Reviews

This is a movie which falls short of masterpiece because of the contrasting and conflicting styles which go into the mix. The writer, Richard Condon, is more interested in creating a dynamic, twisty, interesting plot as much as anything. He succeeds in this, with the viewer having to work very hard to keep up with the tergiversations of the action. This style, however, is not suited to Prizzi's Honor. The director, Jon Huston, knows this. He is more interested in the development of the relationships between the characters, particularly Jack N and Kathy T's love affair. But, so breakneck is the speed that this is not allowed. The only character I could truly believe in was Maerose, brilliantly assayed by Anjelica Huston. Nicholson plays it well (altho De Niro would have been even better) but his character is too stupid to be believable. Turner, also wonderful, is also saddled with a tough role, the character too gentile to pass as a hit-man, too duplicitous for Jaaaack to fall for her. Overall, Huston tries but fails to inject an elegiac theme into this, his penultimate film. You can sense his bitterness at life, but he never successfully puts it up on screen. Blame Condon: when his fast narratives work, they really work (Winter Kills, The Manchurian Candidate), but he would have done well to bow to Mario Puzo et al (ie. Sicilian writers) when it comes to taking on the Mob.

If I had to pick the movie that best pinpointed Woody Allen and his concerns, this would be it. Crime and Misdemeanours, his most accomplished work (though not my favourite - see list below), is a great balancing act of comedy and drama, far more so than the crude demarcations of Melinda and Melinda. Allen draws uniformly elegant performances from the most unlikely sources. Alan Alda steals the film as the hotshot producer; Jerry Orbach is wonderfully sinister as the brother Martin Landau manipulates and is trapped by; Landau himself ranks as one of the best Allen stand-ins, channelling the director's concerns whilst never impersonating, but becoming a believable, empathetic Everyman; Sam Waterston is touching as the cruelly myopic rabbi; and even Allen himself reaches new boundaries, testing our faith in him constantly. Sven Nyqvist's cinematography is captivating, aptly Bergmanesque in it's shifting moods and tones. But what really sets this project apart from all of Allen's others is it's steadfast refusal to compromise. When the elliptical denouement comes, we really don't know , but would desperately like to know, where the two interlocutors, Landau and Allen, are going to. This ambiguous, compelling drama is Allen's best movie of the '80s. As for his best:-

10) Small Time Crooks - slightly too restrained, but good for many stretches, esp. the faux-documentary 9)Everyone Says I Love You - would be higher, but for Drew Barrymore's tin earred singing! 8)The Purple Rose of Cairo - little too whimsical for me, but a treat. 7) Sweet and Lowdown - almost made me like Sean Penn 6)Hannah and her Sisters - great direction of the women, and another great ensemble piece. And you thought only Altman made those! 5) Sleeper - wonderful riposte to Kubrick's bloated output 4) Manhattan - Michael Murphy's finest hour (criminally underrated, he is), and a beautiful poem to the Big Apple. That opening just makes me shiver.

3) Love and Death - if only for this line: "My brother was bayonetted to death by a Polish conscientious objector. It's hysterical in context. 2) Crimes and Misdemeanours - see above 1) Annie Hall - luminous, uplifting, sad, beat Star Wars at the Oscars - all you could want form a movie!

Thanks for your time.