In association with

Crimes And Misdemeanors [1990]
from MGM Entertainment
starring Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom, Stephanie Roth Haberle
directed by Woody Allen

Features:

• Dubbed
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Along with Deconstructing Harry which would follow seven years later, this is Woody Allen's most sombre comedy-drama, as well as his most ambitious film of the 1980s. Allen weaves together two central stories about very different groups of Manhattanites, linking them through a mutual friend, a rabbi (Sam Waterston) who's going blind. This image is key to the sometimes ponderous, often clever musings on faith, morals, and vision (or lack thereof) that obsess his deeply troubled and unhappy characters. At its centre, the film explores people who, through lack of religious conviction or arrogance, rationalise their awful, selfish acts by presuming that God couldn't possibly be watching.

The central story--a neo-noir of sorts--follows a fortuitous ophthalmologist (Martin Landau, all sweat and grimaces) who faces the prospect of his obsessed mistress (Anjelica Huston) ruining his life by telling his family of their affair. Desperate, the doctor hires his slimy criminal brother (Jerry Orbach) to eliminate the situation, and then suffers overwhelming regret afterwards. The flip tale is more typical Allen. Funnier and lighter, it focuses on an impossible romance between Allen's character and Halley Reed, a film producer played by Mia Farrow. Between Allen and his Hollywood fantasy stands his brother-in-law (Alan Alda, perfectly cast as an obnoxious, successful sitcom producer), who also desires Halley. Allen is Landau's opposite: an honest, struggling documentarian who cares nothing about fortune, suffers in a loveless marriage, and is surrounded by triumphant phonies. The nice-guys-finish-last moral may be as contrived as it is devastating. Yet, when Landau and Allen finally share a final scene during a wedding, their faces, subtle body movements, and contrasting fortunes somehow suggest that indeed God may be blind, and if not, the deity has a very sick sense of humour. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Allen's greatest triumph... a masterwork on all levels.
  Despite what other critics have said, it remains untrue that Allen only discovered Bergman after the "early funny ones" and thus, flippantly decided to be profound. Long-term aficionados of the director will know that he was indulging in homage to the likes of Bergman, Godard and Fellini as far back as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Sleeper, and Love & Death. However, whereas those films took certain elements from European cinema and turned them into satire, Allen would eventually begin... more info

• Disappointing...
  Even if there are some funny scenes, it remains quite boring. I enjoyed Manhattan Murder Mystery more, maybe because I have seen it first and these two movies look very similar in their scenario/atmosphere/acting (maybe because that the same actors ?).

• One of Woodys best
  This is a superb film. In essence there are 2 main overlapping parts and few smaller subplots.
  One part revolves around the guilt of Martin Landau, who has never been better. This section is Woody Allen in Bergman mode and doing it very well.
  The second section is Alan Alda and Woody Allen fighting over Mia Farrow. This contains some classic Woody Allen lines which once heard you won't forget. Alan Alda's "If it bends its funny..." and "Comedy is tragedy plus time". Woody Allen finding out that Prof... more info

• Could this be Allen's ultimate masterpiece?
  Despite what another commentator has said, it remains untrue that Allen only discovered Bergman after the "early funny ones" and thus, flippantly decided to be profound. Long-term aficionados of the director will know that he was indulging in homage to the likes of Bergman, Godard and Fellini as far back as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Sleeper, and Love & Death. However, whereas those films took certain elements from European cinema and turned them into satire, Allen would eventually... more info

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