Hardback, 400 pages
English language
Published March 23, 2020 by Arcade Publishing.
In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Annie and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and …
In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Annie and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure.
It is okayish - because I don't have any connection to Woody Allen it was kinda boring for me
I’ve loved a lot of Woody’s work, admired some films a lot, been amused by some, found others lacking, and found some completely uninteresting. But I agree with his assessment that he’s never made a truly great film. He’s been prolific, worked across all kinds of genres and styles, and he’s had complete artistic control—and the result has been some very good films, some very enjoyable films, some insightful films, and plenty of misfires. But never one that falls in the category of “truly great,” and I think that is what makes the filmmaking aspect of the book so interesting. It’s rare to get such insight into the creative process of someone who never strikes gold, but just keeps doing the work. His writing is full of clever wit, as you’d expect—candid and interesting, generous and forgiving, and he handles the terrible stuff as decently as he reasonably can. There …
I’ve loved a lot of Woody’s work, admired some films a lot, been amused by some, found others lacking, and found some completely uninteresting. But I agree with his assessment that he’s never made a truly great film. He’s been prolific, worked across all kinds of genres and styles, and he’s had complete artistic control—and the result has been some very good films, some very enjoyable films, some insightful films, and plenty of misfires. But never one that falls in the category of “truly great,” and I think that is what makes the filmmaking aspect of the book so interesting. It’s rare to get such insight into the creative process of someone who never strikes gold, but just keeps doing the work. His writing is full of clever wit, as you’d expect—candid and interesting, generous and forgiving, and he handles the terrible stuff as decently as he reasonably can. There are genuine insights and few out-loud laughs (though, to his credit, he refrains from retelling any of his jokes).
Weighing in a hundreds of famous names and short quips about people, places, and showbiz trivia for which I have little context (my VHS rental habits ran more "Alien Laser Fight Vampires"), there was no reason for this to be even remotely enjoyable to me.
But Allen can write. He's also incredible at amazing one-liners. (WAIT, is that just a computer programming thing, or do we also describe single-sentence jokes that way too? I can't even remember and now I don't want to look it up because I like the idea that short, self-contained programs and short, self-contained jokes have the same name and I didn't realize it until now.) There aren't a lot of jokes in this book, but a couple caught me off guard and one in particular made me chortle out loud.
I have no idea what possessed me to read this. The last I'd heard about …
Weighing in a hundreds of famous names and short quips about people, places, and showbiz trivia for which I have little context (my VHS rental habits ran more "Alien Laser Fight Vampires"), there was no reason for this to be even remotely enjoyable to me.
But Allen can write. He's also incredible at amazing one-liners. (WAIT, is that just a computer programming thing, or do we also describe single-sentence jokes that way too? I can't even remember and now I don't want to look it up because I like the idea that short, self-contained programs and short, self-contained jokes have the same name and I didn't realize it until now.) There aren't a lot of jokes in this book, but a couple caught me off guard and one in particular made me chortle out loud.
I have no idea what possessed me to read this. The last I'd heard about Woody Allen was decades ago when it was said that he had, "married his own adopted daughter." Turns out that's not a fair (or accurate, in any legal sense) description of what happened and he even says, "there are still people out there who think I married my own adopted daughter." And I'm like, "well, there you go."
Allen has a pretty alien way of looking at the world and at himself. He comes off as sweetly naive and I don't get the impression he's written about himself in a calculating way. It feels very raw and honest. But it also needs an editor something fierce. There are several occasions where he repeats himself almost word-for-word and some of it comes across as pretty tone deaf. But I heard the text in his voice where the rawness and imperfection works.
