Manhattan [DVD] [1979]

Even thoe Woody Allen doesn't like this film I would probably say it's the best film he ever made. It's impossible to make a selected, choice collection of Woody Allen films because even if you buy what are regarded or perceived to be his best films you start to think 'yes, but doesn't he say something funny in this film and this film also? And isn't this a great film even thoe he doesn't star in it?' And so my advice is, if you like Woody Allen, is to buy all the films he has acted in and directed in, it goes like this:1.What's New Pussycat?(1965),2.What's Up Tiger Lilly? (1966),3.Casino Ryale(1967),4.Take The Money And Run(1969),5.Banana's(1971),6.Play It Again Sam(1972),7.Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex(But We're Afraid To Ask) (1972),8.Sleeper(1973),9.Love And Death(1975),10.The Front(1976),11.Annie Hall(1977),12.Interiors (1978),13.Manhatten(1979),14.Stardust Memories(1980),15.A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy(1982),16.Zelig(1983),17.Broadway Danny Rose(1984),18.The Purple Rose Of Cairo(1985),19. Hannah And Her Sisters(1986),20.Radio Days(1987),21.September(1987),22.Another Woman(1988),23.New York Stories(1989),24.Crimes And Misdemeanours(1989),25.Alice(1990),26.Scenes From A Mall(1991),27.Shadows And Fog(1991),28.Husbunds And Wives(1992),29.Manhatten Murder Mystery(1993),30.Bullets Over Broadway(1994),31.Dont Drink The Water(1994),32.Mighty Aphrodite(1995),33.The Sunshine Boys(1996),34.Everyone Says I Love You(1996),35.Wildman Blues(1997),36.Deconstructing Harry(1997),37.Antz(1998),38.Celebrity(1998),39.Sweet And Lowdown(1999),40.Small Time Crooks(2000),41.Picking Up The Pieces(2000),42.The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion (2001),43.Hollywood Ending (2002),44.Anything Else(2003),45.Melinda And Melinda(2004),46.Match Point(2005),47.Scoop(2006),48.Cassandra's Dream(2007),49.Vicky Cristina Barcelona(2008),50.Whatever Works(2009),51.You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger(2010),52.Midnight In Paris(2011),53.Paris Manhatten(2012),54.To Rome With Love(2012),55.Blue Jasmine(2013),56.Fading Gigilo(2013),57.Magic In The Moonlight(2014),58.Irrational Man(2015),59.Cafe Society(2016),60.Wonder Wheel(2017),61.A Rainy Day In New York(2019),62.Rifkin's Festival(2020). Whether Woody Allen is a genius or not I really don't know, maybe he is one.

A perfectly filmed story of young and adult love, in a black and white Manhattan.It’s a young Woody Allen at his best. A gem of a film! An absolute treat-loved it.

This film is certainly one of Woody’s best films – winning a BAFTA in the process.It is now also his third highest grossing film, (126m $), in his magnificent career, behind the likes of Annie Hall (135m$) and Midnight in Paris which grossed 151m$.The film is famous for its ‘Allenisms’ - his liking for films about relationships, his liking of black & white cinematography and his quick fire wit, though this is nowhere near his wittiest flick. It is memorable for its shots of Manhattan and the music of Gershwin. Of course, it’s ironic in that it mirrors his future life and relationship with a teenage girl. In real life it led to marriage and they are still together to this day. I must say that I find the film utterly delightful; it has a crazy little storyline about complicated relationships within a social circle. Woody is fantastic as the oddball friend who's never stops talking! The script and wit are brilliant and `classic' is the obvious adjective to use for this film?It looks great in black & white and at 96 minutes was perfectly pitched.I loved it.

New York has never looked lovelier than it does in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979).It’s the late seventies. Isaac (Woody Allen), a middle-aged television writer based in Manhattan, is having a fling with a seventeen year old girl. When he falls for his married friend’s girlfriend (Diane Keaton), because opposites attract, Isaac’s life becomes even more neurotic.Allen and Marshall Brickman’s script snaps with terrific one-liners shared between the cast, yet it is the pulling and pushing of relationships that makes Manhattan a triumph. This is Allen at his comedic best. Manhattan should be the target romantic comedies aim to surpass. Two nice Woody Allen companion pieces to this film are Annie Hall (1977) or Midnight in Paris (2011), both funny, character driven and sentimentalises the cities they are set in. The cherry on this delicious cake is Gordon Willis’s cinematography, which illuminates every inch of New York in a glowing black and white, creating romance in people, parks, shops, streets and even traffic.I thoroughly enjoyed Manhattan and would recommend it for that magical time between Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.