C/D - Woody Allen's "Husbands & Wives"

Celebrity is where Woody really jumped the shark, IMO.

A caveat re the Juliette Lewis plot -- isn't Woody sposed to be a Columbia prof, yet refers to his students as 'PUPILS'?? As long as you're raking Welles over the coals for the "If I hadn't been rich" Kane line...

I wouldn't classify either this, Hannah or Crimes & Misdemeanors solely as "dramas." (Nobody dies in Annie Hall, but it's pretty damn 'serious' too.)

Deconstructing Harry was solid, if more like Philip Roth.

I went thru a major Judy Davis binge after watchign this and "Naked Lunch" back to back. It helped that every other foreign and indie film seemed to star Judy Davis (a good thing).

It's something of an achievement for Allen to get both Davis' best performance ever and her worst (in Celebrity; I really hated him for it).

caught this on "Netflix on demand" while snowed in and having some drinks with the girlfriend. kind of an intense experience. some of it was uncomfortably close to the bone. plenty of uhh... inebriated relationship discussion afterwards. don't regret it though.

really an exceptional, brutal film. top-tier Allen imo.

home sick yesterday, this was on cable

so much drinking in this! I think every single scene involves at least one character pouring themselves a drink

I still have mixed feelings about it - it's pretty good but it seems like a bit of a lesser work to me, a lot of rehashing of previous stuff. Woody's last line ("can I go now?") is hilarious tho

A rehash of what work? Having sat through enough of the overrated earlier dramas, I can argue that his writing and direction were never sharper than in HAW (the camera work is still dud, though, even in a form-matches-content way).

is this the one thats got mia farrow in it where the camera jerks like mental everywhere?

yep that's the one

re: rehashing - the trials and tribulations of wealthy New Yorkers who run around switching partners and ruining marriages while dropping upper class cultural references were dealt with better in Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, and Annie Hall

Aren't most all Woody Allen films in some capacity a rehash of sorts? So much of his oeuvre (which, after all, is kind of a constant repetition compulsion of his life and neuroses) is probably best thought of as a serial repetitions on a theme. Of course in H&V Woody doesn't play himself or some sort of parody of himself, which in itself makes it a bit different from Annie, Manhattan, and Hannah.

This film, though, is definitely classic. Even as turbulence was kicking in and the plane started to go down, he still pulled out a career highlight.

His last great film perhaps?

Crimes and Misdemeanors is not a rehash of Sleeper or Radio Days or Zelig

he definitely made great films after this one imho

re: rehashing - the trials and tribulations of wealthy New Yorkers who run around switching partners and ruining marriages while dropping upper class cultural references were dealt with better in Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, and Annie Hall

I'm not getting into this discussion again, but in the two earlier movies he hasn't written enough sides to the men and/or given them enough direction to make them compelling to me. I don't give a shit about Michael Caine's dilemma: he plays a boring character boringly. Ditto Michael Murphy and Woody himself. With Sydney Pollack he really nailed this self-deluded fiftysomething; he's vivid, foolish, and scary.

"So she's not Simone de Beauvoir! Big deal -- she's not Simone de Beauvoir."

oh I think Michael Caine is hilarious in Hannah but yeah we're basically arguing over execution, not content

(also agree that Pollack and Davis are both really good in this. Lewis is okay but kinda distracting in her usual thumb-sucking way)

This is one of his last 'very good' films. btw it was released days after the Soon-Yi 'scandal' broke and I was questioned by a radio reporter on my way in AND out of the theater.

curious what you rate after this... Sweet & Lowdown? Bullets Over Broadway? Curse of the Jade Scorpion?

D'g Harry. A few other diverting creampuffs. (I've skipped Jason Biggs and a bunch of the ScarJos.)

Very good Woody films post-'92:

Manhattan Murder Mystery
Bullets Over Broadway
Deconstructing Harry
Sweet & Lowdown

those movies are slight, though. also i kind of hate Deconstructing Harry, even though i guess it's kind of good. agree with Dr. Morbz about Husbands and Wives being the last v good one.

All Woody films are slight (I don't intend it as a dismissal).

agree with Dr. Morbz about Husbands and Wives being the last v good one.

not what I said, but I'd like to stop discussing him for at least 5 years.

oh i see "v good" i don't know what that means!

i know they're all slight, but i don't know how to characterize the even-slighter feel of the 90s films. i stopped watching in the 2000s.

Pollack is so fucking good in this. The scene where he drags his girlfriend back to the car is A++++.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uhH3D0S1vM

i kinda rate vicky christina barcelona

I would have loved VCB if they'd combined the two stories and cut out ScarJo.

agreed w/ those plus vicky cristina barcelona, which i can't justify but did enjoy (very attractive ppl, scenery, plus spanish guitar is a weakness for me - "deeper and deeper" maybe my fave madonna), although it's no barcelona (only my 3rd fave whit stillman). deconstructing harry i didn't care for at the time but it feels like a last gasp (sweet and lowdown is all about penn and morton), i should revisit it (is that the last cavalcade of stars woody? is it the best? better than shadows and fog at least and sorta similar in that they both seem to reach back to nyer whore of mensa style woody). manhattan murder mystery is all the old keaton-allen team back in action, why they those two haven't teamed up a few more times in the past decade is a mystery to me (seriously woody if you're reading: you, keaton, dianne wiest and elaine may as keaton's sisters, larry david and sam waterston as yr brothers, alan alda as antagonist, scarjo in a five minute scene as "nude girl w/ amar'e stoudemire"). bullets over broadway is superfun, always loved the anti-hannah dig at the end.

of the ones alfred listed bullets over broadway is my fave; don't really like sweet and lowdown tbh. deconstructing harry might be the best one in a way, but it's so mean-spirited without any of the good woody allen stuff. also it's been a million years since i've seen it.

also i like everyone says i love you i don't care what anyone says

oh yeah i like that movie!

Agree with Kael re Manhattan Murder Mystery: a dud as a mystery but a lovely marital comedy. Huston and Alda very funnyt oo.

i liked everyone says i love you also, of all the 70s autuer makes his musical films it's definitely the slightest (allen slighter than coppola, scorsese shocker) and less of a failure though that probably means i'm alot less likely to want to see it again than ny, ny.

now that i think about it the last cavalcade of stars is celebrity right? i think i've forgotten more woody allen movies from the past 20 years than i've liked.

celebrity was a turd

I suppose it makes sense that Woody gets Judy Davis' best perf in H&W and forces her to give her most embarrassing in Celebrity.

ha, speaking of forgetting - i remember madonna in this, mostly for being pretty bad, but no recollection of malkovich
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muY0soGW4bA

Is that Boy George?

jesus i'm laffing at madonna's performance there before she even appears on screen

now that i think about it the last cavalcade of stars

I dunno what yr talking about - EVERY Allen movie is basically a cavalcade of stars, up to his most recent ones

watching deconstructing harry on netflix right now...i didn't realize young woody allen was tobey maguire at the time.

his asian dial-a-whore is Sun-Yi

yeah i know he's always got loaded casts, i think i mean more the ones that are just overloaded w/ big name stars that have maybe one or two scenes and get mentioned in the trailer and they're like twenty names on the poster and just wanted to work w/ woody at least once but aren't gonna be hanging around and don't really do much while they're there maybe - demi moore, leonardo dicaprio, julia roberts, drew barrymore, madonna, winona ryder, jodie foster, etc.

Then there's the long suffering wife with no lines, played by a good actress: Joanna Gleason, Claire Bloom, Helena Bonham Carter.

joanna gleason was a pro at those! speaking of claire bloom, deconstructing harry is definitely "about" philip roth right?

i'm 25 minutes into deconstructing harry and he's called two different women cunts

yeah the strongest memory i have of deconstructing harry is catching it at a matinee at some stadium seating place (which was new to me - i was just back in the states)(and seemed an esp weird place to see a woody allen movie), and that every other person in the theater except me was a little old lady, most of whom had cleared out by the third cunt.

i guess that means youve got at least one more to go!

there are so many cunts in that movie

have never made it through any Roth but thought Deconstructing Harry was a lot of fun

cheap shot at Robin Williams is great

cuz he's so fat?

she's a fuckin' cocktail waitress