Reviewed -

“ Manhattan “ 1979 – Woody Allen written and directed. Black and white.

Just watched “ Manhattan “ by Woody Allen again, have not seen it for a couple of years.

-         In some scenes, the cinematography is perhaps the best ever done, like-

The opening sequence.  Done all in black and white, it reminds us of what B & W movies do well – make very dramatic cinema. The shots of the NYC skyline, the bridges, the streets, the people, night scenes , the stores and shops. Just fantastic!  And the Gershwin music makes it all the more so. Rhapsody in Blue, fireworks at night over Central Park with the skyline in the background…….I just don’t know of a better opening sequence to any movie. 10 of 10 in that department. And that is just the opening. Although I strained to see some of the scenes indoors ( just not very much light ), the cinematography is just the best from start to finish.

-         The dialog … people who just meet for the first time and drop names like Van

Gogh, concepts like cubism and negativity, Princeton, Brown, and all other manner of literally luminaries….although this might happen , it is very contrived and forced in this otherwise very fine film.

Diane Keaton as Mary, Woody’s sometime love interest, is the most guilty of this.

Although I am a big fan of Woody Allen, I just cannot stand Diane Keaton and she reminds us all in this film why that is. “ I am so smart, I am beautiful, I could have the whole staff of MIT if I wanted. “  Please shut up already.  Her world clearly revolves around her. Art Galleries, The Literary world, The Ivy League universities, The Guggenheim Museum…nice places, for sure, but without Diane Keaton, she is convinced that they would some how just not be the same. OK, she never says that, but it is as clear to me as the nose on one’s face. Smarmy. Smug, Self Satisfied, self centered, pompous, egotistical, and snobbish- Diane Keaton all the way.

 Opening Scene...

-         The relationships ….Yale ( Michael Murphy ) and his wife , Emily  ( Anne Byrne Hoffman ) –married for 12 years, he cheats on her, enjoys every bit of it, but is so torn…contrived. Make a decision ( which he never does )…and Emily, a beautiful desirable women, accepts it.  Good looking she is, but a brain dead lap dog.

-         Yale happens to wear glasses like Woody, his have clear frames and Woody has dark frames. I could not help but wonder if this was done on purpose to cast them,

-         At least subliminally, as opposites.  Maybe , Woody is his neurotic self and Yale is uber confident about everything.  Opposites indeed.

-         Woody , at 42 , is dating the most honest, charming and clear thinking person in the movie , Mariel Hemingway ( Tracy )… ( she was 18 at the time ).  And just how and where does a 42 year old date an 18 year old ?  Woody pushes her away, urging her to get someone her own age, but she loves Woody.

-         Tracy is a student , she loves Woody and that is about as complicated as she gets, happily. What a performance she turns in. Honest, clear headed, alluring , elegant, youthful, sweet , genuine and lovely. Nominated for an Academy Award for this role. Not bad for 18 years old.

The entire films revolves around the relationships between Woody and Tracy, Woody and Mary, Yale and Emily, Yale and Mary the ins and outs of each respective one.

Woody finally wakes up one day and realizes that he does indeed love Tracy and it is the most sensible thing done in the movie. But before that, Mary and Woody are a couple, until big mouthed Mary ruins it and in the process, shows the world that she is about as narcissistic and one can be. She tears Woody limb from limb in 2 minutes at the break up and it is here that we see Woody at his best as an actor- the look on his face, his comments, he demeanor- this is someone who has just had the world rocked and the rug pulled from under him. Mary, once again, thinks only of herself and screw everyone else. ( I am so beautiful , my phone never stops ringing . “ )

What an unsavory bitch she is.

Meryl Streep plays Woody’s ex –wife, now a lesbian. She is writing a book about their failed marriage and the break up thereof. Woody is petrified at the thought of the most private business between a man and woman is going to be very , very public. He pleads with her but to no avail. In 1979, Streep was a very attractive woman, but she is hated by the audience for her gratuitous dragging-through-the mud that she lays on Woody. She just does not care – “ it is an honest assessment of our marriage “ …like that makes it OK.

Right up there with Diane Keaton, she is a bitch without peer.

And then- late in the film, the book comes out. And the book comes out when Woody, Mary, Yale and Emily are on a weekend trip to the shore. So what do they do ? They read the extremely embarrassing passage about Woody right there in front of him and laugh out loud at his expense. At that point in the film I had to ask myself – what kind of rotten people “ friends “  - would do this to each other ?  It is about the most insensitive scene in the film, self centered Yale reading and having a good old belly laugh and Woody squirming with no where to go. What kind of people do this to each other ?

Creepy , self centered snobs, that’s who.

So Woody  has enough and returns to the sanctity of his work as a writer and in a tender scene, he asks himself – “ what in this world is worth living for ? “  and he answers- Sinatra, Jazz, food, …and Tracy. He realizes that he does love her and all of the rest of the noise from his so called intellectual friends has little meaning. Tracy does. 

So I am a little torn at the totality of the film….” Manhattan “ is a cinema classic and for good reason…those reasons are the cinematography and the coordinated music that goes with it – like the hugely iconic scene at the Williamsburg bridge where Woody and Diane Keaton sit on a bench and watch the sun come up. It is ethereal, unearthly, stupendous, sublime and very gorgeous. To use a hackneyed phrase , that scene alone is worth the price of admission. It will be used in film schools for a hundred years as an example of the very finest in cinema and well it should be. But the self centered “ friends “ that Woody runs with, their superfluous dialog and inane concerns all about themselves and incessant chatter about themselves- well, that is not enough to make me not recommend this movie. I recommend it highly, although I think it is best viewed with the sound on when the music is playing and the sound off for all the rest of the film.