ZANIE HALL

ANNIE HALL (1977)
dir: Woody Allen

Let's just get this out of the way first. Do I think Woody Allen is a monster? Sort of. Do I think he's a creep? Most definitely. I'm sure you can find similar fault in half the creators here though. Parodies of Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby are coming up. Now there's a filmmaker who's definitely problematic.

The things I can say that I know are true about Woody Allen are that he's a bad father with a low moral compass who likes women much younger than him that he tries to groom. I've heard convincing evidence from both sides of the story with his adopted Dylan and give her the benefit of the doubt. He and Mia Farrow sure did a number on her, but I can't say anything's unequivocally true. It's not all so binary. His personal life is certainly dysfunctional but not enough is there for me to boycott him. I separate the art from the artist, what can I say?

There. Now that's settled so we can get on with this.

ZANIE HALL
Crazy #41, August 1978
w: Murad Gumen
a: Kent Gamble

The first Woody Allen film that wasn't a pure all-joke comedy and established the “Woody Allen” persona we know. It opens with comedian Alvy Singer, a thinly disguised version of himself, giving a monologue.

He's meeting his date Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) for a screening of The Sorrow and the Pity, and while on line, has an argument with a snob.
The movie flashes back to when he was playing tennis with Max (Tony Roberts) and he and Annie first met.

The movie plays around with the language of film, here showing what they're thinking.

Alvy and Annie have sex for the first time.

He meets her family and tries to relate to their WASP life.

Alvy follows her, suspecting her of seeing another man, which just causes her to dump him. There is another breaking of the fourth wall as he talks to strangers in the street. Then he talks about his problems with women in animation form and has a rebound relationship with Pam (Shelley Duvall).

Annie gets Alvy back under the pretense of calling him and asking him to kill a giant spider in her apartment.

(For a while there was a newspaper comic strip called Inside Woody Allen

He goes with her and Max to the neighborhood he grew up in. Another flashback to Alvy as a kid.

Max is now out in Los Angeles and they go out to visit him. Max is a TV producer telling his staff to enhance the laughtrack of his show.

Alvy and Annie break up coming back from LA.

He talks to the audience about their breakup and runs into her again.

The last panel refers to Looking for Mister Goodbar, another film Diane Keaton was in that year.
The parody does not use Alvy Singer's girlfriend before Annie Hall, Alison Porchnik (Carol Kane).