Annie Hall (WS/BD) [Blu-ray]

`Annie Hall', directed by Woody Allen and written by Allen and Marshall Brickman is eminently rewatchable, which is the one quality that makes it an excellent DVD purchase. I have seen this movie at least a half dozen times, and I am still discovering interesting things in the film. What makes this so odd to me is that the first time I saw it, after having seen `Manhattan', I really did not think it was as good as the later film.My initially low opinion of the movie was primarily due to the numerous cinematic gimmicks harking back to his earlier, plainly less thoughtful movies. These include flashbacks to dopey teachers and classmates, almost as a parody of Jean Shepherd; subtitles showing what the characters are really thinking of one another during a conversation; a cartoon segment where Allen and the Tony Roberts character appear with the wicked witch from Snow White; speeches to the audience; and the most famous, a surprise appearance by Marshall McCluhan in a movie theatre lobby to refute a college instructor pontificating about McCluhan's ideas.The single most famous scene from the movie is the encounter between Allen's character, Alvy Singer and Annie Hall, played brilliantly by Diane Keaton, after their tennis match with Annie dressed in her classic layered look with vest, men's tie, and balloonish trousers. The great sound bite from this encounter is the Annie Hall exclamation `La Di Dah, La Di Dah, Dah Dah...' and Singer's reaction wondering how he could be interested in anyone making such silly exclamations. From this one scene came a whole late 1970's fashion trend, the `Annie Hall' look of layered, mannish clothes. This scene also sets the stage for my latest insight into the movie, which is the progression of Annie, with a lot of help from Alvy, from an unserious girl with a decent singing voice to a serious woman with a few good ideas and a connection to a serious Hollywood music personality, played convincingly by Paul Simon with an eye to having her performances commercially recorded.While so much can be said of the loves, frustrations, and disappointments of Alvy Singer, the movie is, after all, named `Annie Hall', not `Alvy Singer'. Not to say that this incarnation of the Woody Allen fictional persona is not central to the story. In the story of Alvy Singer that frames our encounter with Annie, there are encounters with two early marriages to characters played by Carol Kane and Janet Margolin, plus less than exciting romantic encounters with Shelley Duvall. The Allen talent for pulling in major actors and future major actors for brief appearances is in full bloom. There are excellent little parts for Colleen Dewhurst and Christopher Walken. There are even smaller parts for surprise appearances by Jeff Goldblum, Sigourney Weaver, and Beverly De'Angelis. Just as Allen is playing his usual, highly autobiographical character, male costar Tony Roberts plays the typically untroubled successful male who is constantly on the make for something or other, whether it be a business deal of a romantic laision. (It just occurred to me that it is logical that Roberts did not play the male costar in `Manhattan', as the Michael Murphy character simply did not fit the typical Tony Roberts character as it appears in `Play It Again, Sam', `A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy', and `Annie Hall'.While I have not reviewed all of Allen's later movies, I will venture the opinion that not only is `Annie Hall' better than all the films which precede it, it is as good or better than his best later movies (such as `Hannah and Her Sisters', `Crimes and Misdemeanors', and `Husbands and Wives'), if only because it is so effective a mix of both character study and humor. Some of Allen's jokes from this movie are some of his best known. In fact, I get the same sense watching this movie as I do when I see `Hamlet'. So many lines sound like clichés because they have been so widely quoted.There are a lot of things which could be said about this movie which are really about themes which run through almost all of Allen's films such as doting on sexuality, phony intellectuality, love of Manhattan, and death. One clever riff on death is when Annie is moving into Alvy's apartment, Alvy discovers a book of Sylvia Plath's poems, which contradicts Hall's later statement when she is moving out that all the books about death were given to her by Singer. (Plath was a famously depressive poet who committed suicide in mid-career).Allen's movie DVDs are uniformly free of fancy extras such as commentary tracks and `Making of' documentaries, and this is no exception. At the risk of repeating myself, I will say that the singular attraction of Allen's body of work in general and `Annie Hall' in particular is its rewatchability. As unrealistic as the many cinematic gimmicks are, the characters are intensely real. They are people with which we can sincerely associate. Try that with your usual Ben Stiller character.Highly recommended classic among both Allen movies and all movies in general.

After 46 years, I finally realised I don't get it. It's the same with Allen's other New York movies. I get some of the jokes, but I don't get why these are his greatest movies. I'm like the unsophisticated antiheroes of Small Time Crooks. My favourite is still his first, What's Up Tiger Lily?

Everything was fine

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is a New York comedian and extremely neurotic man trying to figure out his failed past relationships with women, especially with the titular Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The movie shows Alvy's life experiences in his relationships and their eventual breakdowns, but does so in a comedic fashion.I enjoyed this movie. One aspect that really shines is Allen's performance as the main character which was heavily inspired by his actual personality. His performance as the neurotic and awkward Alvy is very entertaining to watch and often quite funny, such as a scene early in the movie when he refuses to see a movie two minutes late because he can only view movies in their entirety. I also thought that Keaton did a great job in her role as Annie who has her own personality quirks and awkwardness as well. The depiction of this relationship between these two characters was well done, comedic, and yet also felt realisitic. I definitely had several laugh-out-loud moments while watching this.The cinematography and general style are other enjoyable aspects of this film. Being a New York City native, Allen does an excellent job of utilizing the city as the main setting. I also thought it was an excellent aspect to include various unconventional scenes such as how Allen's character several times directly addresses the audience, split-screen tricks, or even a random animated segment when Alvy recalls how watching the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs affected him.Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable film with its comedic take on relationships. I would recommend this film to those that like classic movies.

I saw this movie when it first came out and loved it. A friend and I rented it recently because we wanted to watch something funny and this was perfect. It's about a quirky man and quirky woman who are very different from each other, but live together in New York City. The writing is so clever and the characters are so endearing. I highly recommend it.

If you're a Woody Allen fan you've probably seen Annie Hall if you're unfamiliar would highly recommend to anyone.

Love this filmDespise woody Allen for who he is and what he did

I saw this was free on Prime so thought I'd watch it again. It turns out that I had never watched it before. I'm sure I would have remembered such key parts of the story as the Paul Simon character, and that Annie Hall had aspirations to be a singer. For 45 years I've heard it discussed, read about it, seen bits and pieces and stills and scenes from it, until I had absorbed so much of it that I assumed I had seen it. Anyway, it was every bit as good as I thought, so go ahead and watch it even if you think you've already seen it.

No sé si es la mejor película de Woody Allen, aunque la mayoría de los críticos opinan que sí lo es y además es una de mis tres favoritas de dicho actor/director. Hay que considerar que ganó el Oscar a Mejor Película en su año, el cual me parece muy merecido.

Si tiene subtítulos en español

What did like or dislike ? I liked that I ordered a DVD of Woody Allan's Annie Hall and that's what I got. What did I use it for? Well I used in my DVD player to watch the film. Of the film, I like Woody Allan his wisecracks etc. I felt he was playing himself trying to get off with Dianne Keaton and it was a ploy just to get close to her. I think she's as crazy as him btw. Over all a good film, a Woody Allan film and worth watching.

Seller was great. Film sucked.

not as good as I remember it being in the seventies. Its not aged well or maybe its just me.