Manhattan (film)
Manhattan is a
1979 romantic comedy film. Like
Annie Hall, the movie was written by
Woody Allen and
Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen.
Allen insisted that this movie be shown in its original
aspect ratio of
2.35:1 when it was released on video. As a result, all copies of the movie on video are
letterboxed, the first video to be released in such a format. He sued a Swiss TV channel that broadcast a
pan and scan version of the movie. A pan and scan version has since been aired on UK television.
The film is shot in
black and white by cinematographer
Gordon Willis, who also filmed
The Godfather and its sequels. It is also notable for its extensive use of music composed by
George Gershwin and
Ira Gershwin.
It was nominated for
Academy Awards for
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mariel Hemingway) and
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film is consistently on the
Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films and was #46 on
American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs. In
2001 the United States
Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film Registry, although Allen himself was reasonably disappointed with the film.
Auteurist film critic
Andrew Sarris notably praised
Manhattan as "the only truly great
American movie of the
1970s."
|
Iconic movie still (c)1979 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Incorporated |
The movie opens with a
montage of images of
Manhattan accompanied by
George Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue.
It features Allen as Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced forty-something comedy writer dealing with women in his life. He is having an affair with a high school girl, played by
Mariel Hemingway. However, he falls in love with his best friend's mistress, played by
Diane Keaton. Also, his ex-wife, played by
Meryl Streep, is writing a tell-all book about their relationship.
*Meryl Streep's only film to be shot in black and white.
*The iconic shot of Diane Keaton and Woody Allen on the Bench was shot just south of the 59th St. Bridge on a bench by the East River.
*
