Annie Hall (1977)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen (written by) and
Marshall Brickman (written by)

Release Date:

20 April 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A nervous romance.

Plot:

Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Plot Keywords:

Opposites Attract | Urban | Quirky | Pygmalion | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 24 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Alvy Singer
Diane Keaton	...	Annie Hall
Tony Roberts	...	Rob
Carol Kane	...	Allison
Paul Simon	...	Tony Lacey
Shelley Duvall	...	Pam
Janet Margolin	...	Robin
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Mrs. Hall
Christopher Walken	...	Duane Hall (as Christopher Wlaken)
Donald Symington	...	Mr. Hall
Helen Ludlam	...	Grammy Hall
Mordecai Lawner	...	Mr. Singer
Joan Neuman	...	Mrs. Singer (as Joan Newman)
Jonathan Munk	...	Alvy Singer - Age 9
Ruth Volner	...	Alvy's Aunt

Also Known As:

A Roller Coaster Named Desire (USA) (working title)
Anhedonia (USA) (working title)
It Had to Be Jew (USA) (working title)
Dos extraños amantes (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Stadtneurotiker, Der (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Annie Hall (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Annie Hall (Finland) [fi]
Annie Hall (France) [fr]
Annie Hall (Poland) [pl]
Annie Hallová (Czech Republic) [cs]
Annie og jeg (Norway) [no]
Io & Annie (Italy) [it]
Mig og Annie (Denmark) [da]
Nevrikos erastis (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Nevrikos erastis, O (Greece) [el]
Noivo Neurótico, Noiva Nervosa (Brazil) [pt]
Roman Sheli im Annie, Ha- (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Brazil:14 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

2nd Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rollins-Joffe Productions

Trivia:

The first rough cut ran 2 hours and 20 minutes. Among the scenes later eliminated were: segments showing Alvy's former classmates in the present day; Alvy as a teenager; a scene in a junk-food restaurant (featuring Danny Aiello); extensive additional scenes featuring Carol Kane, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst and Shelley Duvall; and a fantasy segment at Madison Square Garden featuring the New York Knicks competing against a team of five great philosophers. Christopher Walken's driving scene was also cut, but was restored a week before the film was completed. New material for the ending was filmed on three occasions, but most was discarded. The final montage was a late addition.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: The boom mike is clearly visible in one scene but this is intentional.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alvy Singer: [addressing the camera] There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Getting Connected: On the Set of 'Hanging Up' (#7.2)" (2000)

Soundtrack:

Sleepy Lagoon

Fresh and Innovative

Woody Allen never created a more enjoyable film. Annie Hall is as innovative and clever as any movie has ever been. What makes Annie Hall such a great film is Allen's carefree screenplay and direction, in which he breaks all of the rules, giving the viewer the sense that anything can happen. Allen makes us characters into his story by talking to the camera, telling us jokes, and sharing his opinions with us.

Many of Allen's once original tactics have become commonly used techniques. Woody Allen includes flashbacks, vignettes, voice-over commentary, animation, fantasy, putting himself and others into flashbacks, and subtitles, telling what the characters are thinking. Much of Allen's other works has never been so full of priceless innovations and jokes.

The characters themselves are so well defined that they feel real to the viewer. By the time the film ends, we can see exactly why Alvy Singer and Annie Hall broke up in the first place. That's great filmmaking.