Hannah and Her Sisters

(OLD REVIEW) Woody Allen has written and directed 43 1/3 movies, pretty much one every year since 1966. He is in the enviable position of apparently not having to worry if they make a lot of money, since they don’t cost a lot to make. One film every year, like clockwork. Naturally, they vary in quality, and some will disagree on which are the best and which not so hot, but I think almost everyone will agree that this one is in his Top 5. I’ll bet a lot would pick it as his best. I won’t pick, but it is very, very good. One of his best stories, with multiple characters that are all interesting in their neuroses and good and bad points. He is superb with dialogue, and works well with actors, who repay him by falling all over themselves for the chance to work with him for not much money. One of the movie’s strengths is that Woody himself is a minor character. Sorry, Wood-man, but you’re not that great an actor, most of the time, and when a film focuses on you it often suffers for it. (Exceptions: Annie Hall, Manhattan, your early, comic films, a few others.) Michael Caine won his Oscar here, and very much deserved it.