Top 10 Woody Allen Performances
George: “I happen to dress based on mood.”
Jerry: “But you essentially wear the same thing every day.”
George: “Seemingly. But within that basic framework there are many subtle variations, only discernable to an acute observer, that reflect the many moods, the many shades, the many sides of George Costanza.”
I always think of that exchange from Seinfeld when I think of the acting of Woody Allen. He essentially plays the same part in every movie. But within that basic framework there are many subtle variations, only discernable to an acute observer, that reflect the many moods, the many shades, the many sides of Woody Allen.
In honor of Allen’s latest, To Rome With Love, the first film in which he will act since Scoop in 2006, we will not take stock of Woody the auteur or Woody the writer, but Woody the actor. Thus, in that spirit, today we present the Woodman’s 10 Best Performances.
10. Narrator, Radio Days
Okay. I admit this is a cheat. Allen does not actually appear on screen in his 1987 ode to an era when people gathered around their radios for entertainment but his voice is what so cleverly elicits that glorious nostalgic sense of the past. Indeed, you can hear how happy Woody is to talk about it. “Forgive me if I tend to romanticize the past. I mean, it wasn’t always as stormy and windswept as this but I remember it this way because this was it at its most beautiful.”
9. Ray, Small Time Crooks
The Woodman so often likes to play an intellectual even as he constantly dismisses other intellectuals, but in this 1999 comedy he finally let himself go and embraced playing a dim bulb. He is unsightly, unappealing, and entirely unaware that his nickname in the joint of “The Brain” was ironic.
8. Gabe, Husbands and Wives
A professor tethered to a flailing marriage who begins to show interest in – cough, cough – a woman much younger than he, Allen’s Gabe is eternally defensive in perhaps his nastiest portrayal. Considering its release came at the time of Allen’s real-life break-up with Mia Farrow (playing the spouse in the flailing marriage) it’s virtually impossible NOT to read into it too deeply, but I dare say the thoughts and actions of Gabe are not entirely unlike the actions of so many others.
7. Allan, Play It Again, Sam
Woody The Romantic. He may be as hapless and distraught as ever but there is something neurotically noble in his attempts to live up to the unattainable ideal set by the one, the only Humphrey Bogart.
6. Kleinman, Shadows and Fog
Despite the fact Allen’s clerk is wandering the streets of an unnamed European city in an ode to German Expressionism, he still plays the part as if he were on his way to Carnegie Deli in Midtown. And that’s not a bad thing. His typical timidness and neurosis are perfect for the part of a man manipulated by dueling vigilante mobs who rather than facing his problems head on chooses to run away and join the circus.
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32 Comments
Oh I love Woody. There are a few I haven’t seen in this list, but completely agree with your number 1 and number 2. I would talk about his character in Deconstructing Harry too since that was a very different side to him, one I haven’t seen in any of his other films.
I actually like Woody’s work in the 90′s more than the 80′s but Deconstructing Harry was the one that left me cold. Which was sort of the point of that movie, I suppose. But you’re right, it was a different side.
Surprised I’ve seen most of his best performances from this list. Think I agree, he was pretty fragile in Manhattan and it fits his real ‘character’, and I like the way the story ends. Read that he hated his performance in Manhattan.
That’s always so funny when actors hate their best performances. Did you know that Burt Reynolds fired his agent after he saw Boogie Nights? And then he got nominated for an Oscar.
LOL. Yeah, actors can get insecure too.
My favorite performance of his is in Bananas. I couldn’t stop laughing at everything he does. It’s Woody at his best. Trying to be all cool and failing, feeling so despaired and accidentally crushing someone’s hand, smiling over a topless guerilla woman who got bitten on her tits, and wearing a Castro beard.
Bananas is so funny. That part where he goes to picket the embassy. Oh my God, gets me every time. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”
I’ve always liked Woody Allen as an actor. I usually find it disconcerting when he has other actors playing the parts he’s written that would otherwise be played by him. It is like they are doing bad impressions of him. He writes such verbose dialogue and he’s the best man to act it out.
Funny you mention that because originally thought about doing a Best Woody Surrogate list and then decided Woody himself deserved to be spotlighted at as an actor.
I obviously have a lot of catching up to do …
You’re in for some real treats.
My number one would probably be Alvy Singer, only because Annie Hall was the first Woody Allen movie I saw, so will always hold a special place for me.
Hey, I can totally understand that. That’s why Shadows and Fog is on this list. I know not as many people are as high on that one but I love it.
What??? You didn’t list “The Front”??!! Shame on you!
Actually, “The Front” just played on TCM a couple of days ago. I find it interesting to see Allen act in a non-Allen directed film. For me, this film sees Allen at his least “Woody Allenish”…and his last line in the film is pricesless.
I think sub-consciously I was just making this list based on the movies he’s written & directed. I didn’t realize that, though, until just this moment. Which, as you point out, isn’t entirely fair.
Um, don’t kill me Nick but I actually can’t stand Woody as an actor. Maybe I was so put off by Scoop, but I actually prefer his movies where he’s not in it
I’m agreeing with Ruth, actually.
That’s understandable. I mean, you have to like that Woody Allen Persona because, despite the aforementioned subtle variations, it is the same sort of thing over and over.
GREAT list, couldn’t agree more that Issac is indeed Allen’s best acting performance. Also love seeing Danny Rose so high on the list. That’s a flick that doesn’t get talked about as much as it should.
A fine list here.
Thank you! I appreciate it!
Great list! I’m also working on a Woody post too. I enjoy him as an actor and it’s nice to see him play the “Woody” character instead of having other actor’s do it. My number 1 though is “Take the Money and Run” because that’s the performance that made me a fan. My husband and I still quote that movie.
I love the Costanza quote. I always remember his outfit was called Morning Mist.
YES!!! Thank you! I can’t even describe how much I was hoping someone would reference “Morning Mist” in regards to that opening quote. You made my day.
I do like Take The Money and Run too.
I think you nailed it with your choices. I love him in Manhattan, Small Time Crooks, Broadway Danny Rose, and Hannah And Her Sisters. I also have always loved him in Mighty Aphrodite, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, and A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. Thanks for a great list.
Mighty Aphrodite’s a good one. I’ve always enjoyed that movie.
For me Woody’s films are the funniest when he is in them – when Kenneth Brannagh and Larry DAvid were just trying to impersonate him it was so lame and the movies would be so much better had Allen just cast himself. My favorite works of him as an actor are Anything Else, Hannah and Her Sisters, Play it again Sam (so glad to see this on your list!), Crimes and Misdemeanors and Stardust Memories.
Isn’t Play It Again Sam fantastic? Love that one. And I’m with you on both Branagh and David. Felt the same way. My favorite Woody Surrogate is John Cusack in Bullets Over Broadway because I thought he did a good job of sculpting his own character.
You know my endless love for Allen. The only film mentioned on here that I haven’t seen is “Small Time Crooks”.
Nice reference with the variations of George — you got me hooked there.
As for Allen — the actor, not the brilliant writer an director, he’s good. He thrives in the roles written by him, for him. Sure, most of the characters are about the same, but I enjoy them all no less.
“Small Time Crooks” is enjoyable. It’s not essential, per se, but definitely enjoyable.
Great list. I agree with you on the top spot. Personally Annie Hall is my favourite Woody movie, but his performance in Manhattan is the best of his career. I am also glad to see Husbands and Wives on here, since it is too often overlooked. Speaking of Husbands and Wives btw, you seem to have a shot from Crimes and Misdemeanors on there instead.
Oops. Well, when a man has over forty feature films you can get confused. And so can Google images.
I did the same thing with a list I did last year.
Woody Allen’s work in the 90s is immediately rooted in his legal troubles; he receded behind the camera and had players like John Cusack (Bullets Over Broadway) play him. These movies are also noticeably more light, more comedic and nostalgic. When he did return, essentially gave us Annie Hall 2 with Manhattan Murder Mystery. I love Woody, and the recent documentary on him was riveting, but I cannot stand Shadows and Fog, especially in the wake of Soderbergh’s Kafka, a far superior homage to the titular writer.
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