Manhattan (1/10) Movie CLIP - He Adored New York City (1979) HD

CLIP DESCRIPTION:
Isaac (Woody Allen) writes the beginning of his book about New York City.

FILM DESCRIPTION:
On the heels of Annie Hall, the Oscar-winning romantic comedy that rocketed Woody Allen to the front ranks of American filmmakers, Manhattan continued Allen's romantic obsessions in a slightly darker, more pessimistic vein. Allen stars as Isaac Davis, a TV comedy writer sick of the pap he is forced to churn out and harboring dreams of being the great American novelist. His love life is in barbed-wire territory: he is tormented by his second ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep), a lesbian who has written a tell-all book about their marriage, and he is dating teenager Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), to whom he refuses to commit, and keeps hinting that a breakup may be imminent. Isaac's disillusioned (and married) best friend Yale (Michael Murphy) has begun an affair with the cerebral writer Mary Wilke (Diane Keaton). While Isaac makes a last minute, sink-or-swim decision to quit his job and devote all of his time to book writing, and neurotically moans about what the lack of a full time job will do to him ("My parents won't have as good of a seat in the synagogue," he moans. "They'll be far away from God... away from the action") Yale is crippled by his lack of resolve, as indicated by his inability to leave his wife Emily (Anne Byrne). Meanwhile, Isaac and Mary begin to fall for one another. Tracy then tells Isaac the basic truth that none of his hung-up friends and past lovers fully realizes: "You have to have a little more faith in people." Manhattan is both a seriocomic dissection of perpetually dissatisfied New Yorkers and an ode to the city itself, filmed in glorious black-and-white by ace cinematographer Gordon Willis, and set to a score of rhapsodic George Gershwin music.

CREDITS:
TM & © MGM (1979)
Cast: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Producers: Charles H. Joffe, Robert Greenhut, Jack Rollins
Screenwriters: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

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HIT US UP:

[chestermarcol]

I was 16 when this came out. Sitting in the theatre, and watching/listening to this into scene opened up a whole new world to me, with respect to art, particularly music and cinema. It literally changed my life.

Too sappy.

I grew up in small mid-western town, and when I saw this the first time, it made me realize there was a whole big world out ther....

Too provincial.

This opening is iconic, to say the least. And never fails to give me goosebumps. I love it. And New York is going through some stuff, as it has in the past, but it's still the greatest city in America, and always will be.

[davidkast]

Gershwin and Woody Allen. Two legendary artists. Two New Yorkers.

[nightmaster]

NYC has never looked better than in this movie. And for everybody who still loves this city with all their heart, you're not alone. It's one hell of a town!

[nw]

When I first started appreciating movies as an art form, this intro blew my mind. The way it’s shot in black and white, the dialogue, Rhapsody in Blue?? One of my all time favorite movie intros

[ryebread]

There aren’t many films that can compete with the opening of this masterpiece. There are some, but not many. Love this opening!

[Gar]

The final bit with the fireworks combined with the music is genius directing.

[hamburg]

Beautiful cinematography from the great Gordon Willis.

[olliemartinelli]

I adore Gershwin with all my heart and decided to randomly watch this film with no idea about the soundtrack. I was instantly star struck. One of the best soundtracks to any film, fits back and white New York perfectly.

[sleuthentertainment]

Chapter 1: He adored New York city, he idolised it all out of proportion...emm, no, make that: "he romanticized it all out of proportion".
Yeah. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin...

Ammmm...no, let me start this over.
Chapter 1: He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle, bustle of the crowds and the traffic.
To him New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles...

Ahh...corny, too corny for a man of my taste. Let me try and make it more profound.
Chapter 1: He adored New York city; to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture.
The same lack of integrity to cause so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams...

No, no, it's gonna be too preachy. I mean, yeah, let's face it, I wanna sell some books here.
Chapter 1: He adored New York city, although to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture.
How hard it was to exist in a society desensitised by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage!...

Hmm, too angry, I don't wanna be angry...
Chapter 1: He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat...I love this!

New York was his town and it always would be.

[rogosobe]

Is there any other movie opening as good as this one? Woody Allen, pure genius, sensible, a true artist.

[jaymorgenthal]

I was 27 when this film came out. I had an apartment in Queens, plenty of friends and NYC was a fun place at night. The Yankees won their second world series in a row in 1978. This movie reminds me so much of that fun time. The scene shot a sun up with the Queensboro bridge in background makes me miss that time very much now that I’m almost 71. Nobody captured NYC before all the BS they have now like Woody.

[ImNotADeeJay]

nothing screams New York more than Gershwin's rhapsody in blue

[DannyEastVillage]

I've lived here for 42 years and love it with all my heart. Tears overflow when I watch this, I love the city so much. The energy and excitement cannot be described, but Woody does a brilliant job of catching vignettes of it. Nothing much here of the city's so-called glamor or what have you--just a lot of fairly everyday scenes that, for some indefinable reason, capture the greatness of New York City.

[ruthhellkamp]

LOVE LOVE LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY, THE GERSHWIN MUSIC...THE STORY...THE HUMOR...THE AMBIANCE CAPTURED ON FILM...AND IN BLACK AND INSPIRING.

[paulie_b_]

Still one of the most amazing tributes to a city I’ve ever seen.

[KR-kihw]

He makes NYC real. This film showed why I loved about that city. Just it. The streets, the great diners to duck in to be warm, and eat. Just walking, and turn a corner, and ordinary things are captivating.

[modrenwarefare]

0:09 most epic title screen ever! Haha.

[bdflatlander]

The woman I took to see this movie was from New York City (we saw the movie in Los Angeles) and she started crying during this scene because it did such an effective job in portraying the beauty and character of the city.

[nes_nick]

Woody Allen might be a weirdo off screen, but I love his movies! Brilliant filmmaker

[albertedmunds]

One of my favourite films of all time....and it always will be!