Manhattan (1979)

The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

Stars:

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Allen	...	Isaac
Diane Keaton	...	Mary
Michael Murphy	...	Yale
Mariel Hemingway	...	Tracy
Meryl Streep	...	Jill
Anne Byrne Hoffman	...	Emily (as Anne Byrne)
Karen Ludwig	...	Connie
Michael O'Donoghue	...	Dennis
Victor Truro	...	Party Guest
Tisa Farrow	...	Party Guest
Helen Hanft	...	Party Guest
Bella Abzug	...	Guest of Honor
Gary Weis	...	Television Director
Kenny Vance	...	Television Producer
Charles Levin	...	Television Actor #1

Storyline

Forty-two year old Isaac Davis has a romanticized view of his hometown, New York City, most specifically Manhattan, as channeled through the lead character in the first book he is writing, despite his own Manhattan-based life being more of a tragicomedy. He has just quit his job as a hack writer for a bad television comedy, he, beyond the ten second rush of endorphins during the actual act of quitting, now regretting the decision, especially as he isn't sure he can live off his book writing career. He is paying two alimonies, his second ex-wife, Jill Davis, a lesbian, who is writing her own tell-all book of their acrimonious split. The one somewhat positive aspect of his life is that he is dating a young woman named Tracy, although she is only seventeen and still in high school. Largely because of their differences a big part of which is due to their ages, he does not see a long term future with her. His life has the potential to be even more tragicomical when he meets journalist Mary...

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Plot Keywords:

place name in title | national film registry | book | writing | writer | 

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Taglines:

Woody Allen's New Comedy Hit

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Manhetenas

Filming Locations:

Washington Mews, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$485,734, 29 April 1979, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$45,700,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Judith Crist: The New York Magazine critic who also appears in Stardust Memories (1980) as a cabaret patron.

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Goofs

When Isaac asks Tracy how old he will be when she is thirty-six, she says "sixty-three," and he agrees. Earlier Isaac says that she is seventeen and he is forty-two, which means he is 25 years older than her, and would therefore be sixty-one, not sixty-three.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[music: the opening of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Voiceover]
Isaac Davis: Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion. Eh uh, no, make that he, he romanticized it all out of proportion. Better. 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. Uh, no, let me start this over.
Isaac Davis: Chapter One: He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

One of the very few Woody Allen films to not have traditional opening credits, save the production company bumper (United Artists), and the film title MANHATTAN is seen as a long vertical flashing bright neon sign, located on the side of a New York City building, and is seen for under seven seconds just before Woody Allen narrates his first line.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Rome-old and Juli-eh (2007)

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Soundtracks

Oh, Lady Be Good
(1924)
Music by George Gershwin
Performed by New York Philharmonic (as The New York Philharmonic)
Music director: Zubin Mehta

User Reviews

Neurotic in NYC

Woody Allen has been churning out mediocre films for so long now that it's easy to forget how good some of his older films were. "Manhattan" is the product of Allen's "mature" 1970s phase, the phase that also produced "Annie Hall" and "Interiors," and it's a wonderful film. It's not the plot that makes it singular -- it's typical upper-crust New York Allen, full of neurotic people in therapy cheating on one another and making mistake after mistake in their pursuit of what they think will make them happy. No, what makes "Manhattan" so effective is its style. Filmed in black and white (because, as Allen's character says in an opening voice over, New York is a city that has always and will always exist in black and white), the film is a love letter to NYC, and it suggests that the neuroses that fill its denizens are as much a part of the city's character as its architecture, culture and diversity. I would instantly be annoyed by the people that populate Allen's films if I met them in any other context. As it is, I can't imagine any Allen film (at least not one set in New York) without them.

Grade: A