How can I explain why Annie Hall, released 30 years ago this very day, has become a major marker in my life? Why I’ve seen it at least four times in the theater, and is one of the very first VHS tapes I ever purchased?
*Alvy Singer, Woody Allen’s character in the movie, HATES to go to a movie after it started. Me, too. That’s partly because I almost sat on someone’s lap in a darkened theater, but still.
*When I lived in NYC that summer of ’77, I hung out around Washington Square Park.
*Alvy hates Los Angeles; I’ve never been.
*Paul Simon, of whom I was/am a big fan, made his movie debut as Tony Lacey.
*The cocaine scene in the movie? Definitely plausible.
*Sigourney Weaver made her film debut as “Alvy’s date outside theater”.
*It informed me that comedy can be intelligent and funny.
*Variety said expand the scene in “Annie Hall” where Woody visits Diane Keaton’s family & you’ve got Meet the Parents. I’ve met parents; it’s almost ALWAYS like that.
*Christopher Walken played Annie’s neurotic brother Duane.
*There’s a split screen scene where Annie and Alvy discuss their sex life. He: She never wants to have sex, only three times a week. She: He wants to have sex all the time – three times a week. Yup.
*I’ve been in a relationship where this dialogue took place: “A relationship is like a shark; it has to move forward or it dies. What we have here is a dead shark.”
*Film critic John Simon said about it: “Repetitious and aimless as to seem to beg for oblivion”. He didn’t like Star Wars either.
*I always liked the fact that Diane Keaton’s given name was Diane Hall. (In case you were wondering, Woody Allen was Allen Stewart Konigsberg.)
*”You only gave me books with the word ‘death’ in the title”. I relate to this, too.
*I went through an unfortunate period when I said, “La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah.” A lot.
*Woody Allen finally got some Oscar love. He was nominated for acting in, directing & writing; he won for the latter 2.
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Go see what Fred Hembeck did on April 10. Careful readers of this blog may already know, since he, his family, and I all were together.
