Bananas (1971)

When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen, Mickey Rose

Stars:

Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Allen	...	Fielding Mellish
Louise Lasser	...	Nancy
Carlos Montalbán	...	General Emilio M. Vargas
Nati Abascal	...	Yolanda (as Natividad Abascal)
Jacobo Morales	...	Esposito
Miguel Ángel Suárez	...	Luis (as Miguel Suarez)
David Ortiz Angleró	...	Sanchez
René Enríquez	...	Diaz (as Rene Enríquez)
Jack Axelrod	...	Arroyo
Howard Cosell	...	Howard Cosell
Roger Grimsby	...	Roger Grimsby
Don Dunphy	...	Don Dunphy
Charlotte Rae	...	Mrs. Mellish
Stanley Ackerman	...	Dr. Mellish
Dan Frazer	...	Priest

Storyline

Fielding Mellish (a consumer products tester) becomes infatuated with Nancy (a political activist). He attends demonstrations and tries in other ways to convince her that he is worthy of her love, but Nancy wants someone with greater leadership potential. Fielding runs off to San Marcos where he joins the rebels and eventually becomes President of the country. While on a trip to the states, he meets Nancy again and she falls for him now that he is a political leader.

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Plot Keywords:

banana republic | political satire | dictator | latin america | revolution | 

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Taglines:

The Revolutionist That Shook the World With LAUGHTER!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for comic sexuality including some pin-up nudity, some drug use and crude language

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Denmark and Finland, the film was released as 'Me And the Revolution', and Woody Allen would eventually put in a clause preventing foreign markets from renaming his films.

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Goofs

During the riot scene at the "embassy," the firefighter hosing down the crowd has LBFD on his turnout coat. That likely stands for Long Beach Fire Dept. The embassy is presumably located in New York which would have NYFD firefighters. (Embassies are ALWAYS in national capitals, such as Washington DC. If a foreign government has representatives in another city, such as NYC, it would be as a consulate, not an embassy.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Don Dunphy: Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. And everybody is about as excited and tense as can be. The weather on this Sunday afternoon is perfect; and if you've just joined us, we've seen a series of colorful riots that started with the traditional bombing of the ...

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the credits flash in time to the music. Additionally, the cards are shot with machine gun fire.

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Connections

Referenced in Have I Got News for You: Episode #33.6 (2007)

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Soundtracks

Cause I Believe In Loving
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by Howard Liebling
Sung by Jake Holmes
[Sung over the closing credits]

User Reviews

Bananas (1971)

Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Jacobo Morales, Carlos Montalban, Miguel Ángel Suárez, René Enriquez, Howard Cosell, Stanley Ackerman, Charlotte Rae, Natividad Abascal. (PG-13)

Scattershot comedy (typical of early Woody) filled with one-liners, sight gags and slapstick, disorderly and in bad taste, but that's part of the charm. Allen romances a women's libber (Lasser) canvassing for petition signatures against a banana republic dictatorship; after the relationship fizzles, he finds himself hightailing it to the tiny country and inadvertently getting swept up in the revolution. Awfully spotty at times, especially the courtroom scenes, but has enough laughs to hold interest throughout, and its compact running time ensures that miffed jokes are forgotten quickly. Considering its content and setting during the middle episodes, the final product is refreshingly low on political statement, and even lower on poignancy. Several figures appear as themselves, including Howard Cosell; Sylvester Stallone has a bit part as a subway hooligan.

69/100

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Yiddish Italian

Release Date:

19 July 1971 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

El Weirdo

Filming Locations:

Playa de Cerro Gordo, Puerto Rico

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$136,200

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1