The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen

For Five Decades, No American Filmmaker Has Been As Prolific - Or As Paradoxical - As Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) To Midnight In Paris (2011) And Blue Jasmine (2013), Allen Has Produced An Average Of One Film A Year; Yet In Many Of These Movies Allen Reveals A Progressively Skeptical Attitude Toward Both The Value Of Art And The Cultural Contributions Of Artists. In This Second Edition Peter J. Bailey Extends His Classic Study To Consider Allen's Work During The Twenty-first Century. He Illuminates How The Director's Decision To Leave New York To Shoot In European Cities Such As London, Paris, Rome, And Barcelona Has Affected His Craft. He Also Explores Allen's Shift Toward Younger Actors And Interprets The Evolving Critical Reaction To His Films, Authoritatively Demonstrating Why The Director's Lifelong Project Of Moviemaking Remains Endlessly Deserving Of Careful Attention. -- From Back Cover. That Old Black Magic: Woody Allen's Ambivalent Artistry -- Strictly The Movies: Play It Again, Sam -- Getting Serious: The Antimimetic Emblems Of Annie Hall -- Art And Idealization: I'll Fake Manhattan -- Strictly The Movies Ii: How Radio Days Generated Nights At The Movies -- Life Stand Still Here: Interiors Dialogue -- In The Stardust Of A Song: Stardust Memories -- Woody's Mild Jewish Rose: Broadway Danny Rose -- The Fine Art Of Living Well: Hannah And Her Sisters -- If You Want A Hollywood Ending: Crimes And Misdemeanors -- Everyone Loves Her/his Illusions: The Purple Rose Of Cairo And Shadows And Fog -- Poetic License, Bullshit: Bullets Over Broadway -- Let's Just Live It: Woody Allen In The 1990s -- Because It's Real Difficult In Life: Husbands And Wives -- Rear Condo: Manhattan Murder Mystery -- That Voodoo That You Do So Well: Mighty Aphrodite -- And What A Perfect Plot: Everyone Says I Love You And Zelig -- How We Choose To Distort It: Deconstructing Harry -- From The Neck Up: Another Woman And Celebrity -- Allen And His Audience: Sweet And Lowdown -- Confrontation And Escape: Allen's Twenty-first-century Meditations On Comedy And Tragedy -- The Magic Of Luck: Scoop, Magic In The Moonlight, And Match Point -- The Heart Still Wants What It Wants: Vicky Cristina Barcelona And You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger -- People Reinvent Themselves, Don't They?: Midnight In Paris And Blue Jasmine -- Epilogue. Peter J. Bailey. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

for Three Decades, No American Filmmaker Has Been As Prolific — Or As Paradoxical — As Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) Through Celebrity (1998) And Sweet And Lowdown (1999), Allen Has Produced An Average Of One Film A Year, Yet In Many Of These Films Allen Reveals A Progressively Skeptical Attitude Toward Both The Value Of Art And The Cultural Contributions Of Artists. In Examining Allen's Filmmaking Career, The Reluctant Film Art Of Woody Allen Demonstrates That His Movies Often Question Whether The Projected Illusions Of Magicians/artists Benefit Audience Or Artists. Other Allen Films Dramatize The Opposed Conviction That The Consoling, Life-redeeming Illusions Of Art Are The Best Solution Humanity Has Devised To The Existential Dilemma Of Being A Death-foreseeing Animal. Peter Bailey Demonstrates How Allen's Films Repeatedly Revisit And Reconfigure This Tension Between Image And Reality, Art And Life, Fabrication And Factuality, With Each Film Reaching Provisional Resolutions That A Subsequent Movie Will Revise. Merging Criticism And Biography, Bailey Identifies Allen's Ambivalent Views Of The Artistic Enterprise As A Key To Understanding His Entire Filmmaking Career. Because Of Its Focus Upon Filmmaker Sandy Bates's Conflict Between Entertaining Audiences And Confronting Them With Bleak Human Actualities, Stardust Memories Is A Central Focus Of The Book. Bailey's Examination Of Allen's Art/life Dialectic Also Draws From The Off Screen Drama Of Allen's Very Public Separation From Mia Farrow, And The Book Accordingly Construes Such Post-scandal Films As Bullets Over Broadway And Mighty Aphrodite As Allen's Oblique Cinematic Responses To That Tabloid Tempest. By Illuminating The Thematic Conflict At The Heart Of Allen's Work, Bailey Seeks Not Only To Clarify The Aesthetic Designs Of Individual Allen Films But To Demonstrate How His Oeuvre Enacts An Ongoing Debate The Screenwriter/director Has Been Conducting With Himself Between Creating Cinematic Narratives Affirming The Saving Powers Of The Human Imagination And Making Films Acknowledging The Irresolvably Dark Truths Of The Human Condition.

For five decades, no American filmmaker has been as prolific—or as paradoxical—as Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) to Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013), Allen has produced an average of one film a year; yet in many of these movies Allen reveals a progressively skeptical attitude toward both the value of art and the cultural contributions of artists.

In this second edition Peter J. Bailey extends his classic study to consider Allen's work during the twenty-first century. He illuminates how the director's decision to leave New York to shoot in European cities such as London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona has affected his craft. He also explores Allen's shift toward younger actors and interprets the evolving critical reaction to his films—authoritatively demonstrating why the director's lifelong project of moviemaking remains endlessly deserving of careful attention.

For thirty years no American filmmaker has been as prolific -- or as paradoxical -- as Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) to Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Allen has produced an average of one film a year. Yet with each new film he reveals a progressively skeptical attitude toward art.Merging criticism and biography, Peter Bailey uses Allen's ambivalent views of the artistic enterprise as the key to understanding his entire career. In an exhaustive, jargon-free reading, Bailey demonstrates how Allen's films constitute a debate he is conducting with himself about the capacities of art to improve the quality of life and about the resulting price exacted upon artists and those around them. Bailey identifies the underlying tension between reality and image in film after film, demonstrating how the resolution of this conflict in each movie is revisited, critiqued, and reconfigured in the next. Front cover 1 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Preface to the Second Edition 10 1 That Old Black Magic 14 2 Strictly the Movies 30 3 Getting Serious 44 4 Art and Idealization 58 5 Strictly the Movies II 72 6 Life Stand Still Here 84 7 In the Stardust of a Song 100 8 Woody’s Mild Jewish Rose 116 9 The Fine Art of Living Well 128 10 If You Want a Hollywood Ending 146 11 Everyone Loves Her/His Illusions 162 12 Poetic License, Bullshit 178 13 Let’s Just Live It 190 14 Because It’s Real Difficult in Life 200 15 Rear Condo 216 16 That Voodoo That You Do So Well 228 17 And What a Perfect Plot 242 18 How We Choose to Distort It 262 19 From the Neck Up 278 20 Allen and His Audience 290 21 Confrontation and Escape 304 22 The Magic of Luck 322 23 The Heart Still Wants What It Wants 340 24 “People Reinvent Themselves, Don’t They?” 356 Epilogue 376 Acknowledgments 382 Notes 384 Bibliography 428 Index 438 10. If You Want a Hollywood Ending: Crimes and Misdemeanors -- 11. Everyone Loves Her/His Illusions: The Purple Rose of Cairo and Shadows and Fog -- 12. Poetic License, Bullshit: Bullets Over Broadway -- 13. Let's Just Live It: Woody Allen in the 1990s -- 14. Because It's Real Difficult in Life: Husbands and Wives -- 15. Rear Condo: Manhattan Murder Mystery -- 16. That Voodoo That You Do So Well: Mighty Aphrodite -- 17. And What a Perfect Plot: Everyone Says I Love You and Zelig -- 18. How We Choose to Distort It: Deconstructing Harry -- 19. From the Neck Up: Another Woman and Celebrity Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. That Old Black Magic: Woody Allen's Ambivalent Artistry -- 2. Strictly the Movies: Play It Again, Sam -- 3. Getting Serious: The Antimimetic Emblems of Annie Hall -- 4. Art and Idealization: I'll Fake Manhattan -- 5. Strictly the Movies II: How Radio Days Generated Nights at the Movies -- 6. Life Stand Still Here: Interiors Dialogue -- 7. In the Stardust of a Song: Stardust Memories -- 8. Woody's Mild Jewish Rose: Broadway Danny Rose -- 9. The Fine Art of Living Well: Hannah and Her Sisters 20. Allen and His Audience: Sweet and Lowdown -- 21. Confrontation and Escape: Allen's Twenty-First-Century Meditations on Comedy and Tragedy -- 22. The Magic of Luck: Scoop, Magic in the Moonlight, and Match Point -- 23. The Heart Still Wants What It Wants: Vicky Cristina Barcelona and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger -- 24. "People Reinvent Themselves, Don't They?": Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index "By illuminating the thematic conflict at the heart of Allen's work, Bailey seeks not only to clarify the aesthetic designs of individual Allen films but to demonstrate how his oeuvre enacts an ongoing debate the screenwriter/director has been conducting with himself between creating cinematic narratives affirming the saving powers of the human imagination and making films acknowledging the irresolvably dark truths of the human condition."--Jacket.