As part of my
“Completeist”article on Woody Allen
—I’ve seen every single one of his movies—I
grouped his films byquality
, from “Masterworks” down to the truly “Bad.”
I think
Crimesand Misdemeanors
is as good a movie as
Crimeand Punishment
is a book (I do think
Cand P
is the greater art object, but that’s another story); so naturally, Ilisted that title, along with
Stardust Memories
,
Manhattan
,
Annie Hall
,
Broadway DannyRose
,
Love and Death
, and
The Purple Rose of Cairo
, under”Masterworks.” The “Bad” section included such atrocities as
Celebrity
,
Anything Else
, and
HollywoodEnding
.
Some of my ratings led to dissent in the comments (I wastaken to task for saying
Zelig
wasonly “OK”) so we asked readers to
weighin on their favorites and least favorites
, picking up to five titles ineach category.
It turns out that our readers hew to the conventional wisdom.First, the results from the favorites poll. About 1,750 individuals cast 8,422votes (remember that each person could choose up to 5 films).
Annie Hall
(1,479 votes)
Manhattan (969)
Hannah and Her Sisters (851)
Crimes andMisdemeanors (716)
Sleeper
(440)
I continue to think that
Hannahand Her Sisters
and
Sleeper
are abit overrated (I put both of these in the “Good” rather than “Great” or”Masterwork” categories) but I’m not surprised by how the readers’ top 5 pannedout. I was mystified, though, by the fact that
Hollywood Ending
got 9 votes and
Celebrity
got 6. These are terrible movies, and I can only assumethese votes were cast in jest. (If they weren’t, please explain yourself in thecomments.)
Onto the least favorites. About 1,070 individuals cast 4,555votes (as above, remember that each person could choose up to 5 films).
The Curse of the JadeScorpion
(402 votes)
Hollywood Ending (303)
Celebrity (280)
Scoop (238)
Whatever Works
(231)
I listed
Curse
under”Bad” so I can’t complain, but in my opinion
Hollywood Ending
and
Celebrity
are more offensive to the senses. I also think
Scoop
has its bright moments (it made the “OK” category in myrankings), but I’m not attached to it; I’ll shed no tears for
Scoop
. What does shock me is the factthat a lot of good-to-masterwork-level films attracted some “least favorite”votes—
Sleeper
(35),
Crimes and Misdemeanors
(28),
Hannah and Her Sisters
(28),
Manhattan
(28),
Love and Death
(27),
Take theMoney and Run
(24), and
Annie Hall
(16). Are there really people out there who think
Annie Hall
is one of Woody Allen’s worst films? Or were these votescast by haters trying to make a point? Analysis is welcome in thecomments.
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