Saturday, August 10, 2013

BANANAS (1971)

Early Woody Allen effort about a neurotic young man, Fielding Mellish (played by Woody), who falls for attractive social activist, Louise Lasser.  They date for awhile, but she eventually leaves him because he's not a "leader".  Depressed by this, Mellish goes to the (fictional) banana republic of San Marcos to show that he has concern for the poor people who live there.  Once there he accidentally gets involved with the rebel army and eventually, after they overthrow the government, placed as the new President.

As with all of Woody's earlier films the humor is mostly physical slapstick.  There's a few laughs (my favorite moment was the break-up scene.  I don't know how much was scripted or not, but it looked like both Woody and Louise were on the verge of cracking up), but the majority of the jokes are dated and forced.  It's still interesting from a historical point of view and to see Woody's evolution, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it.