Ripping Good Yarns: Stiffing Woody

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, a great movie from 1977.  Was it great enough to beat out Star Wars for Best Picture?  I think not.  But nevertheless, it did.

Hollywood and the media are all a twitter-pated; do we stiff Woody and his films, or do we acknowledge his great contributions to the arts?  Not being an immediate party to events, it is hard for me to say.  But many who know him have taken sharply contrasting views in the debate.

I liked Woody Allen a lot when I was younger.  his nebbish underdogism, his neurotic humor appealed to me. I saw some of myself in Woody Allen, wanting to turn a self-deprecating humor on myself before others had a chance to.  And if beautiful women found him appealing from time to time, that gave me a small hope.  Unfortunately, unlike Woody, I was not in a movie, and a little control over the script.

The first Woody Allen movie I remember seeing was Sleeper, a nice little spin on H. G. Wells book, The Sleeper Awakes.  I saw while in college at a large downtown theater.  I sat in the balcony, and the theater was packed.  It was, as he sometimes says, one of his early funny ones, and it was a blast.  Woody, a health food store operator, wakes up 200 years in the future and finds one of the the things that have changed is what is considered health food.  Upon awakening, the first thing the scientists do is offer him chocolate cake and a cigarette, as they have found out that these are actually the best things for you.  anyone who has followed health news in the subsequent decades as since this movie came out must appreciate how often nutrition news is stood on its head.  Indeed, even though smoking will always be bad, there is a school of thought that chocolate and its antioxidants are actually very good for you.

This movie also began his relationship with Diane Keaton, a relationship that always stood out to me because my first great love, Cindy, looked eerily like Diane Keaton, and even shared some of the neuroses as portrayed in Woody's movies.  I thought, if Woody had a shot at a woman that beautiful, why not me?

By the time Annie Hall came out, my own Diane Keaton had left me, preferring a tall Sorority President who liked to drink and was very popular.  So watching the movie was very difficult for me.  And yes, even with all that emotional impact behind it, I still preferred Star Wars.

But as I got older, and how I related to women changed, my fascination with the nebbish character of Woody Allen also faded.  I still liked him, but it became less and less urgent that I see his movies.

I found his relationship with Mia Farrow, and the subsequent troubles very disturbing.  I have no idea whether the molestation accusations of Dylan Farrow have merit or not.  His film Manhattan, a relationship with one woman that began when she was 17, and his relationship to current wife, Soon-yi Previn, that began while she was Mia Farrow's stepdaughter.  This level of creep factor was enough to increase my disinterest in Woody Allen's works, and make me wonder about the dark side of his neurotic character.  

So although I no longer actively seek out his films, I don't know if I would banish him altogether.  He certainly is no longer a character I admire.  But we all need to be careful about putting any celebrity on a pedestal.

Except, of course, for Mel Brooks.  He is the exception and always will be.