Woody Allen Ranked
5.
Juan
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) – Excellently written characters and some of the best performances in a Woody Allen movie.
Marya
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) – Allen has said this is the closest he ever got to perfectly executing his idea. And what great idea it was.
4.
Juan
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) – What a stunning balance that makes for one of the greatest dark comedies I’ve ever seen.
Marya
Manhattan (1979) – A hymn to a city Allen loves. Beautifully shot, exquisitely written, acted and directed.
3. Annie Hall (1977)
Juan – Practically a perfect romantic comedy, plenty of experimentation in filmmaking and enjoyable as hell.
Marya – Nearly perfect. A great exercise in form, as well as Allen’s most fully fleshed out film up to this point.
I just gotta come here and say that… I’m not really familiar with Woody Allen’s filmography as a whole. LOL – Some people I’ve talked with have told me that I just don’t get Jewish humor (??) – I got that with A Serious Man too. Can anyone explain? LOL
Having said that, I do like Vicky Christina Barcelona… and next to Penelope Cruz (was never really sold on her until that), Rebecca Hall was right next to her. I also liked Match Point, but in a different sense…
I did think Whatever Works and Tall Dark Stranger were pretty bad though.
Oh… and I’m admitting this here:
Annie Hall… I didn’t feel it. LOL
@amy, Allen’s work is definitely not for everyone.
@cinema-fanatic, no one wants to explain “jewish humor” to me. LOL
@amy, I’m not sure that is it explainable. lol.
@amy, I’m with you but Woody is funny from time to time but a Serious Man (by the Cohens) might be the most internal film in a while…
Wow very impressive that you ranked all 42 of his movies. I really haven’t seen too many of his work and I need to fix that! A bit surprised that Annie Hall is outside of the top 2 :) Highly looking forward to Midnight in Paris this weekend!
@Castor, I thought it was pretty great that Juan and I had Annie Hall in the exact same spot on both our lists. the only other film that did that was Interiors.
I will shamefully admit that I only watched two films involving Woody Aleen and one of them wasn’t with him as the director.
Still, very impresssive to see you guys ranking all of his movies.
@Rodrigo, yay. we’re on the same boat. Kinda xD
I wish you guys made two separate lists or agreed on an order, as much as I loved what you both had to say I found it difficult to keep track of both lists at the same time considering the amount of films Woody has made.
@Callahan, kind of agree on this comment actually but its still a great ranking piece.
This post is fantastic! I’m a huge Woody Allen fan and both of you guys had really insightful things to say about each movie. Congrats on finishing his entire filmography, wow! And Manhattan is my favorite Allen film as well :D
Great list – it’s nice to see Zelig getting some plaudits. It was years ahead of its time. I think my favourite is Manhattan Murder Mystery, just because it’s so funny and perfectly acheives what it sets out to do.
It’s a little bit hard for me to admit this, but after two viewings of Midnight in Paris, I think I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s stolen fourth place on my list.
@Juan Barquin, after seeing Broadway Danny Rose on the big screen I realize it needs to be SO MUCH HIGHER on my list.