Manhattan (1979)
Directed by Woody Allen
Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
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From its magnificent “Rhapsody in Blue” opening to its City Lights-inspired ending, it’s Allen’s most perfect blend of comedy and drama.
But I have to think back to three other films, Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), and Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974).
If Manhattan is Woody Allen's best movie, with its gorgeous black-and-white, widescreen imagery, then Annie Hall has to be his best screenplay.
The unsung hero of Annie Hall (and Manhattan too, for that matter) is co-writer Brickman.
(Double bill: Manhattan)…
Consistently amusing and discreetly affecting, "Manhattan" achieves a tangier blend of social commentary, wit and romantic pathos that did "Annie Hall," which collected its awards a little prematurely.
WARNING #2: This review makes broad references to Annie Hall and, while trying not to contain spoilers, does reveal some story elements of that movie.
Woody Allen built his reputation on breezy, unstructured comedies that served as little more than excuses to place his trademarked hyper-neurotic nebbish in a series of incongruous environments ranging from 19th century Russia ( Love and Death ) to a dystopian future ( Sleeper ).
Co-written with Marshall Brickman (who was a better team in creating Sleeper than Mickey Rose was in collaboration with Bananas), this is Allen�s most mellifluous, fervent dialogue with each line pierced and tinged with biting hilarity (�Years ago I wrote a short story about my mother called �The Castrating Zionist,�� or �I could tell by your voice, it was very authoritative�like the pope or the computer in 2001,� or �I internalize things�I can�t explain it, I grow a tumor instead,� or �You think you�re God�/ �I gotta model myself after someone�), and throughout the whole running-time, it never loses its grasp.
It's not as serious as Crimes and Misdemeanors or Husbands and Wives, nor is it as openly fatuous as Sleeper or Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask.