Collection of six films written and directed by Woody Allen in
the 1970s. In 'Annie Hall' (1977), neurotic comedian Alvy Singer
(Allen) falls for the titular heroine (Diane Keaton), a budding
singer, and the two of them attempt to build a solid relationship
but face problems in the form of California and their own mutual
paranoia. Classic metropolitan comedy, which proved to be the
breakthrough film for writer-director Woody Allen, marking the
transition from the scatter style of his early spoofs
('er', 'Love and Death') to the more focused approach of his
angst-ridden New York romances ('Manhattan', 'Hannah and Her
Sisters'). The film won Os for Best Picture, Best Actress
(Diane Keaton), Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
'Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid
to Ask' (1972) is a sequence of seven sketches prompted by
questions from Dr David Reuben's best-selling book. Highlights
include a sketch about a doctor (Gene Wilder) who falls in love
with a sheep, and a skit entitled 'What Happens During
Ejaculation?' in which Allen plays an anxious sperm awaiting his
big moment. 'Love and Death' (1975) is a parody of Russian
literature follows the adventures of the cowardly scholar Boris
Dimitrovich Grushenko (Allen) after he is press-ganged into the
Russian army during the Napoleonic Wars. Inadvertently becoming a
hero, Boris returns home to marry his true love Sonia (Diane
Keaton) and then embarks on an attempt to assassinate Napoleon,
spoofing Tolstoy, Eisenstein and Ingmar Bergman along the way. In
'Manhattan' (1979), often cited as Allen's masterpiece, Isaac
Davis (Allen) is a TV writer, frustrated in both career and his
lovelife. An on-off affair with teenage drama student Tracy
(Mariel Hemingway) is blighted by his anxiety about their age
difference, whilst his attraction to the pretentious Mary (Diane
Keaton) is complicated by the fact that she is already having an
affair with his married friend Yale (Michael Murphy). Meanwhile,
his lesbian ex-wife (Meryl Streep) prepares to dish the dirt
about their marriage in a forthcoming book. Filmed entirely in
black and white, the film features a George Gershwin soundtrack.
'er' (1973) satirises seventies dystopianism whilst
resurrecting the slapstick comedy of the silent-movie age. Miles
Monroe (Allen) is a -food store owner whose body is frozen
after an operation goes badly wrong. When he wakes up 200 years
later he discovers a world run by a totalitarian government and
experiences severe culture shock as he struggles to come to terms
with the poet Luna (Diane Keaton), the Ormatron, and a
resistance movement who wish to destroy the Dictator's Nose.
Finally, in 'Bananas' (1971), puny New Yorker and gadget tester
Fielding Mellish (Allen) is in love with Nancy (Louise Lasser), a
beautiful political activist who is herself obsessed by the
battles being waged in San Marcos between the dictator General
Var (Carlos Montalban) and his revolutionary nents. Thus,
in an attempt to impress his beloved, Mellish makes for San
Marcos and in a bizarre and bewildering series of events, ends up
the president of the country. An early spoof from Allen, in much
the same vein as 'er' and 'Love and Death', the film
includes an appearance by Sylvester Stallone as a subway hoodlum.