L.H.: I assume you have seen "Everyone Says I love you."

I like most of Woody's movies. It's a bit far fetched, though, to accept that the pretty young things he casts in the lead female role always falls for Woody.

The single review I have read of his current film isn't encouraging. Larry David (who I really enjoy on his own show)evidently just doesn't hack it in the movie.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 05:35 PM

I'll say it's farfetched, Doug! ;-D Much wishful thinking, seems to me.

I haven't seen "Everyone says I love you", but I enjoyed "Manhattan" and found the young Mariel Hemingway character quite striking, though it was a bit creepy imagining her having a love affair with the Woody Allen character. Not impossible, just kind of creepy.

It was ironical that she was so much more emotionally mature than her supposedly sophisticated elders...Woody and his pretentious friends.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 07:03 PM

Three-fourths of the movies that I've seen where the sweet young thing falls in love with the obviously 60ish guy are beyond believable. I guess you could say "Tough. That's life."

But I say, That ain't life.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 08:41 PM

Well, if the 60ish guy is rich or famous enough...then all the usual bets are off.

Woody Allen, however, generally plays guys who are not particularly rich or famous in his movies....minor playwrights and movie producers and that sort of thing.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 01:04 PM

I really like Broadway Danny Rose: it's not only my favorite Woody Allen movie, it's one of my favorite movies by anyone.

Woody plays his usual nebbish role; I'm not sure why it works so much better in this one one story than in so many others. Maybe it's because of his roster of clients who are even bigger losers than he is, like the ventriloquist with a stutter. And the attractive younger woman starts out actively disliking him, and only comes around to a degree of affection after they share a series of misadventures. Plus which, she's a bit on the trashy side ~ not a paragon of desirability herself. Every character in the film is shown to be quite foolish, but by the end they all turn out to be humanized and even likeable.

And I love the framing device of the real-life Catskills comics telling stories around a table at the Stage Deli.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Stringsinger
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 02:03 PM

I watched "Manhattan" the other night and was notably unimpressed. The lovely Mariel Hemmingway falling for Woody was too much!

I'm afraid Woody Allen has turned into a "one trick pony".

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: GUEST,Dave MacKenzie
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:38 PM

I've watched everything up to Celebrity, and a few beyond. I've no problem with the Woody character when it's played by Woody. However I have problems when Woody is played by someone else (like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity). In fact I picked up three Woodies in Celebrity, two of them played by women!

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: InOBU
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 08:35 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorcanotway/sets/72157605110255283/

Here are some photos from a story I did about this film shooting on St. Marks, it shows Allan directing Larry David. I found him to be a lovely fellow, warm and welcoming, with a great sense of humor.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 10:22 PM

Hey, well, that's pretty cool.

Subject: RE: BS: BS - Woody Allen - Deconstructing Harry
From: Neil D
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 11:10 PM

I agree with PoppaGator about "Broadway Danny Rose". That movie has a lot of heart.