Crimes And Misdemeanors
1990
In CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, Judah Rosenthal is a successful ophthalmologist who is having an affair with Dolores. Dolores threatens to reveal their relationship unless Judah commits to her and leaves his wife. He admits his sin to Ben, a friend, a patient, and a learned rabbi who is losing his eyesight but not his faith. Judah .. Read more
| Starring | Martin Landau, Claire Bloom, Anjelica Huston, Woody Allen |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Genres | Comedy |
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Crimes And Misdemeanors
In CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, Judah Rosenthal is a successful ophthalmologist who is having an affair with Dolores. Dolores threatens to reveal their relationship unless Judah commits to her and leaves his wife. He admits his sin to Ben, a friend, a patient, and a learned rabbi who is losing his eyesight but not his faith. Judah turns to his brother Jack, who is connected to the mob and can make Dolores disappear. Meanwhile, Cliff Stern is a documentary filmmaker who accepts an assignment to film his pompous, successful brother-in-law, Lester, a comedy star; both Cliff and Lester fall for Hallie Reed, a producer involved in the documentary. In ALICE, Alice Tate is a bored housewife who seems to have everything she could possibly want. She seeks out a new life while under the influence of a Chinese healer. SHADOWS AND FOG is set in the 1920s and follows the events of a single night when the lives of a small European community are drawn together by the threat of murder and the magic of the circus. In ANYTHING ELSE, Jerry lives in New York City and is an up-and-coming writer waiting for the big break. He meets and falls in love at first sight with Amanda and dumps his current girlfriend. He then realises that he needs help with his career so turns to David, an ageing artist, who also ends up helping him with his romantic life.
| Starring | Martin Landau, Claire Bloom, Anjelica Huston, Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Mia Farrow, Joanna Gleason, Jenny Nichols, Sam Waterston, Caroline Aaron, Jerry Orbach |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 40 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | French, Italian, Spanish |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Danish, English, French, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish |
| Released | DVD: 11 Feb 2002 Production year: 1990 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Woody Allen is the finest practitioner of screen comedy since the collapse of the studio system. He is also more than capable of tackling weightier topics in the manner of his idol, Ingmar Bergman. Here, in one of his most ambitious films, Allen combines his archetypal wisecracking style with his more serious moral preoccupations, and the result is a compelling piece of cinema that is as troubling as it is hilarious. The key themes are readily apparent — love and death, good and evil, faith and disbelief. Yet this is also a film about self-loathing, an idea that returned with a vengeance in Allen's Deconstructing Harry. The excellent Martin Landau plays an eminent eye surgeon who hates himself for allowing his perfect life to run out of control after his lover (Anjelica Huston) threatens to expose his private and professional indiscretions to his loyal wife (Claire Bloom). Allen, as a documentary film-maker, is also at war with himself, although he has a convenient scapegoat for his failures in his brother-in-law (a wonderfully weaselly Alan Alda), a TV sitcom director with a gleeful lack of taste and a talent for seducing women. Allen and Landau's characters only meet in the final scene, but their circumstances are ingeniously interwoven to comment on their behaviour. The notion that crimes go unpunished while misdemeanours have life-shattering repercussions is hardly original, but this is still a challenging and sophisticated picture that few other American directors could have carried off with such aplomb.
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"...In this risky, riveting film, our most prolific and provocative moviemaker uses his wit to touch a nerve. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS is so funny it hurts..."
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Most helpful member's review
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18 out of 18 people found this review helpful
Outstanding Woody Allen film
'Crimes and Misdemeanours' is a strong contender for Woody Allen's best film. It's the perfect example of a director, torn between two film making styles and having it both ways. On one hand He's created a dark and profound drama about a Doctor forced into murder and on the other, a typically sweet and funny romantic comedy. The two strands have only the most tenuous of connections but Allen crafts this film with a dazzling alchemy.
Ophthamologist Judah Rosenthal(Martin Landau) has been having an affair for some years with a younger woman(Angelica Huston). But now she wants him for herself and is threatening to spill the beans. Scared, Judah begins to contemplate silencing her for good. Meanwhile the second story concerns a TV director(Allen) who's making a film about a pompous producer(Alan Alda) and also competing with him for the affections of Mia Farrow.
To say much more about this beautifully crafted screenplay would be to spoil the fun as Allen effortlessly develops the two tales, helped by a superb cast(Landau gives his best performance here). The conclusion is suprising, moving and profound. It's arguably Woody Allen's last great film and is a truly magnificent achievement. -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
woody's labyrinth
Another labyrinthine work that combines juxtaposed moral problems and somehow arrives at a compounded philosophy. Woody Allen's use of plot and sub-plot and his parallel lives analysis provide an intriguing and entertaining film in his usual inimicable style. Brilliant!
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News and features
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Whatever Happened to Woody Allen?
- 21 May 2008
He's made (at least!) a film a year since 1970, a record that's all the more remarkable when you realise that he's written and directed all of them, and starred in most. They include some of the best-loved and most quoted comedies in cinema history: Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters take some beating, and that's to ignore "the early, funny ones" (Sleeper, Love and Death, Bananas); the lovely miniatures from what I consider his finest period (the early 80s gave us Broadway Danny... Read more
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