ZELIG (1983)

Woody Allen had one hell of a directorial run from 1977 to 1982 with ANNIE HALL, INTERIORS, MANHATTAN, STARDUST MEMORIES and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY.  He only won a single Best Picture Award (in 1977 for ANNIE HALL), but in my opinion he should have won more.  INTERIORS was especially deserving in 1978, it wasn't even nominated and lost to THE DEER HUNTER.  MANHATTAN could have also won in 1979 although I think ALIEN was more deserving, neither were nominated and the award ended up going home with KRAMER VS. KRAMER.  Allen's home run streak came to an end though in 1983 with ZELIG.

Set in the 1920's (and told with fake newsreel stories, archival footage, etc.) the story is about a guy, Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), who takes on the physical and personality traits of those around him.  Put him with a Native Indian and he turns into a Native Indian, put him with some Frenchmen and he grows a mustache and starts speaking French and so on.  This "human chameleon" soon becomes the most famous man in the world.  He's placed in a psychiatric hospital under the care of Dr. Mia Farrow.  She studies Zelig and of course falls in love with him.

For about 15 minutes or so ZELIG is mildly amusing, but after awhile the single joke just wears thin.  Alright, we get it, he can change the way he looks.  Hardy-har-har.  As a short film ZELIG would have been fine, but as a full-length film it seemed like they were just padding the runtime for a theatrical release.  At only 79 minutes it's definitely one of Allen's shortest films if not the shortest.  Worth watching, for Allen fans, but if you skip it you're not gonna miss much.  I did chuckle at the Dreyfus Affair joke.  You don't see a lot of humor about that.

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX* BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK (1972)

Another pre-ANNIE HALL Allen that suffers badly from dated humor.  This time around it's seven short sequences answering different questions like "What Is Sodomy?" where Dr. Gene Wilder falls in love with a female sheep...I'm not exactly sure how that answers the question or is even funny, but that's what happens.  Another: "What Happens During Ejaculation?" has Tony Randall and Burt Reynolds as operators inside a mission control center (a human brain) controlling a dude's body during a date and sex.  Hardy-har-har.

Seeing as how this was a box office success back in 1972, I guess, this kind of humor was cutting edge or somehow funny, but nowadays it's extremely dated.  EYAWTKASBWATA is interesting as an historic artifact, but I can't even imagine how a younger audience would enjoy this film today.  Hell, I love Woody Allen and even I had a hard time getting through the whole thing.  Skip it.

BANANAS (1971)

Early Woody Allen effort about a neurotic young man, Fielding Mellish (played by Woody), who falls for attractive social activist, Louise Lasser.  They date for awhile, but she eventually leaves him because he's not a "leader".  Depressed by this, Mellish goes to the (fictional) banana republic of San Marcos to show that he has concern for the poor people who live there.  Once there he accidentally gets involved with the rebel army and eventually, after they overthrow the government, placed as the new President.

As with all of Woody's earlier films the humor is mostly physical slapstick.  There's a few laughs (my favorite moment was the break-up scene.  I don't know how much was scripted or not, but it looked like both Woody and Louise were on the verge of cracking up), but the majority of the jokes are dated and forced.  It's still interesting from a historical point of view and to see Woody's evolution, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.