Woody Allen movie. Big mish-mash of genres: sports telecast parody (live at the assassination of a South American president), silent comedy, Marx Brothers, I guess. Amusing, but not Woody's best. Gets involved with a girl who's into women's lib and picketing embassies, who leaves Woody because there's something missing and she doesn't think he's much of a leader. She doesn't want to receive or give (one of the best scenes in the movie, heavily improvised). Great take on the "I don't think we should see each other anymore" speech. Woody somehow - in a carved up script - becomes president of this South American country, San Marcos. Quite slapsticky, but Woody's always funny to look at, so it works. Great scene in which Woody's character, Fielding Mellish, tries to browse porno mags in a newsagent: "Hey, how much is Orgasm?" (You had to be there.) Story of my last few years: "We fell in love. Well, I fell in love - she just stood there."
Nugget: features a young Sylvester Stallone (24-5 years old) as a subway thug.
A good review; that is, this is a film I've always wanted to see, and you've not given too much of it away . . . which means that I still want to see it.
ReplyDeleteGood also that you're posting again.
Thanks for your comment, John B. Was pretty tired when I wrote the review, otherwise I might have gone into more detail. The film is quite like some of his prose writing - that sort of humour. If you're a Woody fan, it's worth seeing. There are some great lines in it - as ever - oh, and a brilliant ad for New Testament cigarettes, endorsed by a vicar!
ReplyDelete