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My Top 42 Favorite Woody Allen Films

July 9th, 2012 · 5 Comments · Uncategorized

Here’s every Woody Allen feature film (not including some shorts, made for tv stuff, things he wrote but didn’t direct, etc.) ranked in the order I most like them. At some point in a young girl’s life, you simply say to yourself, “God damnit, I’m going to watch every Woody Allen film ever made.” And then you do. Here’s the result of my pointless scholarship.
  1. Husbands and Wives
  2. Crimes and Misdemeanors
  3. Hannah and Her Sisters
  4. Annie Hall
  5. Deconstructing Harry
  6. Everyone Says I Love You
  7. Manhattan
  8. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
  9. Bullets Over Broadway
  10. Midnight in Paris
  11. Anything Else
  12. Match Point
  13. Mighty Aphrodite
  14. Radio Days
  15. Whatever Works
  16. Stardust Memories
  17. The Purple Rose of Cairo
  18. Alice
  19. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
  20. Celebrity
  21. Take The Money and Run
  22. Small Time Crooks
  23. Broadway Danny Rose
  24. Sweet and Lowdown
  25. Another Woman
  26. Sleeper
  27. Bananas
  28. Manhattan Murder Mystery
  29. A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
  30. Don’t Drink the Water
  31. Melinda and Melinda
  32. Shadows and Fog
  33. Cassandra’s dream
  34. Curse of the Jade Scorpion
  35. Zelig
  36. Scoop
  37. To Rome with Love
  38. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex…
  39. Love and Death
  40. Interiors
  41. What’s Up, Tiger Lily?
  42. Hollywood Ending

Why is Husbands and Wives my favorite Woody Allen film? It’s probably not. Crimes and Misdemeanors is the better movie. Watching Martin Landeau go back in time and listen to his Jewish family debate moral relativism at the dinner table = the best shit I’ve ever seen. I just think Husband and Wives deserves to be remembered. It’s smart about men and women to an unsettling degree. My favorite line, regarding Mia Farrow’s character: “She always gets what she wants.” Girrrl. You know you know women like that.

Deconstructing Harry is a hot mess of weirdness. It’s filled with the fuck word. Billy Crystal plays the devil. What I like about it is that Woody Allen’s character plays a writer, and you get to watch his short stories come to life. Robin Williams plays a guy who is “out of focus.” Such heart! Such whimsy!

Everyone Says I Love You is a fucking musical!

Anything Else is weirdly high on my list. I don’t know why.

Hollywood Ending might not actually be literally the worst Woody Allen film, but I sure do fucking hate it! I’m a better actress than Tiffany Theissen, and I have no acting skills.

So there you have it! What do you think.

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5 Comments so far ↓

  • Monica // Jul 9, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I really like this. I really like Love and Death and Manhattan Murder Mystery and would rate them higher. But I love that you did this.

  • Matt W. // Jul 9, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    You accidentally listed the movies in the wrong order. The correct order of the first ten is:

    1. Crimes and Misdemeanors
    2. Hannah and Her Sisters
    3. Annie Hall
    4. Manhattan
    5. Radio Days
    6. Broadway Danny Rose
    7. Deconstructing Harry
    8. The Purple Rose of Cairo
    9. Sleeper
    10. Manhattan Murder Mystery

    And the last ten are:

    33. Mighty Aphrodite
    34. Everyone Says I Love You
    35. What’s Up, Tiger Lily?
    36. Scoop
    37. Anything Else
    38. Small Time Crooks
    39. Celebrity
    40. Curse of the Jade Scorpion
    41. To Rome with Love
    42. Hollywood Ending

    F’real, though, burying Broadway Danny Rose and Purple Rose of Cairo in the middle of the list = insanity. Midnight in Paris in the top 10 = double insanity. Also, I can’t figure out why everyone decided to turn Stardust Memories into a lost classic but keeps the much better Interiors in the dustbin.

    I think you’re correct about Hollywood Ending, though! It’s neck-and-neck with the latest one, though. To Rome with Love reminded me of Pret-a-Porter, almost: just mind-numbing in its awfulness.

  • Elisa // Jul 10, 2012 at 10:54 am

    My top 2 are Manhattan and then Hannah and Her Sisters. Will have to mull on the other 40.

  • Helen // Jul 21, 2012 at 7:09 am

    Hmm, Well, I agree that Purple Rose of Cairo should be higher. Also Midnight in Paris is problematic about ladywriters and romantic in the worst ways but also funny, so I dunno. I haven’t seen any of the ones you list towards the bottom, so no comment there.

    I fully agree about the great messiness of Deconstructing Harry though.

  • Erik // Sep 19, 2012 at 10:27 am

    I agree about Husbands and Wives, and about much of your list. I think Love and Death should moved up to the high middle. Interiors sucked!

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