Woody Allen’s Opening Sequence for Manhattan

Thompson on Hollywood

Check out the classic black-and-white opening sequence of one of my fave movies of all time, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, accompanied by George Gershwin. It’s tough to beat Woody in his prime. I actually worked in the publicity bullpen at United Artists (729 Seventh Avenue) when this came out in 1979 (my first job out of NYU). It’s hard to remember what a big deal auteur Allen was then, with four Oscar wins for 1977’s Annie Hall (best picture, screenplay, director and actress) followed by a steady stream of almost annual director/writer nominations, for a career total of 21.  His peak decades were between Annie Hall in 1978 and Deconstructing Harry in 1998, imho, his last great movie. It was his last Oscar nomination, too, until 2005’s Match Point.

[Hat tip: Joblo]

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by Anne Thompson, posted to Video on October 29, 2009 at 9:19am PDT | Permalink | Comments (5)

Comments

Abomination! It’s not in the proper CinemaScope aspect ratio!

posted by Edward Wilson on October 29, 2009 at 8:52am PDT

whoops. fixed.

posted by Anne Thompson on October 29, 2009 at 4:31pm PDT

Thanks for the memories - 30 years - yikes!

posted by Gail Sicilia on October 30, 2009 at 8:52am PDT

Nope. Still no CinemaScope. That video is 16:9. Should be letterboxed at 2.35:1.

posted by Edward Wilson on October 30, 2009 at 1:31pm PDT

Gordon Willis.

posted by Emurion on October 30, 2009 at 3:02pm PDT

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Anne Thompson does more than just break news; she provides an insider’s clear-eyed analysis of a business that defines culture at home and abroad.

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