Manhattan

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a montage of images of Manhattan and other parts of New York City accompanied by George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with Isaac Mortimer Davis (Woody Allen) narrating drafts of an introduction to a book about a man who loves the city. Isaac is a twice-divorced, 42-year-old television comedy writer dealing with the women in his life who quits his unfulfilling job. He is dating Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), a 17-year-old girl attending the Dalton School. His best friend, college professor Yale Pollack (Michael Murphy), married to Emily (Anne Byrne), is having an affair with Mary Wilkie (Diane Keaton). Mary's ex-husband and former teacher, Jeremiah (Wallace Shawn), also appears. Isaac's ex-wife Jill Davis (Meryl Streep) is writing a confessional book about their marriage. Jill has also since come out of the closet as a lesbian and lives with her partner, Connie (Karen Ludwig).
When Isaac meets Mary, her cultural snobbery rubs him the wrong way. Isaac runs into her again at an Equal Rights Amendment fund-raising event at the Museum of Modern Art hosted by Bella Abzug (who is played by herself) and accompanies her on a cab ride home. They chat until sunrise in a sequence that culminates in the iconic shot of the Queensboro Bridge. In spite of a growing attraction to Mary, Isaac continues his relationship with Tracy but emphasizes that theirs cannot be a serious relationship and encourages her to go to London to study acting. In another iconic scene, at Tracy's request, they go on a carriage ride through Central Park.
After Yale breaks up with Mary, he suggests that Isaac ask her out. Isaac does, always having felt that Tracy was too young for him. Isaac breaks up with Tracy, much to her dismay, and before long, Mary has virtually moved into his apartment. Emily is curious about Isaac's new girlfriend, and after several meetings between the two couples, including one where Emily reads out portions of Jill's new book about her marriage with Isaac, Yale leaves Emily to resume his relationship with Mary. A betrayed Isaac confronts Yale at the college where he teaches, and Yale argues that he found Mary first. Isaac responds by discussing Yale's extramarital affairs with Emily, but Yale told her that Isaac introduced Mary to him. In the denouement, Isaac lies on his sofa, musing into a tape recorder about the things that make "life worth living". When he finds himself saying "Tracy's face", he sets down the microphone.
He leaves his apartment and sets out on foot for Tracy's. He arrives at the lobby of her family's apartment just as she is leaving for London. He says that she does not have to go and that he does not want "that thing about [her] that [he] like[s]" to change. She replies that the plans have already been made and reassures him that "not everybody gets corrupted" before saying "you have to have a little faith in people." He gives her a slight smile with a final coy look to the camera then segueing into final shots of the skyline with some bars of Rhapsody in Blue playing again. An instrumental version of "Embraceable You" plays over the credits.

Tags: comedy, humor, satire, romantic

Review:
The story is unexciting (restless male in love triangle), most of the characters are unsympathetic, at least on the surface (particularly Isaac), Allen leaves lose ends lying around all over the place, and there's certainly no action (unless you count the car-chase-without-a-chase-scene involving Diane Keaton, Woody Allen and a VW Beetle).So why should any self-respecting member of the MTV generation spend time on this film?
Other films may be better, like Annie Hall or Hannah and Her Sisters but, in Manhattan, all the elements of Allen's style are in perfect balance.
Three great, very American talents -- Woody Allen, Gordon Willis, and George Gershwin -- intertwine their respective gifts to create a comedy that manages to satisfy both the brain and the heart, and even, perhaps, the lower regions.Allen is so brainy and such a nebbish that he can get away with gestures that would be painfully sentimental in the hands of any other director: when he begins the movie with fireworks cut to Gershwin, it isn't to soften you up for a soap opera, but to remind you that however much his neuroses may seem to drive the scenes, its the love of New York that drives the movie.The entire cast is note perfect: Meryl Streep as his caustic bisexual ex-wife, Diane Keaton as a nervous journalist from Philadelphia, and especially Mariel Hemingway, whose performance as Allen's 17-year old girlfriend is charming, heartbreaking, and wise.Allen's comedy here is at its absolute finest.
The fact that it is interwoven with a genuinely moving love story told with a subtlety and indirection that is unheard of in today's mainstream cinema only makes the laughs that much richer.Gordon Willis' cinematography is good enough for the Museum of Modern Art. Scene after scene leaves a grin on your face as his moving (in both senses) black and white photography floats across the screen.And finally underlying everything is the music of George Gershwin, whose exubertant melodies propel the movie forward at every turn.This is Woody Allen's best movie, a great movie, and an American movie in the best sense.
Written by Allen and his 'Annie Hall'-collaborator Marshall Brickman, 'Manhattan' stars Allen as Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced, 42-year-old comedy writer who is intimately involved with a 17-year-old high school student, Tracy (an Oscar-nominated Mariel Hemingway).
Their relationship was never meant to be anything more than a brief "fling," and so he feels no guilt for seeing another woman behind his back, an act that makes him livid when it ultimately happens to him.'Manhattan' was shot in beautiful crisp black-and-white by Gordon Willis, who has also worked on, among countless other films, 'Annie Hall' and the three installments of 'The Godfather.' The cinematography offers New York City a romantic 1940s feel, reminiscent of how Allen claims to remember the city as a child: "Maybe it's a reminiscence from old photographs, films, books and all that.
This movie is Woody Allen's valentine to the city he has such a symbiotic relationship with, and nowhere have I seen New York filmed as artistically as here.
I just want to mention a few aspects from my point of view.It has been on my list of the five best movies ever made ever since I saw it in 1979, chiefly for its realistic dialogue and probing commentary on the desperate nature of human beings in search of love, but I had never seen New York with my own eyes, so I could only try to accept but not fully understand Woody's love for Manhattan, which is firmly stated in the introductory narration.After my recent 4 day trip there, I have a new perspective - the city itself is so charmingly and compactly laid out, so full of history and culture and everything famous, that you can't go to New York without falling in love with it.
The tour guides can't possibly squeeze in the whole story of every district and every building; the air just vibrates with this knowledge that you are in the greatest city in the world.The beauty of Manhattan that Woody conveys so perfectly in every camera shot and through the music of Gershwin  has new meaning for me because I was there.
Despite Allen's never disappointing deadpan humor and his natural delivery of the lines, the story does tend to get a bit predictable at times.But the thing that gives this movie its true quality is a beautiful portrayal of New York, especially in the opening sequence..
I watched Manhattan recently because i had never seen Woody Allen's films and heard this was one of his best.I can see why people love this film, it certainly is quite original and a convincing snapshot of a group of friends in New York, but I found Woody's character just too excruciating self-possessed and irritating to enjoy the film overall.I guess you either love him or hate him, but he reminded me of George Costanza on Seinfeld - i just wanted to shake him and say 'get over yourself!'.
He finishes with Tracy and has an affair with Mary, affecting the lives of many persons including his own."Manhattan" is, in my opinion, the best film by Woody Allen, of whom I am a big fan.
Especially, Isaac Davis (Woody Allen) soliciting his former 17-year-old lover Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) not to leave for London, after discovering his other relationship doesn't work, is unbearable to watch.
As usual, Allen's characters speak in the vernacular of dime store psychologists and art critics, repeatedly referring to "hostility," as well as Freud and Bergman--Ingmar, of course, not Ingrid, although I doubt that any of these smug characters could say an intelligent word about "The Bells of St. Mary's," let alone "The Seventh Seal."  "I'm beautiful, I'm bright, and I deserve better," Keaton says at one point, but her self-assessment would be more accurately applied to Meryl Streep who, as the wife who dumps Allen for another woman, IS beautiful, bright, and certainly deserving of something better than this mess concocted by a man whose character is described as someone who "longed to be an artist but balked at the necessary sacrifices."  In "Manhattan," Allen balks like never before, dishing up superficially "deep" subject matter, but lacking the insight and, I suspect, the experience, to adequately probe it.
gordon willis' ligting also helps in making the picture look life-like and get the feel of manhattan(check out the use of no light,blackout) well to say the least i have never seen manhattan (with my own eyes) but because of such a detailed work i have a glimpse of it.good work woody (your films have never failed to fascinate me no matter how many times i may see them).
In this movie, Wordy Allen makes love to George Gershwin, New York City, Diane Keaton, and an underage girl.
One of Woody Allen's best films was the quietly beautiful MANHATTAN, an economic and cleverly mounted comedy drama which stars Woody as a divorced writer (Allen) who is having an affair with a high school student (Mariel Hemingway) but feels the relationship is dead-end and then drifts into a relationship with his best friend's mistress (Diane Keaton).
This is classic Woody, filled with snappy dialogue, unexpected plot twists and sparkling performances, especially by Keaton, Hemingway (who was nominated for an Oscar), and Michael Murphy as Woody's best friend...and it's all filmed in glorious black and white.
(The film, it should be noted, was made before Woody became involved with Mia Farrow, let alone with Soon-Yi. Did he realise when making it how life would come to imitate art more than a decade later?) Isaac, however, is also finding himself drawn to Mary, the mistress of his best friend Yale.
All the elements are present; Allen's neurotic New Yorker, all intellectual angst; the romanticised Big Apple, swaying to the sounds of George Gershwin, never having looked better than in Gordon Willis' black and white photography; the humorous deconstruction of adult relationships.
The film centres around Allen's relationship with the seventeen year old Tracy, which, thanks to a sweet performance by Mariel Hemingway, doesn't come across as inappropriate as it sounds.
The tribute to Manhattan, the glorious black-and-white cinematography by Gordon Willis, the Gershwin soundtrack, the clever and funny dialogue by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and the acting by Allen, Keaton, Hemingway, and Streep make this one of the very best American films of the 1970s.
Woody Allen's homage to the city he loves, and it's no surprise if the way he shows it to us is the way he sees it, it truly is amazing.The film is shot in black and white, and has George Gershwin's music flowing through most of it.It's very funny, Allen is an older guy going through a crisis, he is dating the gorgeous 17 year old Mariel Hemmingway when he meets Diane Keaton's Anti-Annie Hall, a brash, pretentious snob who he becomes obsessed by, a series of very funny events with even funnier dialogue ensues.
Unlike the 'happily ever-after' relationships of Classic Hollywood, in 'Manhattan', in accordance with the running theme in almost every other Woody Allen film, true and long lasting love is almost impossible to find.
Allen adds to the meta-element in the film by making fun of his own self constantly as the real life Woody Allen too is a part of the intellectual class that he is making fun of in 'Manhattan' and some of the comedic taunts directed at the character of Isaac seem like direct jabs at his own self.
Manhattan is an interesting film by Woody Allen, The story and dialogue between the characters is more serious and believable than in the only other film I saw Annie Hall.
Overall, Manhattan isn't a bad film, I enjoyed it more than I did Annie Hall, but there were still some things I would've liked to see Woody Allen do differently along the lines of the story and cast.
Allen writes his usual "good to be Woody" part in bedding the afore-mentioned Mariel Hemingway and the grossly overrated Diane Keaton, cramming far too many words into the screenplay to the extent that I was willing the next George Gershwin composition onto the screen to distract my attention.In fact only Gershwin's sublime music and Gordon Willis' justly venerated cinematography impart any relief from the tedium in this very boring navel-gazing exercise in psychobabble which says precisely nothing about the human condition, at least to me.Unfunnily serious or seriously unfunny, either works for me....
Diane Keaton is more irritating than ever, even more so than as Annie Hall, but it is Mariel Hemingway's amateurish and insufferable presence that throws this movie out of court altogether.'Manhattan' is one of the few films that I actually cannot stand to view, which is too bad because Woody is very entertaining as the anti-hero.
It seems Woody Allen wanted to denounce the pseudo-intellectualism, yet Manhattan is overly arrogant, like its ultra verbose dialogues, based on almost ridiculous, pedant and excluding accumulations of art references.The viewer finds himself enduring this long and boring movie, oozing self-sufficiency, which script boils down to a succession of scenes more boring one from another.
Allen plays a middle-aged writer of 42 named Isaac, who is divorced from his ex-wife (Meryl Streep - who is now living with another woman in a lesbian relationship), and now dates and sleeps with a 17 year-old high school student (the emotionless Mariel Hemingway).
Manhattan (1979) **** (out of 4) One of the best films of its era, MANHATTAN follows a recently divorced man (Woody Allen) who is having an affair with a high school student (Mariel Hemingway) just as his ex-wife (Meryl Streep) is about to write a tell-all book about their failed marriage.
MANHATTAN is clearly a film about relationships but it's also a very clever love letter to New York and this is easily visible in the terrific opening sequence where Allen, as the narrator, tries to explain his love for the city while we get various location shots.
I also thought Mariel Hemingway (in one of her earlier roles) was very good as Tracy, Isaac's 17 year old love interest.Those things don't, however - for me at least - make up for the shortcomings of the movie.
The male characters are Woody and Michael Murphy (with kudos to Wallace Shawn) and Allen in particular crafts his individual scenes with each woman in a fresh and nuanced way (he's much different on a date with 17-year-old Hemingway than matching wits all night with neurotic genius Keaton).
"Manhattan" is a movie that shows some of the best things that Allen has to give us as a film-maker, actor and writer (he received an Oscar nod for co-writing the script).
A divorced New Yorker (Woody Allen) currently dating a high-schooler (Mariel Hemingway) brings himself to look for love in the mistress (Diane Keaton) of his best friend (Michael Murphy) instead.Woody Allen is in top form here, spewing out his intellectual (or perhaps pseudo-intellectual) references to cultural figures, some popular and some not.
Again like so many early Allen movies, the core of the narrative is the neuroses of the central character - essentially Allen himself - as explored through his relationships with women.In "Manhattan", Isaac is a 42-year-old, twice-divorced, television comedy writer trying to make sense of relationships with his lesbian ex-wife, played by Meryl Streep with very long blonde hair, his 17 year old girlfriend, played quietly by Mariel Hemingway with her distinctive cheekbones and eyebrows, and his best friend's lover, played by big-haired klutzy Diane Keaton (Allen's partner shortly before the making of the film).
Looking back at the movie almost 40 years after it was made, one notes how little other high-profile work Hemingway did, how brilliant and long-lasting a career Streep has had, and how the large age gap between Allen's character and his girlfriend seems to anticipate his subsequent relationship with Soon-Yi Previn where there is a 35 year difference.Perhaps, above all, one enjoys and remembers "Manhattan" because of the witty and hilarious script - one of Allen's finest.
To put it simply, this is a glorious film, that utilizes character development, poignancy, deep thought, personal flaws, and love to tell a story that is one for the history books of cinema.The film focuses on forty-two year old, comedy writer Isaac Davis (Woody Allen) who is going out with seventeen year old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway).
The scene at the diner between Isaac and Tracy, among many other things, is terrific and captivating and accentuates truly what Allen is about in making deeply involved human dramas.Combine the plot and character elements of the film with amazing black and white photography by Gordon Willis and an amazingly elegant score by George Gershwin and you have a picture that delights on every level for your senses.
There is no doubt that Woody Allen's love affair with Manhattan and New York City exists to this day.
Although Woody Allen's New York City is different from the rest of the world, he's the neurotic Brooklyn Jewish intellectual cerebral writer, director, and actor who gets the best looking girlfriends to ease his insecurities.
Woody Allen aka Mr.Cinema's 'Manhattan' is a Beautifully Written & Directed Film, that will leave you smiling, due to it's never-ending charm.'Manhattan' Synopsis: A divorced New Yorker currently dating a high-schooler brings himself to look for love in the mistress of his best friend instead.'Manhattan' begins & ends in a very mature, yet complicated manner.
Woody Allen's depiction of a group of people with relationship problems in Manhattan, New York is a raw, dazzling, and rather insightful film.
The film is about Isaac Davis(Woody Allen), who writes for a TV show, has always had troubles with the women in his life, and is dating a seventeen year old girl named Tracy(Mariel Hemingway).
I went there last summer for the first time and I will go there again this summer.I especially loved the high buildings and the REAL feeling of a city."Manhattan" shows these impressions in a superb way.It is a movie about love and life in the city that never sleeps.Each scene is very funny,especially the scenes involving Woody Allen.The shots of Manhattan are great,especially the opening shots from the sky are really breathtaking,underlined with a great score from Gershwin.The acting is also very good,Allen is superb but also Meryl Streep has a great role as Allen's lesbian ex-wife.Streep is really beautiful in this film,the most beautiful Streep I've seen ever.The scenes between Allen and Hemmingway(Tracy)are very funny and yet also sincere.It is weird to hear Allen say that he can't date her because of the age difference while he is the one that is doing such things in real life.Although I think that the movie would have been even better in color the black and white footage doesn't get annoying or bad in any way.Together with "Blue in the Face" this is my favorite 'pure dialogue' movie and it deserves to be in the top 100.
(Even at 44, W.A. reminds one of the 14-year-old dweeb in junior high that you could never seem to ditch.)Oh, "Manhattan" has its redeeming moments: here and there a few lovely shots of New York City (done in beautiful black and white), plus some great excerpts of Gershwin tunes (a *soundtrack listing here on IMDb would have been nice - in the music credits section of the movie, the print was so tiny I couldn't read the titles!).
It's a movie on love, life, feelings, honesty, creativity, and mostly importantly, the city that Allen adores, Manhattan.Manhattan is essentially the story of Isaac and his coming to terms with his divorce from his wife, played by Merryl Streep, and at at the same time trying to find someone.
I think this film is a real tribute from Woody Allen to the city he loved so much..