RECONSTRUCTING WOODY: THE FILMS OF WOODY ALLEN

In his last film "Deconstructing Harry" he attempted to deconstruct the character he has created for himself, thus metaphorically killing off his screen persona, coupled with the concurrent release of the documentary "Wild Man Blues" we have what appears to be an apparent bookend to the cycle of work with which he has thus far been associated. So to grasp a better understanding of what this means and where he will go from here, it is essential that we analyse his cinematic progression to this point, such is my aim in Reconstructing Woody.

First Faltering Steps

Allen started off as a gag writer for the Jewish stand-up circuit before being pushed into performing himself by managers Joffe & Rollins. Allen's Act included such now classic sketches as the Moose at the Fancy Dress Party and Superman on the LRT, fine examples of Allen at his zaniest, but it also featured more confessional stuff, particularly about his ex-wife which he would draw heavily on for his Neurotica films of the late 70s.

Moving from stand-up to cinema was undoubtedly always Allen's aim, but it didn't prove as easy as one would imagine, and thus there occurred a number of false starts. Seller's showcase "What's New Pussycat" marked Woody's big screen acting and screen-writing debut, but he was ultimately unhappy with Clive Donner's adaptation of his script. Another Seller's pic, "Casino Royale", featured Woody in a minor role, a part he took just to keep his hand in the business and a film that is perhaps best forgotten. "What's Up Tiger Lily" is a moderately entertaining if somewhat unusual entry into the Allen cannon, as it is a fairly straight Japanese movie re-dubbed to hilarious effect by Allen and friends.

There were also a number of theatrical productions written and performed by Allen during the early 60's including two that would later be shot for the screen "Play it Again Sam" (filmed by Herbert Ross in 1972) and "Don't Drink the Water" (filmed twice, first by Howard Morris in 1969 later remade as a TV movie in 1994 by Allen unhappy with the '69 version).

The Early, Funny Ones.

Allen's directorial debut "Take The Money And Run" (1969) is a mockumentary about the life of failed criminal Virgil Starkweather (Allen). Drawing heavily on his early influences, Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx, this film features a morass of visual humour that fails to give room for Allen to emerge as a fully fledged character. It is no coincidence Allen actually considered slapstick supremo Jerry Lewis for the directorial duties on this film.

Allen's follow up "Bananas" (1971), about accidental Latin American revolutionary leader Fielding Mellish shows a lot more assured direction. Still drawing upon the influences of Chaplin and The Marx Brothers, this is Allen's bid for comic masterpiece, the picture is an epic of monumental proportions, it's moving, it's rapid, it's tense, it's taut, filigreed, gossamer, it's a cheap little exploitation basically and ultimately it's too hit-and-miss to achieve greatness.

"Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)" (1972) is the most experimental of Allen's early comedies, loosely based on the book of the same name Allen retains the questions but makes up his own answers resulting in an anthology set-up which allows him to explore various themes and styles in the course of the same movie. "Do Aphrodisiacs Work?" features Allen as a jester (a part he would get to reprise in Jean-Luc Goddard's 1987 production of "King Lear") to the court of Lynne Redgrave and Anthony Quinn. Besotted with the queen and driven by the ghost of his father he seeks out the court magician to prepare a love potion. The comedy, what little there is of it, emerges from Allen's twentieth century persona being transplanted to medieval Europe, a theme that would latter remerge in "Love & Death". "What is Sodomy?" features Gene Wilder as a doctor who falls for a sheep in this completely unamusing vignette, the slower pace of this segment is completely alien to Allen's fast paced style of comedy but would provide good preparatory training for Allen's dramatic works. "Why Do Some Woman Have Trouble Reaching Orgasm?" features Allen and Louise Lasser as a married couple whose sex life requires some pepping up, and is a foretaste of the sort of comedy that would produce "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" despite being done entirely in pidgin Italian. In "Are Transvestites Homosexual?" Allen once again remains behind the camera while Lou Jacobi runs around in a dress in the closest Allen has ever come to classic farce. "What Are Sex Perverts?" parodies the classic TV series "What's My Line" confirming once and for all the hit and miss nature of parody. "Are The Findings Of Doctors & Clinics Who Do Sexual Research & Experiments Accurate?" finally plays to Allen's strengths, the story of a crazed sex researcher and a giant tit that ravages the surrounding country side is stylistically reminiscent of "Bananas" and the forthcoming "Sleeper" requiring little more than intellectual slapstick from Allen. "What Happens During an Ejaculation?" follows the lives of the little men that live in our bodies, Tony Randall plays the ego, Burt Reynolds features as a motor neurone and Allen plays a neurotic Spermatozoa. Stylistically it falls somewhere between the early comedies and the Neurotica of "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan". As a whole the movie is uneven, faltering and fails to excite. Dr. David Reuben, author of the book, was unhappy with the desecration of his work, although what exactly he was expecting when he sold the movie rights, first to Elliot Gould who later sold them on to Allen, remains a mystery.

Allen's all-time funniest film "Sleeper" (1973) is the first teaming of Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman, together they would go on to co-write Allen's Masterpiece "Annie Hall" and throwback flick "Manhattan Murder Mystery". The film turns the concept of "Do Aphrodisiacs Work?" and "Love & Death" by thrusting Allen's twentieth century persona into the future. This parody of the sci-fi B-movie genre also features Allen and Keaton's first pairing in an official (i.e. excluding "Play It Again Sam") Woody Allen movie and the two demonstrate a chemistry and comic timing that would feature in all of Allen's best movies.

The last of Allen's 'funny' films "Love & Death" (1975) adds to Woody's normal list of influences Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers & Bob Hope by alluding to Russian literature, Existentialist Philosophy, the films of Eisenstein and, for the first time, Bergman in the form of the character of Death. This incessant borrowing of images and themes from a vast array of sources has come to be termed the 'Zelig Syndrome' after a later Allen movie. The majority of the humour comes once again from placing Allen's twentieth century persona in a historic setting. This would, of course, all change with his next movie.

Neurotica

"Annie Hall" (1977) was Allen's biggest hit, both commercially and critically and would change the face of his film making for years to come. This story of a New-York Jewish stand-up comedian sees the first full examination of the Woody construct. "If only real life could be like this" intones Allen after producing Canadian media analyst Marshall McLuhan from behind a poster to silence an irritating passer-by, but one can't help thinking that Allen's real life is like this. Despite his many claims that the construct is just that, a fictional construct, the associations between Woody and Alvy are unavoidable especially when they have so much in common, not least their relationships with Diane and Annie respectively. Alvy even goes so far as to steal Woody's old stand up routine. Indeed Allen's rewording of McLuhan's famous put down, from the probing "You think my fallacy is all wrong?" to the statemental "You mean my fallacy is all wrong!" demonstrates his inability to deal with the constantly questioning uncertainty of McLuhan's philosophy.

Following the disastrous reception for Allen's first drama "Interiors" Allen played it safe by re-teaming with "Sleeper" and "Annie Hall" co-scribe Brickman to produce an Oscar nominated script fails to live up to the promise of their two earlier collaborations. In fact the story in "Manhattan" (1979) quickly pales into insignificance as Allen takes us on a tour of his city, from Broadway to Times Square and back again in this monochrome ode of praise to his native borough (or should that be burrow). Allen is as ever Allen in the lead role of Isaac Davis a native New-Yorker, unable to function beyond the city limits, who in the course of the film hits his mid-life crisis, quits his job, takes up with a 17 year-old girl and attempts to write the great American novel. Support by the brilliant as ever Keaton and a pre-obscurity Hemingway who puts in an Oscar nominated performance as Isaac's young friend, a precursor of the scandal that would latter dog Allen? Allen's intention was to make a intimate movie on an epic scale and to this end it was filmed in glorious black-and-white widescreen. It is a truly beautiful film for those that can find beauty in rain drenched cityscapes with spot-on cinematography. Unfortunately it succeeds too well, Manhattan takes over the movie and become the lead, very much to the detriment of the human characters, which are after all Allen's stock-in-trade.

For his ninth film "Stardust Memories" (1980) Allen like Fellini before him turns the camera inward to examine the film-making process and the Auteur director, this film was rejected by critics and public alike, many felt that the attacks on audiences and critics in this film represented Allen's attacks on them. Allen of course denied this but as much as he may protest the parallels between Allen and his character in this film are unavoidable. Made off the back of Allen's first, much criticised foray into drama "Interiors" (1978) we follow a writer/director/star Sandy (Allen) who upon completing his latest film retreats to a spa town for a film weekend where he must face critics, fans, industry people and aliens alike who don't appreciate his recent serious works. This close parallel is not a bad thing, by its very nature the Auteur film must be an individualistic exploration of the director's own experience and beliefs, and the sooner Allen comes to accept this the better as this is by far my favourite Woody Allen flick precisely because it is such a personal film.

More than a decade after his last piece of classic Neurotica, Allen re-teamed with Brickman and Keaton to produce an idea originally developed for "Annie Hall". "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993) features Allen and Keaton as a neurotic New-York couple who together with their best friends played by Alan Alda and Angelica Huston find themselves caught up amidst a bizarre tale of murder, mystery and suspense. With no straight sub-plot Allen is given free reign one last time for his own peculiar brand of neurotic character comedy.

But Seriously Folks

Off the back of the immensely successful (by Woody's standards) "Annie Hall", Woody felt free to take his career in a direction he'd always wanted to explore, and so his first drama "Interiors" (1978) was born. The influence of Ingmar Bergman on the style and themes of this and following dramas is perhaps even more obvious here than it was in "A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy". Interweaving the lives of three sisters, their various partners and their estranged parents the film is also the first of his ensemble pieces and of course a complete flop. The reason for the public's lack of interest in Allen's dramatic production was perhaps best summed up by Mel Brook's reaction to "Interiors"; "I don't know why he did that, any one can make a Bergmanesque drama, only he and I can be funny" and Brook's point, while somewhat egotistical and judging by his later productions entirely untrue was, it would seem, well taken.

It would be nearly a decade before Allen would return to straight drama with "September" (1987). In this film inspired by the Lana Turner / Johnny Stopannato affair we follow the lives of six people over the course of a weekend, Howard (Denholm Elliott) loves Lane (Mia Farrow), but Lane loves Peter (Sam Waterstone), who in turn loves Stephanie (Dianne Wiest), but she's married. Lloyd (Jack Warden) loves Lane's mother Diane (Elaine Stritch), but she's too in love with herself to notice anyone else. Throw in a dark family secret and maroon them together in a country house for the weekend, and you have all the ingredients for a classic farce, of the type much favoured in Britain in the 70's and the US in the 80's. But bizarrely Allen decides to play it straight creating a chamber piece heavily influenced by his nostalgia comedies and of course Bergman's "Wild Strawberries".

The last of Allen's straight dramas to date, "Another Woman" (1988), follows the mid-life crisis of a woman who despite being a philosophy professor is apparently unable to recognise the existentialist concept of bad faith evident in her tedious life of self deception, until she starts overhearing the confessions of a younger woman, Hope (Farrow), emerge from the office of a neighbouring psychiatrist. Led through a series of increasingly magical encounters with her past, by Hope, she comes to understand herself better.

Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be

"A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy" (1982) was produced quickly and cheaply during the necessarily long pre-production of "Zelig". This little film did not go down well, coupled with "Stardust Memories" this gave Allen two flops in a row, potentially devastating if not for the fact that "Zelig" was already well into production, setting a standard that Allen would follow for the rest of his career, always making sure he was well into production on his next picture whenever one was released.

"A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy" may take Allen away from his beloved home town but of course Woody's love of New York isn't just limited to the present day and in several films he produces a nostalgic look at the Big Apple of his youth. The aforementioned "Zelig" (1983) was the first of these. Returning to the mockumentary style of his first film, Allen produces one of his most technically accomplished films, mixing himself in the persona of Leonard Zelig and Farrow as Dr. Foster into a veritable archive of footage from the 20's. He tells the story of a man that changes his physical form and beliefs in an attempt to fit in, and as such makes a heavy handed allegory of the rise of the Nazi Party. Allen's message however was completely lost as the format overwhelmed the story, which may be just as well as, despite coming in at an hour and a quarter, it seems padded and has a dull middle section.

"Broadway Danny Rose" (1984) is very much taken from Woody's memories of his stand-up years framed by an ageing group of stand-ups discussing tales from old Broadway, it features Allen as Danny Rose a small time theatrical manager, mistakenly targeted by the mob for having an affair with a Moll played by Mia Farrow. A moderately entertaining feature shot in moody black and white the film is nothing special, a trait that would come to dog Allen productions.

"The Purple Rose Of Cairo" (1985) is another small time comedy drama driven by Allen's nostalgia. It features Mia Farrow as a beaten wife who escapes her sorrows with nightly visits to "The Jewel" a traditional small town cinema showing the escapist pics that were popular at the time. She is there so often that eventually one of the characters Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) steps off the screen to pledge his undying love to her, throwing the picture into disarray and leaving the protagonists of the film-within-a-film unable to proceed. Gill Shepherd, the actor who plays Tom Baxter in the film, is flown in to regain control of his character, and he too falls for Farrow. Woody's clinically clever plot about the nature of freedom is fortunately warmed over by great performances from the two (three?) leads, leading to a truly heartbreaking denouement. Considered by Woody as one of his best films.

These films, particularly "Radio Days" (1987) with their slower paces and more thought out plots can, in many ways, be seen as much as precursors to his later dramatic productions as "Interiors" was.

Myth And Magic

In the late eighties and early nineties Allen, the atheistic Jew, seems to undergo something of a crisis of faith. As he himself says "Well, nobody is really religious any more, and people are running around craving some kind of spiritual life. They attach it to psychoanalysis , they attach it to acupuncture, to nutrition, to health food. People need some kind of inner life, something to believe in. There are many things that serve this purpose. And so it's gotten into films." Allen himself seems to turn to the magical for his films. An amateur magician in his youth, magic can be seen as a thread which runs through much of his work, specifically "A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy", "The Purple Rose Of Cairo" and "Another Woman" but it is with "Oedipus Wrecks" his contribution to the anthology film "New York Stories" (1989) that this theme comes to the fore.

"Alice" (1990) and "Shadows And The Fog" (1992) both continued this theme featuring characters dissatisfied with their lives who turn to magicians in their search for something more. In "Alice" Farrow seeks out a Chinese herbalist-come-mystic who grants her the power of invisibility in order to sort out her life. In "Shadows And The Fog" it is Woody's life that needs sorting out as he finds himself thrust into a Kafkaesque nightmare. After encountering a magician he runs away with the circus.

The search finally seems to come to an end following his split with Farrow; are we to assume, that for the time being at least Woody has finally found peace with Soon-Li, or has he just given up the search?

Cold Fusion

Allen's recent successes have come from his attempt to fuse the neurotic elements of "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" with the dramatic elements of "Interiors" and "Another Woman". "Hannah And Her Sisters" (1986) was the first of these hybrids. Split into two, one of the film's strands follows the lives of three sisters, their various partners and their estranged parents a la "Interiors" while a second strand follows Allen and his attempts to conquer his necrophobia a la "Annie Hall". The apparently self plagiarised script won Allen the Oscar, as did the supporting performances from Michael Caine and Diane Wiest, as well as proving moderately popular with the cinema-going public.

"Crimes And Misdemeanours" (1989) takes the plot splitting of "Hannah and Her Sisters" a stage further by producing two completely separate stories linked only tenuously by a minor Character, Rabbi Ben, and a brief contact between the two leads Allen and Martin Landau, at the end. Allen's strand is a typically neurotic tale of love and jealousy, while Landau's is a completely straight tale of murder and corruption concentrating on Landau's struggle to come to terms with the moral consequences of his actions.

In "Husbands And Wives" (1992) Allen returns to the mockumentary style for the first time since "Zelig" and this film can be seen in many ways as a reaction to that movie. In a desperate attempt to reverse the perception of style over content that had swamped the message of the earlier film. To this end Allen disregards many of the tenets of traditional film making, resulting in sudden jump cuts, free flowing motion and a camera that literally battles to keep its subject in frame. Sadly all this just distracts from the film and due to an unfortunate quirk of timing this film was released as the Farrow/Allen scandal broke. Despite Allen's continued protestations it is hard to completely disassociate Allen's character, who splits with Farrow to pursue a 20 year old, with the real Woody Allen. The adverse publicity garnered by this led to Allen's unfortunate withdrawal from such intensely personal projects.

Impersonally Speaking

Following his widely publicised split with Farrow, Allen first returned to an earlier incarnation by re-uniting with Brickman and Keaton for "Manhattan Murder Mystery" a classic piece of Neurotica, based on an original idea for "Annie Hall" and then, doubtless fed up with the in-depth probing into his personal life, by making a series of increasingly depersonalised puff pictures based on comic gimmicks prefigured in many ways by his expressionist homage elements of "Shadows And The Fog".

The first of these, "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994), featured John Cussack in the Allen role as a neurotic Jewish playwright making his directorial debut on '20's Broadway surrounded by gangsters, molls and has-been actors. Getting its laughs like "Broadway Danny Rose" from the placing of the Woody Construct, albeit portrayed by Cussack in the world of Gangsters and Molls. This is also the first of Allen's big cast movies, eschewing many of his repertory cast, except of course the Oscar winning Wiest, Allen places names such as Jim Broadbent, Tracey Ullman and of course Cussack in the lead roles. By placing this piece of pseudo-neurotica in the 20's and casting Cusack in the Allen role, Woody himself doesn't appear. The director is thus able to distance the picture from himself.

"Mighty Aphrodite" (1995) features Allen's return to the screen after not appearing in "Bullets Over Broadway". This time the gimmick is a Greek chorus that sings various plot points. Allen starts to reveal his dark side in this movie about a prostitute and an apparently happy family man caught up in a tragedy of, well, Greek proportions. After Allen's singing Greek chorus in "Mighty Aphrodite" he gets the entire cast singing and dancing in "Everyone Says I Love You" (1996) a homage to Hollywood's Golden age of Musicals, with the added twist that none of the performers can actually sing or dance. This apparently purposeful amateurishness would carry forward into his next movie "Deconstructing Harry".

Leaping to Conclusions

In recent years Allen has also directed a segment of the "New York" stories anthology, re-filmed his own play "Don't Drink The Water" for television, appeared in "King Lear," "Scenes From A Mall" and "The Front", and achieved tabloid immortality after splitting with Farrow and taking up with her adopted daughter Soon-Li Previn, appeared with her in the access-all-areas tour documentary "Wild Man Blue" and finally killed off the Woody Construct in his latest film "Deconstructing Harry" (1997) reviewed elsewhere.

The deconstruction of Neurotica in "Deconstructing Harry" is perhaps the obvious conclusion to his recent sequence of depersonalised movies, representing as it does a return to the personal form of film making, which made him famous, only to mark its end. Whither Woody? Well, freed from his comic construct Allen may perhaps return to Bergmanesque dramas he so obviously wants to make, or perhaps he will continue with the star name gimmick comedies he has enjoyed of late, or maybe I have prematurely announced the death of Neurotica.

We will soon see as his latest offering "Celebrity" is about to hit British screens.

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