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

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

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)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The very short song "Rebels Are We" that Esposito sings to his men is later sung by Diane Keaton when she becomes a rebel in Woody Allen' later film Sleeper (1973).

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Goofs

When Mellish accidently injects everyone with sodium pentothal during an abduction on a street in San Marcos there is a blue station wagon parked in front of them with a New York State license plate.

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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

Spoofs Eyewitness News (1983)

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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

The title says it all

"Bananas" is just that on the surface - a crazy, off the wall movie written by, directed by, and starring a very young Woody Allen as a clumsy New Yorker who winds up as the leader of a small country. In the beginning, Allen plays a product tester whose parents are surgeons (in fact, he walks in on them at one point while they're performing surgery, and they have him take over the reins). He basically just wants to get laid, and when a young activist (Louise Lasser) appears at his door with a petition, he sees an opportunity. The two eventually break up, and in despair, he quits his job and goes to San Marcos, one of her causes. There he becomes a pawn in the revolution, later becoming their leader dressed like Castro but with a red beard.

Only Allen could have imagined this, and it's quite brilliant. Underneath the one-liners and crazy situations is a statement about the war in Vietnam and the way it was reduced to sports reporting on television. To make his point, Howard Cossell is on hand for a play by play of the character's wedding night before an audience.

Total Woody, with some hilarious moments. Highly recommended.