Annie Hall (1978)

Star Rating: 4Length of Film: 93 minutes
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken, Donald Symington, Helen ludlam, Mordecai Lawner, Joan Neuman, Jonathan Munk, & Ruth Volner
Oscars: Charles H. Joffe (best picture), Woody Allen (director),  Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman (screenplay), Diane Keaton (actress)
Oscar Nomination: Woody Allen (actor)








The movie starts out with Woody Allen talking directly to the camera, like he's talking to us. The movie does a lot of flashback and flashforwards. It's actually pretty cool, because anytime Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) would talk about his childhood, there would be him as a child, his mom and dad, but Alvy as an adult walking around, narrating. It was pretty cool, and not like anything else i've seen in a movie.

One of my favorite parts in the movie was when Alvy and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) were on a date, at the movie theater and they were conversing while waiting in line, and the couple behind them were talking very loudly:


Alvy Singer: [the man behind him in line is talking loudly] What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it!
Alvy Singer: [to audience] Whaddya do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you?
Man in Theatre Line: Wait a minute, why can't I give my opinion? It's a free country!
Alvy Singer: He can give it... do you have to give it so loud? I mean, aren't you ashamed to pontificate like that? And the funny part of it is, Marshall McLuhan, you don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan!
Man in Theatre Line: Oh, really? Well, it just so happens I teach a class at Columbia called "TV, Media and Culture." So I think my insights into Mr. McLuhan, well, have a great deal of validity!
Alvy Singer: Oh, do ya? Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here, so, so, yeah, just let me...
[pulls McLuhan out from behind a nearby poster]
Alvy Singer: come over here for a second... tell him!
Marshall McLuhan: I heard what you were saying! You know nothing of my work! You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing!
Alvy Singer: Boy, if life were only like this!


I mean...the humor in this movie is quirky, and it's refreshing! I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Alvy and Annie met on the tennis courts, and Annie awkwardly waved at him, they exchanged compliments, and then Alvy asked her if she needed a ride, then she asked if he had a car, then he said that he's taking a cab...anyway, they go back and forth, and Annie gives him a ride and he ends up telling her that she's the worst driver ever.

They go back to her apartment, they drink a bottle of wine, and they have a conversation, but up above, there's subtitles, showing what they're really thinking. It's funny what they come up with. Annie and Alvy start their relationship, and just like any relationship, they're happy and full of sex. They decided to make lobster for dinner, the live lobsters, got a little squirmy, and they were crawling all over the kitchen. One of the lobsters actually scurried behind the refrigerator.

---

 

Alvy Singer: Annie, there's a big lobster behind the refrigerator. I can't get it out. This thing's heavy. Maybe if I put a little dish of butter sauce here with a nutcracker, it will run out the other side.

 

 

 

Anytime Alvy would initiate sex, Annie would excuse herself, so she could get a joint. They got into a huge argument and doesn't understand why she needs it. Annie would brush it off, that it "relaxes her". It got to a point, where Alvy asked strangers on the street their opinion on the matter.

 

[Alvy questions an old man on the street about his sex life]
Alvy Singer: With your wife in bed, does she need some kind of artificial stimulation, like, like marijuana?
Old man on street: We use a large vibrating egg.

[Alvy and Annie are seeing their therapists at the same time on a split screen]
Alvy Singer's Therapist: How often do you sleep together?
Annie Hall's Therapist: Do you have sex often?
Alvy Singer: [lamenting] Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.
Annie Hall: [annoyed] Constantly. I'd say three times a week

 I mean...the humor in this movie is quirky, and it's refreshing! I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Make your own opinion, but I recommend it.