Annie Hall [Blu-ray]

Director: Woody Allen Woody Allen

Overview

Woody Allen's romantic comedy of the Me Decade follows the up and down relationship of two mismatched New York neurotics. Jewish comedy writer Alvy Singer (Allen) ponders the modern quest for love and his past romance with tightly-wound WASP singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, née Diane Hall). The twice-divorced Alvy knows that it's not easy to find a mate when the options include pretentious New York intellectuals and lifestyle-obsessed Rolling Stone writers, but la-di-dah-ing Annie seems different. Along the rocky road of their coupling, Allen/Alvy weigh in on such topics as endless therapy, movies vs. TV, the absurdity of dating rituals, anti-Semitism, drugs, and, in one of the best set pieces, repressed Midwestern WASP insanity vs. crazy Brooklyn Jewish boisterousness. Annie wants to move to Los Angeles to find that fame that finally does in the relationship -- but not before Alvy gets in a few digs at vacuous, mantra-fixated California. Originally entitled Anhedonia (the inability to enjoy oneself), Annie Hall blended the slapstick and fantasy from such earlier Allen films as Sleeper (1973) and Bananas (1971) with the more autobiographical musings of his stand-up and written comedy, using an array of such movie techniques as talking heads, splitscreens, and subtitles. Within these gleeful formal experiments and sight gags, Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman skewered 1970s solipsism, reversing the happy marriage of opposites found in classic screwball comedies. Hailed as Allen's most mature and personal film, Annie Hall beat out Star Wars for Best Picture and also won Oscars for Allen as director and writer and for Keaton as Best Actress; audiences enthusiastically responded to Allen's take on contemporary love and turned Keaton's rumpled menswear into a fashion trend.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/24/2012
UPC:	0883904256427
Original Release:	1977
Rating:	PG
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Woody Allen	Alvy Singer,Schoolteacher
Diane Keaton	Annie Hall
Tony Roberts	Rob
Paul Simon	Tony Lacey,Voices
Carol Kane	Allison
Janet Margolin	Robin
Shelley Duvall	Pam
Colleen Dewhurst	Mom Hall
Christopher Walken	Duane Hall
Donald Symington	Dad Hall
Helen Ludlam	Grammy Hall
Mordecai Lawner	Alvy's Dad
Joan Newman	Alvy's Mom,Lacey's Party Guest
Jonathan Munk	Alvy at 9
Ruth Volner	Alvy's Aunt
Martin Rosenblatt	Alvy's Uncle
Hy Ansel	Joey Nichols
Rashel Novikoff	Aunt Tessie
Marshall McLuhan	Himself
Dick Cavett	Himself
Russell Horton	Man in Theater Line
Christine Jones	Dorrie
May Boylan	Miss Reed,Miss Reed
Wendy Girard	Janet
John Doumanian	Coke Fiend
Bob Maroff	Man Outside Theater
Rick Petrucelli	Man Outside Theater
Chris Gampel	Doctor
Dan Ruskin	Comedian at Rally
John Glover	Actor Boy Friend
Bernie Styles	Comic's Agent
Johnny Haymer	Comic
Ved Bandbu	Maharishi
Laurie Bird	Tony Lacey's Girl Friend
Jeff Goldblum	Lacey's Party Guest
William Callaway	Lacey's Party Guest
Jim McKrell	Lacey's Party Guest
Alan Landers	Lacey's Party Guest
Jean Sarah Frost	Lacey's 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
Michael Karm	Rehearsal Director
Petronia Johnson	Tony's Dates at Nightclub
Shaun Casey	Tony's Dates at Nightclub
Lou Picetti	Street Stranger
Loretta Tupper	Street Stranger
James Burge	Street Stranger
Shelley Hack	Street Stranger
Albert M. Ottenheimer	Street Stranger
Paula Trueman	Street Stranger
Beverly D'Angelo	Actress in Rob's TV Show
David Weir	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 Levitar	Alvy's Classmate
Frank Vobs	Schoolteacher
Margaretta Warwick	Schoolteacher
Gary Mule Deer	Man at Health Food Restaurant
Sigourney Weaver	Alvy's Date Outside Theater
Walter Bernstein	Annie's Date Outside Theater
Joan Neuman	Alvy's Mom
Hy Anzell	Joey Nichols
Lee Callahan	Ticket Seller at Theatre
Mark Lenard	Navy Officer
Stanley DeSantis	Actor
James MacKrell	Actor
John Johnston	L.A. Policeman
Tracey Walter	Actor in Rob's TV Show
Lucy Flippin	Waitress at Health Food Restaurant
Michael Aronin	Waiter #2 at Nightclub
Arthur Haggerty	Actor
Carmen Lombardo	Composer
John Jacob Loeb	Composer

Technical Credits

Woody Allen

Marshall Brickman

Woody Allen	Director,Screenwriter
Marshall Brickman	Screenwriter
Charles H. Joffe	Producer
Robert Greenhut	Executive Producer,Producer
Jack Rollins	Producer
Jack Higgins	Sound Effects
James Pilcher	Sound Effects
James Sabat	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Dan Sable	Sound Effects
Leslie Gaulin	Sound Effects
Fred T. Gallo	Producer
Juliet Taylor	Casting
James Pilcher	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the most successful and satisfying of all modern romantic comedies, Annie Hall is also the definitive Woody Allen movie. Here, more than in any other work, Allen maps out the territory -- the persona, romantic obsessions, and city (New York) -- that he has claimed as his own. He seems to be inventing, as we watch, a new movie language to better chart the peaks and pitfalls of contemporary romance. Diane Keaton's sweetly spacey Annie, the first and best in a long line of Allen's neurotic shiksas, won the actress an Academy Award and jump-started her career (and a fashion trend). Keaton is joined by an amazing cast that includes Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, and Christopher Walken (particularly funny as Annie's intense brother). The movie also garnered Best Picture honors, as well as two Oscars for Allen, Best Director and, with Marshall Brickman, Best Screenplay -- a rare sweep for a comedy and richly deserved.

Barnes & Noble - Rachel Saltz

One of the greatest pleasures of Woody Allen's early work is his ability to skewer himself while skewering the conventions of the comedy genre. Annie Hall is perhaps the best example of this: a blend of slapstick, fantasy, and bittersweet romantic comedy, it is not so much about two people falling in love as about two brains trying to negotiate a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. The neurotic, self-obsessed commentary on display in Annie Hall is pointed but relatively gentle, free of the bitterness that sometimes marked Allen's later work. The film is a series of insightful musings that leave the viewer feeling strangely optimistic--or at least very amused--about human nature. Much of this is due to Alvy and Annie themselves--unlike the oddly but perfectly matched couples fated to walk off into the sunset in the majority of romantic comedies, Alvy and Annie are consigned to further introspection, obsessive analysis, and bittersweet reflection. Part of the appeal of Annie Hall is that there are no pat answers: in watching the struggles of the characters, we see a reflection of our own struggles, without the condescending message that everything will be fine in the end. Annie Hall elevated Allen to the forefront of contemporary filmmakers, promoting him from a comedian who happened to make films to a comic filmmaker. The film also set a new standard for romantic comedies, its name alone becoming synonymous with the sub-genre of the intelligent, New York-based romantic comedy. On a less far-reaching scale, it also launched a fashion trend, with Diane Keaton's baggy menswear providing a welcome alternative to polyester pantsuits and flared trousers, anticipating the craze for androgynous clothing by almost twenty years.

All Movie Guide