oOoBarracuda It seems like a running line of commentary I'll be giving Woody Allen films through this retrospective project I've embarked on is that I'm constantly fascinated with the creative ways he opens his films. Bananas isn't started with the Woody Allen voice-over I love so dearly, but it does open with a fantastic scene in which the mood is set for the political comedy we are about to see. I don't need to see any further evidence that Woody Allen is the best film-opener of all time anymore, though I'm sure I will see further proof. The 1971 film, stars Allen as a bumbling New Yorker named Fielding Mellish who is dumped by his girlfriend who wants someone as committed to activism as she is. In an attempt to become more of the political type, Allen's character, a products tester by trade, runs off to San Marcos to expand his leadership potential needed to woo back his ex-girlfriend. While in San Marcos, he joins a team of rebels and accidentally becomes president of the nation. During his time as president, Fielding meets his ex-girlfriend who then falls for him unknowing that it is Fielding. Another installment of sharp ping-pong dialogue with a perfect score makes Bananas a rowdy comedic gem from the master, Woody Allen.

atlasmb After writing gags and doing stand-up, Woody Allen gets the chance to exert some control, as director, over his own film. The result is a real hodgepodge of comedy. Although it is held together by a story, "Bananas" feels more like sketch comedy, as though Woody was downloading his ideas straight onto film.If you like Monty Python, the feel of "Bananas" will probably appeal to you. The film includes all types of comedy. First, there is a heavy dose of the absurd. The film starts with a reporter doing a news story about the live assassination of a dictator. Then Howard Cosell delivers play-by-play and an interview with the dying head of state.Woody's character, Fielding Mellish, is a descendant of the stand-up persona he had created--a nervous, talkative, academic nebbish. He is the perfect foil for physical comedy. Mellish works as a tester of products for a manufacturing company. We see him test an Executive Workstation with funny results.The film even includes silent film sections. Feeling like a cross between Marty Feldman and Harold Lloyd, Allen's Mellish is a hapless victim of misfortune.Allen loves wordplay and, especially, witty repartee between characters. Note the scene between Allen & Lasser when she knocks on his door seeking signatures on a petition. It's like a modern-day Burns & Allen.Allen really loves the heavy subjects--art, philosophy, and religion, for example. This gives him a chance to express his opinions, to poke fun at silly conventions, and to ridicule those who are pompous. In a counseling session, Mellish delivers the classic symptoms and causes of neuroses on a silver platter for his psychologist, then skewers dream analysis with a recounting of a dream strong on religious symbolism that dissolves into the absurd."Bananas" is the young Woody spewing ideas faster than he can censor or refine them. In only a few years he will move into his next phase of writing and directing--with more polished and sophisticated results. Here the viewer can enjoy the riot of ideas that are the basis for Woody's later creations.

Harriet Deltubbo A very fun concept: When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion. It's definitely not the thing to see if you're in the mood for something fun and uplifting, or something with tons of thrills and action. The metaphors in this movie are so abundant. The director likes to show certain things: scenes that might not be a part of the story, but add much to the story in general, the way a writer might prelude a chapter by describing something connected to, but not in line with the characters. I was deeply impressed

ShadeGrenade Interiewed by Photoplay Magazine in 1980 about their then-new comedy film 'Airplane!', Jim Abrahams, Jerry and David Zucker cited Woody Allen's 1971 picture 'Bananas' as a major influence on their work. You can see why. Several gags, such as the spoof television commercial for 'Old Testament' cigarettes ( "I smoke them...HE smokes them!", quips a priest, glancing upwards ), the honeymoon consummation scene which is shot like a televised boxing match, the trial scene which involves Miss America and J.Edgar Hoover disguised as a black woman, could have fitted into any one of the gang's pictures. 'Bananas' was only Woody's second film as director, the first being the seminal spoof documentary - yes, the genre existed before 'This Is Spinal Tap' - 'Take The Money & Run'. It stars our bespectacled hero as 'Fielding Mellish', a products tester who is incredibly unlucky when it comes to girls. Nobody wants to go out with him. He meets and falls for 'Nancy' ( Louise Lasser, Allen's real-wife wife at the time ), a political activist keen to end American aid to the banana republic of San Marcos in South America. They have had a revolution there, and the country is now being run by a dictator called 'Vargas'. When Nancy breaks off the relationship, Mellish flies to San Marcos to find her, only to get caught up in the counter-revolution, ultimately becoming its new President...As was the case with 'Run', this picture contains all of Allen's usual preoccupations - sex, death, human relationships. The gags come at you like bullets from a Gatling gun, some work better than others. My favourites include Mellish trying to buy a porno magazine, dealing with thugs on a subway train ( one of whom is played by a young Sylvester Stallone ), falling down a manhole as he gets out of his car, hurting his back during training with the rebels and being forced to crouch as he joins the queue for food, President Vargas thinking he has enlisted aid from the C.I.A. when in fact it is a Jewish organisation ( suddenly the streets of San Marcos are teeming with rabbis ), and Nancy telling Mellish that 'someone is missing' from their relationship. He asks what it is, and she does not know. He replies that if she does not know what it is, how does she know its missing? Woody has never made a secret of his love for the Marx Brothers' pictures, and their influence is evident. This hails from what what we might term his 'golden age' when, along with Mel Brooks, he was the best American comedy film maker around. Three films in similar vein followed - 'Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask' ( 1972 ), 'Sleeper' ( 1973 ), and 'Love & Death' ( 1974 ) - before Allen decided to reinvent himself with 'Annie Hall' ( 1977 ).