Annie Hall (1977)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

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

Release Date:

20 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A nervous romance.

Plot:

Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Comedian | New York | Love | Writer

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 24 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Alvy Singer
Diane Keaton	...	Annie Hall
Tony Roberts	...	Rob
Carol Kane	...	Allison
Paul Simon	...	Tony Lacey
Shelley Duvall	...	Pam
Janet Margolin	...	Robin
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Mrs. Hall
Christopher Walken	...	Duane Hall (as Christopher Wlaken)
Donald Symington	...	Mr. Hall
Helen Ludlam	...	Grammy Hall
Mordecai Lawner	...	Mr. Singer
Joan Neuman	...	Mrs. Singer (as Joan Newman)
Jonathan Munk	...	Alvy Singer - Age 9
Ruth Volner	...	Alvy's Aunt
Martin Rosenblatt	...	Alvy's Uncle
Hy Anzell	...	Joey Nichols (as Hy Ansel)
Rashel Novikoff	...	Aunt Tessie
Russell Horton	...	Man in Theatre Line
Marshall McLuhan	...	Himself
Christine Jones	...	Dorrie
Mary Boylan	...	Miss Reed
Wendy Girard	...	Janet
John Doumanian	...	Coke Fiend
Bob Maroff	...	Man #1 Outside Theatre
Rick Petrucelli	...	Man #2 Outside Theatre
Lee Callahan	...	Ticket Seller at Theatre
Chris Gampel	...	Doctor in Brooklyn
Dick Cavett	...	Himself
Mark Lenard	...	Navy Officer on Dick Cavett Show
Dan Ruskin	...	Comedian at Rally
John Glover	...	Actor Boyfriend
Bernie Styles	...	Comic's Agent
Johnny Haymer	...	Comic
Ved Bandhu	...	Maharishi
John Dennis Johnston	...	L.A. Policeman
Laurie Bird	...	Tony Lacey's Girlfriend (as Lauri Bird)
Jim McKrell	...	Lacey Party Guest
Jeff Goldblum	...	Lacey Party Guest
William Callaway	...	Lacey Party Guest
Roger Newman	...	Lacey Party Guest
Alan Landers	...	Lacey Party Guest
Jean Sarah Frost	...	Lacey Party Guest
Vince O'Brien	...	Hotel Doctor
Humphrey Davis	...	Alvy's Psychiatrist
Veronica Radburn	...	Annie's Psychiatrist
Robin Mary Paris	...	Actress in Rehearsal
Charles Levin	...	Actor in Rehearsal
Wayne Carson	...	Rehearsal Stage Manager
Michael Karm	...	Rehearsal Director
Petronia Johnson	...	Tony's Date at Nightclub
Shaun Casey	...	Tony's Date at Nightclub
Ricardo Bertoni	...	Waiter #1 at Nightclub
Michael Aronin	...	Waiter #2 at Nightclub
Lou Picetti	...	Street Stranger
Loretta Tupper	...	Street Stranger
James Burge	...	Street Stranger
Shelley Hack	...	Street Stranger (as Shelly Hack)
Albert Ottenheimer	...	Street Stranger
Paula Trueman	...	Street Stranger
Beverly D'Angelo	...	Actress in Rob's TV Show
Tracey Walter	...	Actor in Rob's TV Show
David Wier	...	Alvy's Classmate
Keith Dentice	...	Alvy's Classmate
Susan Mellinger	...	Alvy's Classmate
Hamit Perezic	...	Alvy's Classmate
James Balter	...	Alvy's Classmate
Eric Gould	...	Alvy's Classmate
Amy Levitan	...	Alvy's Classmate
Gary Allen	...	School Teacher
Frank Vohs	...	School Teacher
Sybil Bowan	...	School Teacher
Margaretta Warwick	...	School Teacher
Lucy Lee Flippin	...	Waitress at Health Food Restaurant (as Lucy Lee Flippen)
Gary Mule Deer	...	Man at Health Food Restaurant (as Gary Muledeer)
Sigourney Weaver	...	Alvy's Date Outside Theatre
Walter Bernstein	...	Annie's Date Outside Theatre
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Truman Capote	...	Truman Capote Look-Alike (uncredited)
Quinn Cummings	...	I like leather school girl (uncredited)
Gregory Doucette	...	Usher (uncredited)

Directed by
Woody Allen

Writing credits
Woody Allen		(written by) &
Marshall Brickman		(written by)

Produced by
Fred T. Gallo	....	associate producer
Robert Greenhut	....	executive producer
Charles H. Joffe	....	producer
Jack Rollins	....	producer

Cinematography by
Gordon Willis

Film Editing by
Wendy Greene Bricmont
Ralph Rosenblum

Casting by
Juliet Taylor

Art Direction by
Mel Bourne

Set Decoration by
Robert Drumheller
Justin Scoppa Jr.

Costume Design by
Ruth Morley

Makeup Department
Fern Buchner	....	makeup artist
Romaine Greene	....	hair stylist (as Romaine Green)
John Inzerella	....	makeup artist: Los Angeles
Vivienne Walker	....	hair stylist: Los Angeles

Production Management
Robert Greenhut	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Frederic B. Blankfein	....	second assistant director (as Fred Blankfein)
C. Tad Devlin	....	dga trainee (as Tad Devlin)
Fred T. Gallo	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Joseph Badalucco Jr.	....	carpenter (as Joseph Badalucco)
Barbara Krieger	....	set decorator: Los Angeles
Pat O'Connor	....	property master: Los Angeles
Thomas Saccio	....	property master
Cosmo Sorice	....	scenic artist
Joe Williams Sr.	....	construction grip (as Joseph Williams)

Sound Department
Jack Higgins	....	sound re-recording mixer
James Pilcher	....	sound mixer: Los Angeles
James Sabat	....	sound mixer
Dan Sable	....	sound editor
William S. Scharf	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Carl Gibson	....	key grip: Los Angeles
Brian Hamill	....	still photographer
Larry D. Howard	....	gaffer: Los Angeles (as Larry Howard)
Tom Priestley Jr.	....	first assistant camera (as Thomas Priestley)
Fred Schuler	....	camera operator
Donald E. Thorin	....	camera operator: Los Angeles (as Don Thorin)
Dusty Wallace	....	gaffer
Robert Ward	....	key grip
Gary Muller	....	second assistant camera (uncredited)

Animation Department
Chris K. Ishii	....	animator: animated sequences (as Chris Ishii)

Casting Department
Aaron Beckwith	....	extras casting
Riccardo Bertoni	....	extras casting (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ralph Lauren	....	costumes: Clothing designs by
Nancy McArdle	....	wardrobe supervisor: Los Angeles
George Newman	....	wardrobe supervisor
Marilyn Putnam	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Steve Johnson	....	colorist
Susan E. Morse	....	assistant film editor
Sonya Polonsky	....	assistant film editor (as Sonya Polanski)

Transportation Department
William Curry	....	transportation captain
James E. Foote	....	transportation captain: Los Angeles (as James Foote)

Other crew
Kay Chapin	....	script supervisor
Christopher Cronyn	....	production assistant (as Chris Cronyn)
Patricia Crown	....	assistant: Mr. Allen
Martin Danzig	....	location manager
Daisy Gerber	....	location manager: Los Angeles
Sam Goldrich	....	location auditor
Lois Kramer Hartwick	....	production office coordinator (as Lois Kramer)
Scott MacDonough	....	unit publicist
Beth Rudin	....	production assistant
Stuart Smiley	....	production assistant
Douglas Dean III	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Jeff Kanew	....	trailer (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Dennis Kear	....	stand-in: Woody Allen (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Rollins-Joffe Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (2004) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Asociácia slovenských filmových klubov (ASFK) (2004) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• New Star (2008) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-issue)
• United Artists (1978) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1979) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Criterion Collection, The (1990) (USA) (laserdisc)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Magnofex  sound editing
• E.U.E. Opticals  video services (as E.U.E.)
• Screen Gems  video services
• Computer Opticals  titles (as Computer Opticals)
• Panavision  camera and lenses by
• Deluxe  prints
• Télévision Rencontre  the producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation given by (as Productions Television Rencontre)
• Budget Rent-a-Car  the producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation given by
• City of New York, The  the producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation given by

Also Known As:

Anhedonia (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Brazil:14 | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

2nd Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rollins-Joffe Productions

Trivia:

When Alvy is listing the reasons he doesn't like the country, he mentions "the Manson family, and Dick and Perry" - Dick and Perry are references to Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, the two men who invaded the home of, and murdered, the Clutter family on their farm in Kansas in 1959. These events were immortalized in the novel In Cold Blood. The author, Truman Capote, appears as himself in this film.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: New York State flag on University Of Wisconsin auditorium stage. (Scene was shot at Manhattan's Fashion Institute Of Technology on 7th Avenue.)

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alvy Singer: [addressing the camera] There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Speaking of Sex (2001)

Soundtrack:

Sleepy Lagoon

"That was the most fun I've ever had without laughing"

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is something of a hopeless romantic. A cynical, death-obsessed New York Jewish comedian, Singer has never been able to maintain a steady relationship with a woman. He has been married twice, and divorced twice. He broke up with one woman because of their disagreements over the "second shooter" conspiracy of John F. Kennedy's assassination, or perhaps that was just his excuse. To paraphrase Freud, possibly Groucho Marx, he simply "would never want to belong to any club that would accept someone like him for a member." He doesn't drive because he is paranoid about driving; he has been seeing a psychiatrist for the past fifteen years, though these appointments were long ago reduced to simple "whining" sessions. There is an inherent uncertainty in everything that Singer says – as though he really knows what he's talking about, but he can't convince himself that he's got it right.

When he accompanies a friend (Tony Roberts) to a tennis game, Singer's first and foremost concern is that the club will deny him entry because he's a Jew. However, that fateful game serves forth something so much more significant and life-changing – he comes to meet the ditsy and exuberant Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Despite clearly having very little in common, something clicks between the two eligibles, and they embark on a tumultuous years-long relationship that will inevitably fail to materialise into anything further. Erupting with clever dialogue and witty cultural references, 'Annie Hall's' script is one of the best you'll ever see. Not only is the conversation entertaining to listen to, but – even with all the talking to the camera and interacting with random extras – it actually manages to seem startlingly realistic. This is no small thanks, of course, to the main actors, who embody their characters so perfectly that we're unsure if they are acting or merely playing themselves.

Though he had previously released a few well-received, light-hearted affairs, it was 'Annie Hall' that blasted writer/actor/director Woody Allen into the realms of super-stardom. In an uncharacteristic move for the Academy, Allen's film won four 1978 Oscars, including Best Actress (Keaton), Best Original Screenplay (Allen, Marshall Brickman), Best Director (Allen) and Best Picture – not undeservedly, though millions of 'Star Wars' fans would, I'm sure, disagree. Having revisited 'Annie Hall' for the first time in a year, having since enjoyed many of Allen's other films, I am genuinely amazed at his transition from silly comedian to insightful observer on human relationships. Of course, a noticeable evolution in his film-making style is evident in both the science-fiction 'Sleeper (1973)' and the Russian historical spoof 'Love and Death (1975),' but neither boasts the the intelligence nor the sophistication of this film, which wholly discards the Chaplin-like slapstick of Allen's previous films and adopts the Tracy-Hepburn screwball comedy of a decade later.

Originally slated – and filmed, in fact – as a New York murder mystery with a romantic sub-plot, 'Annie Hall' was taken by editor Ralph Rosenbaum and cut down (massacred, if you will) into the modern, witty 1970s screwball comedy that we still enjoy today. It is truly amazing that such an extensive post-production reshaping had no obvious ill effects upon the general flow of the film, though the structure in itself is so hectic that we probably wouldn't notice it, anyway: Allen frequently cuts forwards and backwards in time, his modern characters are able to revisit and discuss the past, characters in split screens interact, Allen regularly breaks the "fourth wall" and addresses the audience directly. Some of the discarded murder mystery elements from 'Annie Hall' were later incorporated into another Allen film, 'Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993),' which also co-starred Keaton.

Aside from Allen and Keaton, numerous smaller roles provide a crucial framework for the overall structure of the film. Tony Roberts is Rob, Singer's old friend and confidant. Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel) plays a record producer who takes a keen interest in both Annie and her singing. Shelley Duvall is a reporter for 'The Rolling Stone' magazine, and a one-time girlfriend of Singer. There are also tiny early roles for Christopher Walken (as Annie's somewhat disturbed brother), Jeff Goldblum (who speaks one memorable line at a party – "Hello? I forgot my mantra") and Sigourney Weaver (who can be briefly glimpsed as Singer's date outside a theatre). Two slightly more unusual cameos come from Truman Capote (as a Truman Capote-lookalike, no less) and scholar Marshall McLuhan (whom Singer suddenly procures from behind a movie poster to declare to a talkative film-goer that "you know nothing of my work!").

Easily the most innovative and energetic of the films I've so far seen from Woody Allen, 'Annie Hall' is a spirited glimpse at the incompatibility of human beings, and a cynical yet bittersweet meditation on the falsity of the perfect romantic Hollywood ending. It is also a considerable comedic achievement, and Allen would repeatedly recycle his trademark neurotic New Yorker screen persona, most notably in 'Manhattan (1979),' but never with more success than this premium outing in excellence. The engagingly-convoluted storyline moves with such briskness that you don't realise just how very little happens, and that, by the film's end, our characters are exactly where they were at the beginning. Nevertheless, Allen manages to say something significant about human relationships – they're totally irrational, crazy and absurd, but we keep attempting them because of what they give us in return. Or, at least, what we think they give us.