rawlinson
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Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.
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32. Annie Hall
(1977; Woody Allen)
Highest Vote: Movie Addict
First things first, this deserved to beat Star Wars to the Oscar. Star Wars is a fun piece of sci-fi that everyone should see because of its impact, preferrably when they're young enough to really appreciate it, it's nostalgic fun, little more. Annie Hall is a comedy masterpiece. It's not Allen's masterpiece, or even in his top three films, but it's a masterpiece just the same. Much has been made of the autobiographical nature of this film and you have to wonder how painful much of this was for Allen and Keaton. I think Allen's fall from grace has to do with his loss of a muse. His funniest period came with Keaton as his inspiration, his most intriguing with Farrow. Since then, as beautiful as Scarlett is, I doubt she's many people's inspiration. Maybe he should get Penelope Cruz to star in more of his work. Or on the basis of Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson. Allen stars as Alvy Singer, in a stretch for Woody, Alvy is a neurotic Jewish comedian, the film traces his relationship with the titular Annie (Diane Keaton), a charming but ditzy wannabe singer. Keaton won the Oscar for her work here, and deservedly so, she'd never be this brilliant, funny, or effortlessly adorable again. Annie Hall was Allen's crossover movie, moving away from the more wandering feel of much of his earlier work to something more coherent and mainstream in turns of plotting, even though it retains the episodic feel of his earlier films and he experiments with the medium in small ways (The famed Marshall McLuhan scene, the subtitles revealing what Alvy and Annie really think). It also adds more depth to his characters than in earlier work, they're not just vehicles for Allen's witty dialogue, they're fully rounded individuals. There's a lot of pain and loss to this couple, mostly triggered by Alvy's self-destructive behaviour. Throw in a brilliant, demented, supporting turn from Christopher Walken and some of the funniest scenes Allen ever wrote and you have the makings of a true work of comedy genius.
- Rawlinson
32. The Long Goodbye
(1973; Robert Altman)
Highest Vote: Elab
"I have two friends in the world. One is a cat. The other is a murderer."
Shambolic, unshaven, crumble suited cat owner and private dick Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) has no problem whisking his best and only friend Terry Lennox (Jim Boulton) from the sleazy streets of Los Angeles to the Californian/Mexican border at Tijuana. His friend seems in a bit of a tight spot but no questions are needed between comrades. Returning home Marlowe is greeted by a couple of cops and he is imprisoned for aiding and abetting a murderer. Obviously Marlowe doesn’t believe his mate killed his wife and that’s his ‘case’ trying to figure out what happened to Terry Lennox and there’s a blonde lady with a missing husband who may or may not be connected.
When I first sat down and watched The Long Goodbye I struggled for the first several minutes and turned the damn film off. I went and had a cup of tea and came back a few years later and realised I was an idiot and needed to get myself a cat. I tell you this riveting anecdote because for the first ten minutes Elliott Gould shambles around, mumbling to himself trying to purchase some cat food and though you might not agree with me at first you’ll soon realise it’s a brilliant opening.
I really don’t know what to say about The Long Goodbye purists are inclined to hate this interpretation of Raymond Chandler’s work and upon its initial release it was pretty much loathed and accused of being mean spirited and lacking in affection for its source and some even criticised the film for not understanding the genre it so richly and subtly undermined. I find it hard to believe that any filmmaker (let alone heyday Robert Altman) could produce such a unique, complex, visually exquisite piece of neo noir cinema without understanding its roots and not having any warmth for it. The shadows may have been replaced by moonlight and sun dried streets but they are just as dangerous and dirty as they were in the dark. The film and Altman may take Philip Marlowe and dump him in the sun-drenched, corrupt, me now of nineteen seventies America and though it may appear on the surface and a little under that Gould’s Marlowe is about as far as you can get from Bogart many things remain the same, they’re both outsiders, they both have the same ideals (Gould’s values just don’t fit anymore) and they both make for compelling leads. There is also a healthy dose of murder, blackmail, betrayal, girls and violence as well as several astonishing set pieces, explosive moments of viciousness that remind you that as laid back as everything and everyone appears, the world isn’t.
Is it a parody, a revisionist interpretation, a deconstruction, a subtle critic of the genre, of the man, of Hollywood, of America itself? Whatever you want to say The Long Goodbye is in my belief a stone cold, if lightly warmed by the sun classic.
- Impqueen
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ORIGINAL: matty_b
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