Manhattan (1979)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen (written by) and
Marshall Brickman (written by)

Release Date:

25 April 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Woody Allen's New Comedy Hit

Plot:

A divorced New Yorker currently dating a high-schooler brings himself to look for love in the mistress of his best friend instead.

Plot Keywords:

Writing | Ex Wife | Writer | Sex With Minor | Bookstore

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Woody Allen	...	Isaac
Diane Keaton	...	Mary
Michael Murphy	...	Yale
Mariel Hemingway	...	Tracy
Meryl Streep	...	Jill
Anne Byrne Hoffman	...	Emily (as Anne Byrne)
Karen Ludwig	...	Connie
Michael O'Donoghue	...	Dennis
Victor Truro	...	Party Guest
Tisa Farrow	...	Party Guest
Helen Hanft	...	Party Guest
Bella Abzug	...	Guest of Honor
Gary Weis	...	Television Director
Kenny Vance	...	Television Producer
Charles Levin	...	Television Actor #1

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | UK:12A (re-rating) (2006) | Netherlands:AL | Brazil:12 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 (re-rating) | Peru:14 | Argentina:18 (original rating) | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Ireland:18 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Trivia:

When released on video, it was the first cassette to be encoded with the letterbox format.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the fireworks in the opening sequence the screen goes black several times - but not completely: Two bright circles - glasses - can be seen as a reflection (probably because the sequence was filmed from behind a window) and there is also a very slight after-image of the person wearing the glasses who might even be the director.

Quotes:

Tracy: Let's fool around, it'll take your mind off it.
Isaac Davis: Hey, how many times a night can you, how, how often can you make love in an evening?
Tracy: Well, a lot.
Isaac Davis: Yeah! I can tell, a lot. That's, well, a lot is my favorite number.

Movie Connections:

References Casablanca (1942)

Soundtrack:

Strike Up the Band

Woody's masterpiece, perhaps...

Manhattan has long been my favourite Woody Allen movie: it always seemed to me the perfect sythesis of his humour, neurosis and insight, the quintessential (moneyed, intellectual) New York story played out against a magnificent Gershwin score and Gordon Willis' achingly lush, romantic cinematography.

Having not watched it in many years, I took it out again last night. Much of my hero-worship of the movie remains: add to the above the almost flawless performances (particularly Mariel Hemingway's heart-breaking vulnerability) and some of Woody's finest barbs... but... Like many stories first seen or read when young, the pleasures now are different. I no longer know how Woody feels about his characters. His New York coterie always seemed shallow and self obsessed, unable to commit, unaware that life might exist outside their charmed circle; time was, I thought this was urbane and real, now it seems facile and catty. I disliked most of the characters this time round - particularly Isaac, whose whingeing self-absorption, though funny, is calculating and selfish. Only Hemingway's pathologically ingenuous Tracy seems gifted with any real (ie not intellectualised) emotion, above all, she is the only one with hope, though Allen clearly feels that with time, this will pass.

My changed feelings towards the characters in no way dimishes the power of the film; if anything, the abilty to see them again and react to them with the hindsight of my own age and experience, deepens it... much in the way when I last reread Anna Karenina, I though Anna a shallow, petulant, fool and suddenly realised why Tolstoy married 'Kitty'.