Broadway Danny Rose

A pretty funny Woody Allen comedy, in which Allen himself plays Danny Rose, small-time talent agent who finds himself falling for the mistress (Mia Farrow) of one of his clients (Nick Apollo Forte) when he has to pretend to be the mistress's date at one of his client's shows (it's a long story). Before long, Allen and Farrow are engaged in an escape from a gang of hoods that climaxes in a shootout in the storage warehouse for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Allen is hilarious as usual, but Farrow is the one who impressed me with her acting here. I already knew she was a fine dramatic actress, but here she gets to show her comedic side, playing a brassy floozy with a Joisy accent and enormous glasses.

The film is framed as a story one famous comedian is telling to a group of other famous comedians at New York City's Carnegie Deli, and the whole film has the patina of nostalgia for NYC that so often infuses Allen's films. Like "Manhattan," "Broadway Danny Rose" is filmed in black and white and looks fantastic.

Grade: A-