esrosedotblog

TODAY'S MOVIE

BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1984): NYTimes1176BestFilms. This could be one of the best Woody Allen films (comic division) that I have ever seen. It was my first time. I don't know how I missed it. I watched it alone (Allen drives John nuts) and stayed in LOL-mode.

The film has a lot on its plate and pulls it all off. First, there is the lightweight story that supports rapid fire patented Allen one liners. The joke density is very high and Allen has not yet adopted that improv type delivery and dialog that annoys me so in his later films.

On top of that, the story is told by about a dozen B-level comics. They are great. Think Corbett Monica! There are also walkons by a few stars like Milton Berle. This is special.

Then, there is the matter of the setting which is all B-level New York/New Jersey kitsch. It is a tribute to the sensibility of the Carnegie Deli, show lounges, bad hair, revolving cake displays, and all that stuff I really have a place in my heart for. Allen's camera does not miss a beat. It strays from the action and delays here and there to make sure that we can take it all in and savor it.

Then, somewhere early on, I noted the density of people; a very un-Allen touch. And they are all grotesques. It took a while. Somewhere in the middle of a scene with Macy Parade figures (more kitsch) and a hilarious gag with escaping helium changing everyone's voices during a chase with a mafia hit man--don't ask--I got that this is Fellini! Wow. There is a fortune teller who sees her clients from her bedroom. And the accordion background. And the tributes to show business. Homage. So well done. The final scenes capture the bitter sweet irony of Fellini endings with a very nice rain-at-night exit from a building. All that. Now I have to watch it again with this in mind.

Mia Farrow plays the girl, a dumb blonde type, and for once Allen actually has chemistry with the female lead. This is, of course, before the end of the game.

This is a 4 out of Netflix5.