BROADWAY DANNY ROSE. Written and directed by Woody Allen; produced by Robert Greenhut for Orion. Starring Woody Allen, Mia Farrow and Nick Apollo Forte. Rated PG.
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A hundred years ago, before he made any movies, Woody Allen was one of my favorite comedians. He was funnier than most of his colleagues, certainly. But a genius? Did anyone know he would "grow up" to make so many wonderful movies? The latest and one of the best is Broadway Danny Rose.
The story is a simple one about Danny (Allen), who is a loser. That's not much different from descriptions of other Allen characters. But Danny is different. He doesn't believe he's a loser. He is a small-time theatrical manager with a strange stable of talent: a blind xylophone player, piano-playing birds, etc. He's had some good acts in the past, and has one now—Lou Canova (Forte). But as they start to move up toward success, they always leave Danny behind.
Through an improbable series of circumstances, Danny ends up spending a wild afternoon with Lou's girlfriend Tina (Farrow). They develop some affection for each other, but ironically, she's been trying to talk Lou into changing managers so eventually Lou and Tina move on, too.
The plot sounds like a real downer, but the movie isn't. It's very funny, for one thing, even though the humor is sometimes pretty bizarre. And Danny is such an unquenchable optimist. He continually bucks up his clients in the face of problems such as bird-eating cats and alcoholism. And his constant chatter works the same for himself.
Allen is at his best as Danny. He combines madcap humor and real pathos into a true "slice of life." And Farrow is better than l've ever seen her. She's brassy, funny, and a little pathetic herself.
I have only one criticism of Danny Rose. For one who's never been to the Big Apple, the grainy sidewalk scenes have a travelog quality. I'm assured they're quite authentic. Some of the scenes, though, make this Texan feel a little like an outsider listening to an inside joke.
But as wedded visually as Danny Rose is to New York, it's somewhat timeless and placeless as well. It's a fable about "forgivness, acceptance and love" (the philosophy of life of one of Danny's many dead relatives). It's a story about a little man who is dealt bad hands at every turn, yet comes up smiling. It's a fairy tale for grown-ups, and a masterpiece of a movie.
NOTE: this movie made my 10-best list for 1984.
February 22, 1984