American Masters Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)

Biography, Documentary, Music /
7.7/10

American Masters Woody Allen: A Documentary Storyline

Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian and musician Woody Allen allowed his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert B. Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography. “Woody Allen: A Documentary” chronicles Allen’s career – from teen writer to Sid Caesar’s TV scribe, from stand-up comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen’s writing habits, casting, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.

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Treat for Movie Buffs

I’ve just seen the DVD version of the documentary, which originally aired on PBS, on American Masters. The DVD is 2 parts in total of about three and a half hours.

This wonderful documentary, directed by Robert B. Weide, traces the life and career of the movie master Woody Allen. The early footage of Allen’s stand-up comic days is extremely funny, as are the archival clips of Allen as he began to appear on national shows such as Steve Allen, Johhny Carson, and Dick Cavett. As he progressed into movies, the film tracks the stages of his early comic movies such as “Take the Money and Run”(when I first noticed Allen) and “Bananas”, into more serious fare such as “Hannah and Her Three Sisters” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors”, as well as his more recent movies made in Europe such as “Match Point”, “Wimbledon” and “Midnight in Paris”

What I found particularly interesting was Allen explaining why he did certain movies, the great as well as the clunkers. He explains what his thought processes were, how he writes them, and what goes into directing them. The film is also chocked with interviews of fellow writers and collaborators, actors and actresses he has worked with, and certain film critics. Also, there is a good amount of time devoted to hearing from his sister, as to what Woody was like as boy and their relationship today.

I’ve followed Allen’s career for decades, the good and the bad,and I felt this film gave me a real insight into what makes Woody Allen tick. Plus it is so packed with vintage footage of TV and film that I was engrossed despite the length of the movie.

The best of Woody Allen

This documentary may not go too far below the surface of Woody Allen’s persona but for fans of his films it offers a lot to enjoy. It looks at his career from his earliest days as a joke writer via stand-up comedian on to his film career up until his biggest commercial success Midnight in Paris. It was interesting to see the young Allen, who looked surprisingly ungeeky it has to be said. And it was good to see the path that led to his talents ending up in cinema. But the real pleasure of this documentary is in simply revisiting so many of his films. Virtually all of his movies from the period that covers Take the Money and Run to Shadows and Fog are represented with clips. While, several other key movies after this are featured too, although perhaps though it would have been better if more of his unsuccessful films were shown as a point of comparison. But time restraints do limit things I guess – I saw the shorter theatrical cut – and it was really just fun revisiting the good ones to be honest.

For the reasons mentioned above, it would probably be fair to say that this is a documentary primarily aimed at people who are Allen fans to begin with. The wealth of well-chosen clips really is very good, while the selection of talking heads add good value. It’s basically a pure celebration of Allen’s work and it does well to show the sheer volume of quality he has produced over the years. Very enjoyable.

Personal, not too long, funny and interesting

A long – the three-hour version must surely be better than the shortened edited-for-cinema version – but engaging and well-made documentary about Woody Allen, one of my favourite directors. It makes chronological little jumps, but all good, delving from his growing up in New York to where he is today, from being a joke-writer for US columns to doing his own stand-up comedy (for which he is still grossly underestimated), to script-writing, acting and directing. The bit about him being an “actor’s director” is really inspirational. He’s had ups and downs, his marriages and scandals are a bit on display; him being married to his “former” daughter is toned down. His writing process is envisaged, actors and producers interviewed and it’s all personal, never showy. Allen found out that “Manhattan” had won the Oscar for best film by reading about it in the paper the day after. So, all in all, very nice and recommendable.

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