Broadway Danny Rose has the perfect combination of absurdity, and poignancy and was just what I needed last night.
I love the comedians sitting around the table, the rapport, the true feeling you get that they are swapping tall tales.
I love the showdown in the huge warehouse full of Macy’s Day Parade floats and the shootout occurs with all of the participants having accidentally breathed in helium. Squeaky mouse voices shouting: “Don’t move or I’ll blow your brains out!” “Run! He’s out of bullets! It’s our only chance! It’s our only chance!” Running around beneath the towering floats.
That scene reminded me of the famous final showdown in Lady from Shanghai – in the carnival funhouse mirror room.
Broadway Danny Rose is, like so many of Woody Allen’s films, an homage to New York at a certain place and time in its history, an homage to a specific generation of comedians, a love letter to the people who helped create the comic sensibility in this country.
One of Danny Rose’s clients. She plays the “glasses”. I love how she would coyly look up and smile, as she did this ridiculous act.
All the comedians, sitting around the table at Carnegie Deli, swapping tales about Broadway Danny Rose.
Mia Farrow, in gun moll mode. She is campy, loud, brash … and in the end, really touching.
At the garden party of mafia hitmen. This looks like a Diane Arbus photo.
Danny Rose and Tina end up lost. Tina exclaims, “I know where we are! We’re in the flatlands! My husband’s friends used to dump dead bodies here!” In a tone of almost fond nostalgia. They wander, panicked. Then they hear a voice shout, “Hey!” They turn … and see this.
I love this movie.
I think the shot below is my favorite in the movie. It’s poetic, certainly, but it’s also evocative of the smell down there at the piers – the circling cawing seagulls, the stink of fish, the lapping of the water …
Danny and Tina escape the thugs … and find themselves in a huge shadowy space. “Where are we?” “Seems like it’s a warehouse …”
Lights come on all at once. Brilliant shot. Or – the two shots together are brilliant. Darkness, shadows … to instantly: this.
They plead for their lives in squeaky helium voices. “Don’t shoot!” “It’s all a mistake!”
The big night at the Waldorf. Famous faces in the crowd.
Tina’s conscience begins to eat away at her. Impacting her whole life.
The Macy’s Day Parade.
I really love this movie too, Sheila. I vividly recall the pleasure of seeing it in a theater during its first run. I bought it a while back but still haven’t watched the DVD yet. I have all these great movies I buy and then leave waiting around for a special occasion to actually watch, but those occasions don’t come all that often. Guess I’m going to have to lower my standards and get to work!