Whatever Works

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Member feedback: Whatever Works Forty one people voted. The breakdown and comments are listed below. ‘Excellent’: 25 votes Vintage Woody Allen. A feel good film. Most enjoyable – funny and fast moving and very cleverly thought out. Finally a Woody Allen movie that does not leave me depressed – and I’m talking about the comedies. He’s back! Much better than many of his recent films. Funny, very much an Allen film. Great to see Woody A again. Back to Allen at, nearly, his best – shame he wasn’t young enough to be in it! I wanted/felt like clapping at the end. I think this film would have been hard to sub-title! Best film this season! Really enjoyed it. Excellent acting, humour, dialogue. (Subtitles would have helped with some of Melody’s lines) Very funny. Lovely film. Great dialogue. A Good laugh. Great fun! Super. A breath of fresh air! Hilarious – perhaps we should have at least 1 comedy per season!? Funny & warm One of my favorite ‘late period’ Allen. ‘Very Good’: 10 votes Nice to have a comedy for a change. I seriously considered not joining this year because of the type of films seen in the last 2 seasons, which may account for the loss of members. Very funny in parts. Maybe a little forces at times. Great one liners. Sagged a bit in the middle. Fresh and surprising. Very funny. A lot of good laughs. Woody Allen back on form! Enjoyable too. I am not a Woody Allen fan, but really enjoyed this – good tight screenplay, well acted. ‘Good’: 4 votes Varies from lovely to smaltzy Typical bleak view of Allen’s with some good lines and laugh out loud moments. Thank god Larry David played the lead (rather than Woody Allen). ‘Satisfactory’: 0 votes ‘Poor’: 2 votes Some good lines, but overall irritating and technically poor. Allen is destroying his reputation by making too many films of a lesser quality. To be fair, it came into its own at the end. Very good script, but Woody should consider leaving the directing and editing, now, to another. .

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TAKE the MONEY and RUN Woody Allen, 1969
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN Woody Allen, 1969 TRANSCRIPT NARRATOR On December 1st, 1935, Mrs. Williams Starkwell, the wife of a New Jersey handyman, gives birth to her first and only child. It is a boy, and they name it Virgil. He is an exceptionally cute baby, with a sweet disposition. Before he is 25 years old, he will be wanted by police in six states, for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart. Growing up in a slum neighbourhood where the crime rate is amongst the highest in the nation is not easy. Particularly for Virgil, who is small and frail compared to the other children. Virgil Starkwell attends this school, where he scores well on an IQ test, although his behaviour disturbs the teachers. We interviewed Mrs. Dorothy Lowry, a school teacher who remembers Virgil. DOROTHY LOWRY I remember one time, he stole a fountain pen. I didn't want to embarrass him. You know teachers have ways of doing things. So I said to the class. We will all close our eyes, and will the one who took the pen, please return it. Well, while our eyes were closed, he returned the pen. But he took the opportunity of feeling all the girls! Can I say feel? NARRATOR Spending most of his time in the streets, Virgil takes to crime at an early age. He is an immediate failure. He barely manages to escape with a gumball machine stuck on his hand. With both parents working to make ends meet, Virgil becomes closest to his grandfather, a 60-year-old German immigrant who takes the boy to movies and baseball games.
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