The Summer of Manhattan

There are quite a few movies, being the movie buff that I am, that I find difficult, if not impossible, to pass up when scrolling through the channels. There are a few movies the S-Man can't pass up. But there seems to be only one movie that renders the both of us powerless. And that movie is Woody Allen's 1979 masterpiece, "Manhattan". We sat through it again last night for what I think is the third time in as many months.

I know it's been said by everybody in the entertainment industry far better than I ever could, but I'm going to go ahead on and say this movie is, quite simply, perfect. The score. The casting. The decision to shoot in black and white. The dialog.

If you're the one person in the world that hasn't ever seen the film, I'll just sum it up by saying the movie is about a bunch of over privileged self-absorbed Manhattan intellectuals trying to reason their way through their love lives. This, as you might imagine, doesn't work so well. Woody Allen, as always essentially plays himself, an out of work comedy writer in a relationship with a seventeen year old girl played wonderfully by ingenue, Mariel Hemingway. Enter Diane Keaton, jilted lover of Woody's best friend, whom Woody also finds himself attracted to.

Like all great movies, Manhattan ultimately transcends the subject matter of the plot, in this case, that is accomplished with a classic score that includes Rhapsody in Blue, Embrace Me, Someone to Watch Over Me, to name a few, and incredibly gorgeous shots of Manhattan. Against this backdrop, Allen's smart, witty and just plain funny dialog absolutely pops and the three combine to make a movie that is ultimately irresistible about a subject close to all of our hearts: love.

The formula described above is really the recipe for most all of Allen's greatest films, or at least the ones that I consider classic. I don't think Woody's really done anything remarkable since "Husbands and Wives" (a movie I own and view regularly) which was released back in 1992. This doesn't prevent me from still seeing his new releases and hoping for the magic, though.

That's not to say I wasn't conflicted when the whole Woody-Mia-Soon Yi Previn thing broke. Good Lord, it's a special kind of son-of-a-bitch that takes the child of his long-term lover as a wife. Cripes. Don't get me started. I will say that Woody is now both father and brother-in-law to his own children. Gives new meaning to the term "Uncle Daddy", doesn't it?

In any case, it seems to me that the decline in Allen's movie making genius coincides directly with the beginning of his relationship w/Previn. "Husbands and Wives" is definitely a high point (and his last collaboration w/Farrow) and everything after is just sort of..."eh". It's okay, but the real magic? Gone.

Happily, we can revisit the magic any time we want to. "Hannah and Her Sisters", "Annie Hall", "Manhattan", and "Husbands and Wives" are definitely Allen's way-out-of-the-park home runs. Woody's early comedies, to a lesser extent, are always good for a laugh and contain some of the funniest bits I've ever seen: "Bananas", "Everything you Always Wanted to Know About Sex", "Take the Money and Run". Two of my second tier serious favorites are "Interiors" (w/Geraldine Page my all-time favorite) and "Crimes and Misdemeanors".

While searching earlier (in vain) for stills from "Manhattan" to post at the top of this entry, I ran across a few interesting links. First, I was unaware that Diane Keaton has a blog at the Huffington Post. Looks like she hasn't updated in a while, though. Mariel Hemingway has morphed into a fitness guru and keeps a regularly updated blog here.

Mia Farrow, too, has a blog at the Huffington Post, though be advised it is a grim one about her work to stop the violence in Darfur and other troubled African countries. I have to give Mia snaps, though, girlfriend has managed to recover from one of the most vicious, not to mention public, relationship smack-downs in all of recorded history. Despite all this, she seems to have come out on the other side strong and giving, not to mention having raised about sixty-five children (not counting the betrayer).

No sign of Woody himself having a blog. The most recent interesting publicity I could find on him is this interview he gave to Vanity Fair in December, 2005, just before the release of "Match Point" and during the shooting of "Scoop". The piece takes an in-depth look at the Woody of today--rather a sad little figure at age 70, now actually shooting his films out of the country and having problems getting financed. Nevertheless, I found the interview fascinating and Woody does seem, if nothing else, unflinchingly honest, a trait I can never help but admire.

[Edited to add: Check out the latest development on the mysteriously appearing ducks over at the iList Blog.]