WOODY ALLEN

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBBB.  USA, 1984.  Orion Pictures, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions.  Screenplay by Woody Allen.  Cinematography by Gordon Willis.  Produced by Robert Greenhut.  Production Design by Mel Bourne.  Costume Design by Jeffrey Kurland.  Film Editing by Susan E. Morse.  Academy Awards 1984.  Golden Globe Awards 1984.

This wonderful comedy by Woody Allen finds the great director smack dab in the middle of his greatest successes of the eighties. He plays a small-time talent agent who is asked by his star client, a loud-mouthed lounge singer (Nick Apollo Forte), to take his mistress (Mia Farrow) to a party as his date. Allen agrees in order to prevent his client’s wife from finding out about Farrow, but his adventures with her grow more and more bizarre until he realizes he loves her himself. Shot in gorgeous black-and-white, the film has a Felliniesque sense of wonder to it that is made perfect by the bittersweet ending. A lovely tribute to romance and the beauty of the Big Apple, it also features one of Farrow’s best performances in a totally uncharacteristic part for her, and one of Allen’s most delightful screenplays. Also features cameo appearances by famous comedians playing themselves, including Sandy Baron, Milton Berle and Jack Rollins.