| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Woody Allen | ... | ||
| Charlotte Rampling | ... |
Dorrie
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| Jessica Harper | ... |
Daisy
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| Marie-Christine Barrault | ... |
Isobel
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| Tony Roberts | ... |
Tony
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| Daniel Stern | ... |
Actor
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| Amy Wright | ... |
Shelley
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Helen Hanft | ... |
Vivian Orkin
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| John Rothman | ... |
Jack Abel
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| Anne De Salvo | ... |
Sandy's Sister
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Joan Neuman | ... |
Sandy's Mother
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Ken Chapin | ... |
Sandy's Father
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| Leonardo Cimino | ... |
Sandy's Analyst
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| Eli Mintz | ... |
Old Man
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Bob Maroff | ... |
Jerry Abraham
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Renowned filmmaker Sandy Bates is in a professional transition, directing largely comedies early in his career now wanting to direct more serious movies so that he can explore the meaning of life, most specifically his own. Most are fighting him all along the way, including the movie going public, who continually tell him that they love his movies especially the earlier funny ones, to studio executives who are trying to insert comic elements wherever possible into his current movie in production. He reluctantly agrees to attend a weekend long film festival of his movies. Despite the throng of requests for his time, he is further able to reflect on his life as he addresses the questions at the post screening Q&A sessions. He also reflects specifically on his love life as his current girlfriend, married Isobel, shows up unexpectedly, and as he starts to fall for festival attendee Daisy - at the festival with her Columbia professor boyfriend, Jack Abel - who reminds him of Dorrie, a ... Written by Huggo
This is, i would say, not only woody allen's greatest movie, it is also my favourite film ever, by anyone. i've gotten more from this film every time I've watched it, over the years - which is many times - & i've found something different & new on each occasion.
This glowing recommendation doesn't, by the way, mean i am a rabidly undiscerning woody allen fanatic. i don't think he's made even a decent film since deconstructing harry - another great film inexplicably reviled upon its release - & the 'early, funny' films i have always found dull & juvenile.
What is great about woody allen - & this is still what the majority of the critics seem invariably to miss - is that only Chaplin before him mixed tragedy, comedy & pathos so perfectly (leading to the maxim in the movie industry that 'only woody can do woody'). It is this that is Allen's great gift, all his most perfect films are aglow with this sublime anomaly, & it is these films that people will still be watching fifty or a hundred years from now.
For the record, the films you really & truly need to see by woody allen are these:
Annie Hall. Stardust Memories. Manhattan. Hannah & Her Sisters. Crimes & Misdemeanours. Deconstructing Harry.
Zelig is good too, if a little slight, as is Broadway Danny Rose. of the earlier, "funny" films, Sleeper & Love And Death are by far the best. And of the films he directed but not appear, Sweet & Lowdown is probably the best, though Purple Rose of Cairo also deserves an honourable mention.
This film, Stardust Memories, will haunt you, enrich & nourish your life for years to come.
Check it out! And tell your friends!