Recently Woody Allen's work has been, shall we say... not his best. Not bad, hardly sparkling; at times it feels as if he's making movies for making movies' sake. The spark of genius may have faded but there are a world of Allen moments touched by geniune genius that remind us of his talents. As proof, we've compiled 18 reasons why Woody is one of the finest comedic directors of all time. Putting the past 15 years to one side for a moment, allow us to begin with an example from his oft-forgotten debut, What's Up Tiger Lily? and end with another from 1994's Bullets Over Broadway. Prepare to laugh, cry, and laugh and cry at the same time. In a good way, of course.
Grabbing clips from Japanese 007 clones International Secret Police and dubbing American voices over them might not sound like the beginnings of the most prodigious comic director ever, but looking back on this underrated gem, it really is very, very funny. Lines line "Taxi! Kidnap us please, and step on it" alongside sight gags here, there and everywhere make what could look like a bad Whose Line Is It Anyway? sketch flat-out hilarious.
Still, despite all that, we haven’t chosen a clip of the main film to illustrate why we love Woody Allen in this instance – instead we’ve gone for the final few minutes. Sit back and watch one of the best end credit sequences ever...
