During the 1960s, there was a flurry of all-star comedy films that tried too hard to be zany. “What’s New, Pussycat?” stands out in this genre for its freewheeling approach to sex – and while it often fails to maintain its frenetic pace, it has more than a few redeeming features to keep the viewer entertained.
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BOOTLEG FILES 853: “Woody Allen” (1965 British television special).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not yet.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A performance rights clearance issue.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
On February 10, 1965, British television audiences who tuned into ITV had their first look at Woody Allen, who starred in an eponymous one-off television special. Most viewers that night probably thought “Woody Who?” – he was unknown in Britain and his fame in his own country was mostly limited to occasional appearances on television talk shows and in clubs that featured up-and-coming stand-up comics.
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From Russian roulette in Saigon to Double Secret Probation at Faber College, 1978 was a wild year for movies. This “Online Movie Show” episode relives the year’s peaks and valleys with guest Jerry Dean Roberts of ArmchairCinema.com.
BOOTLEG FILES 753: “Woody Allen Looks at 1967” (1967 television special).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Never released in a home entertainment format.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely.
It’s safe to say that no one will ever look back on 2020 with any great fondness, except perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Biden, but that now-closed 12-month span was hardly the first year-from-hell experience. Anyone who was around in 1967 will glumly recall the challenges and tragedies that marked the year’s political and social environments.
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On this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” the spotlight shines on Woody Allen’s Academy Award-winning classic. Film critic Jerry Roberts is our guest, and he offers a unique perspective as an Alabama native viewing Woody’s New York.
The episode can be heard here.
“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.
Too many people today look at Woody Allen’s 1979 “Manhattan” for evidence of the filmmaker’s alleged perversions. After all, his character in the film is a 42-year-old having a relationship with a 17-year-old girl played by Mariel Hemingway – and wouldn’t logic dictate that everything Allen does on screen is autobiographical?
To say that I knew what I was getting in to with “Midnight in Paris” is indeed would be a gross error. I had no idea what “Midnight in Paris” would bring me. So for the sake of not ruining what is ultimately a surprise filled comedy drama, I beg you to heed my warning about spoilers as “Midnight in Paris” is such a film that will demand audiences to suspend their belief, but in the meanwhile is typical Woody Allen whimsy. The man has the ability to channel surrealism and fantasy with films like “Zelig” and “Sleeper,” and thankfully “Midnight in Paris” is a return to form. Once again, Allen has lost a lot of his touch with his past films as he no longer spotlights the regular individual, but the glamorous one, but he surmounts such a caveat by delivering a premise in the tradition of the classic Allen pictures. The demented and lively, the ridiculous but existential.