Zelig (1983)

"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen

Stars:

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Allen	...	Leonard Zelig
Mia Farrow	...	Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher
Patrick Horgan	...	The Narrator (voice)
John Buckwalter	...	Dr. Sindell
Marvin Chatinover	...	Glandular Diagnosis Doctor
Stanley Swerdlow	...	Mexican Food Doctor
Paul Nevens	...	Dr. Birsky
Howard Erskine	...	Hypodermic Doctor
George Hamlin	...	Experimental Drugs Doctor
Ralph Bell	...	Other Doctor
Richard Whiting	...	Other Doctor
Will Hussung	...	Other Doctor (as Will Hussong)
Robert Iglesia	...	Man in Barber Chair
Eli Resnick	...	Man in Park
Edward McPhillips	...	Scotsman

Storyline

Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.

---

Plot Keywords:

mockumentary | newsreel | 1920s | chameleon | 1930s | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

25 August 1983 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Identity Crisis and Its Relationship to Personality Disorder

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$60,119, 17 July 1983, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$11,798,616

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first of two Woody Allen films featuring Stephanie Farrow, the younger sister of Mia Farrow. The second was The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985).

---

Goofs

At one point, the narrator mentions that there is a photo of Leonard Zelig as Pagliacci. "Pagliacci" is the Italian plural for "clowns". The correct way to say it would be " a photo of Leonard Zelig as Pagliaccio", or "a photo of Leonard Zelig as Canio (the leading male character, who plays Pagliaccio in a play-within-the-play in the opera "Pagliacci".).

---

Quotes

Leonard Zelig: [in a hypnotic trance] My brother beat me. My sister beat my brother. My father beat my sister and my brother and me. My mother beat my father and my sister and me and my brother. The neighbors beat our family. The people down the block beat the neighbors and our family.

---

Connections

Referenced in Lost Embrace (2004)

---

Soundtracks

Five Feet Two, Eyes of Blue
(1925)
Music by Ray Henderson
Lyrics by Sam Lewis (as Samuel M. Lewis) and Joe Young
Performed by Dick Hyman

User Reviews

Woody strikes again!

Woody can be clever. Woody can be funny. And when Woody's clever AND funny, you get "Zelig".

Telling the story of Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen, who else?) who transforms himself chameleon-like into anyone just to get people to like him, he finds himself the object of on-going observation from a kind doctor (Farrow), who eventually falls for him.

But lest you think this is simply a love story, there are also pot-shots at fame, fads, the 1930s (!!), medical conventions, product cash-ins and the joys and pitfalls of celebrity.

Then there's the sheer joy of the technical wizardry that allows Woody's Zelig to stand alongside such figures as Josephine Baker, Brickhouse, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, "Red" Grange, Al Capone, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lou Gehrig and Fanny Brice. This is the same type of FX visible in "Forrest Gump", and eleven years before the fact! Nice going.

But you haven't lived till you've seen Woody trying to blend in at an Adolph Hitler speech.

There's a lot of slapstick but there's also a lot of great lines ("I have to council a group of chronic masturbators", Zelig complains, "and if I'm late they'll start without me.") Classic.

But at the center of it all is Woody himself, just like his Zelig character, wanting only to be liked, if not loved. He succeeds. Once you see "Zelig", you'll love it.

Eight stars, plus one star more for watching Woody be serenaded by Fanny Brice. He's the cat's pajamas!