A Brief History Of Woody Allen’s Work

American director, actor and playwright Woody Allen is most well-known for his direction and roles in the movie Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979). The winner of several awards, including four Academy Awards for Annie Hall, Allen has been consistently working for over fifty years to bring us notable romantic comedies and dramas like Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Midnight in Paris (2011).

Checkout beautiful fashions featured in his films, including Shakuhachi.

Woody Allen’s Early Years

Born Allan Stewart Koningsberg (in 1935) in New York into an Ashkenazi Jewish family, Woody Allen (who changed his name officially to Heywood Allen at 17) began writing jokes and gags for newspapers, and then comedians like Herb Shriner and comedy shows like The Pat Boone Show in his teens. Inspired by George S. Kaufman, S. J. Perelman and other New Yorker humorists, he went on to write cartoon captions and short stories with pun-filled, zany humor. In the ’60s he worked as a stand-up comedian and brought innovation to the comedic monologue, developing his persona as a neurotic and nervous intellectual with a low-key conversational delivery. After writing a series of Broadway plays like “Don’t Drink the Water” and “Play it Again, Sam”, went on to prolifically write and direct films, starring in many of them.

Early Films Till the Eighties

Allen’s early films included “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965) and his directorial debut was with “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” in the following year. Films like the 1969 “Take the Money and Run”, “Bananas” in 1971, “Play it Again, Sam” (1972) and 1973’s “Sleeper” made his career take off. His big breakthrough came in 1977, however, when he directed and starred in “Annie Hall” alongside Diane Keaton. In 1979, Allen released Manhattan, set in his beloved New York City. The director’s films are set apart by the elements of slapstick comedy and parody, often aimed at intellectuals, and many of them feature upper middle class academics and writers. In the eighties and nineties, Allen continued to make a series of comedies and some dramas. Of these the most notable were the Mia Farrow starrers – A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) and the Oscar-winning Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).

Keepsake the label is another design fashion popular with New Yorkers, the likes of which grace Allen’s films.

Woody Allen’s Recent Films

Since the nineties, Allen has been seen veering away from Hollywood and making low budget works like “Husbands and Wives”, “Mighty Aphrodite”, “Bullets Over Broadway” and “Sweet and Lowdown”. Many of his more recent movies have been a mix of hits and misses and have had varying critical reception. After making “Match Point” in 2005 followed by Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008, Allen won another Oscar in 2012 for the screenplay of his 2011 film Midnight in Paris. He also went on to star in the film “To Rome with Love” in 2012, in his first on-screen appearance in 6 years. In 2014, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2013 film “Blue Jasmine”. Allen’s latest project, announced in January 2015, is a half-hour TV series that will be available on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Throughout his early career, Allen had continued to write short comic pieces for newspapers and the New Yorker. Allen has always hoped to make a film based in New Orleans on the origins of Jazz, tracing the careers of Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and others. But his high cost projections of $80 to $100 million may mean that the film never gets made.