Annie Hall

James Grant
Film History 2
2/27/12

Annie Hall (1977)
• Director- Woody Allen
• Date Released- April 20, 1977
• Budget $4 million, Gross $38 million in usa
• Studio- MGM, Prod. Comp.- Rollins-Joffe Productions
• Locations- New York and California


Annie hall is a 1977 Romantic comedy directed by and starring Woody Allen himself and won four academy awards including best picture. Allen and Marshall Brickman wrote the screenplay where it co-starred Diane Keaton. Allen himself believes this was the turning point of his directing career and gave him the spark he need.

The story involves a New York comedian, Alvy Singer, and his girlfriend, Annie Hall’s love story. The relationship began with some small talk on the tennis court, to a ride up town, then some wine on Annie’s Balcony. Their love for each other takes a turn for the worse when Hall leaves Singer for her record producer. After losing her, Singer returns to New York and writes a play about his love with Hall.

The film is closely related to the text because of wide variety of lighting techniques and camera angles. There are many wide and close up shots throughout the film. We also learned how the lighting outside compared to inside can make or break a shot.

In this film, Allen brought a lot of real life things into the film, whether it was controversial love problems or actual debates about directors or problems occurring in the world. He used his Jewish background as a problem with his relationship and his beliefs. Another reason this film relates to the late 70’s is because at the end he turns his story into a play which was popular amongst the people in the city. Fashion is another aspect he brought into the film.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/annie-re.html
http://www.filmsite.org/anni.html

The article from the NYT is an article praising Allen for his picture and his talents. Vincent Canby wrote, this film put Allen in the league of the best directors we have. The article also lays out the plot of the film. The other article is from AMC’s film site. I feel it’s a good article to mention because it gives an analysis of the film and a script of the film.

Personally film’s like this do not catch my attention or liking but Annie Hall was different. Maybe not the most exciting films but you never knew what was going to happen next. Woody Allen’s genius in directing has lured me into watching this film closely. I wouldn’t watch it again but I would recommend it to an up and coming film student or someone interested in directing techniques. I honestly feel this film did push Allen’s career to the top.


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