Annie Hall (1977)

 While the film might be named after Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), Alvie Singer (Woody Allen) is the main character and narrator of this bizarre, non-linear classic romantic comedy. 

The film details the relationship between the two, from their first meeting to after the end. Alvie is a comedian, and appears to be successful while Annie is on the up swing as a singer (and she's quite good) but it isn't easy and certainly one of the best scenes is when they meet with their respective therapists and complain about the frequency of intercourse. Annie whines about having sex constantly, three times a week while Alvie states that they rarely do it. So yes, they fight over sex, over intelligent and how they each wish to better themselves. And Alvie has the fear of commitment, which is understandable as he had two ex-wives, one divorce was his fault, the other wife was just plan odd. And he's Jewish, and doesn't seem to be secure in his religion while Annie isn't ashamed of her bland mid-west family. Still, you root for them, because you're supposed to, though I wasn't terribly upset when she finally wanted to improve her life and no longer wanted to deal with Alvie's shit, forever holding her back, so she moves and is thrilled with her life choice. It is a surprising feminine film, complete with a great screenplay and effortless acting. It is a truly good film, a classic, with good reason. Grade: A-

Side Notes:

-While Alvie really is an ass, accusing Annie of having her period every time she complains of a headache, and while that's pure, utter bullshit, at least it's mentioned as that was rare in those times and it needs to be normalized.

-Pay attention for Christopher Walken's small role as Annie's brother who has issues, namely, he wishes to purposely drive head-on into another car, with no regard for himself or others. 

-Carol Kane is the sweet first wife of Alvie while Janet Margolin is his second, feminist wife. Shelley Duvall has a quick fling with him. She's obsessed with rock bands, while he finds them trite. 

Nashville (1975)

While this film had a truly realistic feel with some brilliant performances, there were just too many characters to keep track of. 

Ronee Blakley is sort of the main character, as adorable country star Barbara Jean who recently survived a devastating fire only to collapse and nearly suffer a mental breakdown before her miraculously recovery. She's much loved and appears to be the headliner of the show, the music festival in Nashville. But there are others, Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) is the old-fashioned star, but is supportive of the younger generation. Karen Black is Connie White, another country singer who replaces Barbara Jean on the first day of performances. 

The second best performance of the film belongs to Lily Tomlin, who portrays Linnea Reese, the white singer of an all-black gospel choir, who is also unhappily married to Del (Ned Beatty) and the devoted mother of two deaf children, something she isn't upset about about much to the surprise of British documentarian, Opal (Geraldine Chaplin). She is also an affair with Tom Frank (Keith Carradine) who is breaking free of his trio and sings the Oscar-winning song: I'm Easy, which is one of the several great songs in this film. 

The established stars are complimented by up-and-comers: Albaquerque (Barbara Harris), escaping an unsupportive husband and Sueleen (Gwen Wells) who can't recognize that her singing voice is truly terrible and as a result, she is basically forced to strip to keep her job. 

Still, despite all the characters, the film still makes time for plot twists and turns, and everyone is pretty much interconnected, but I just couldn't keep them straight and the videocassette stops in the middle of a scene and then you have to switch cassette tapes which is just stupid and annoying. Still, the film was a delight (although the ending is just tragic) and one that can be easily watched again. Grade: A-

Side Notes:

-The only two stars nominated for Oscars where Ronee Blakley and Lily Tomlin (shockingly her only nomination), and both were well-deserved. Neither would win.

-Of course Linnea would sleep with Tom over her husband, after all, her husband is Ned Beatty.

-The car crash scene in the beginning is certainly interesting and leads Opal to being obsessed with junkyards and American cars and consumerism. 

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

 This was another excellent film.

Apparently based on a true story, Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) and his pal of unknown origin, Sal (John Cazale) set out to rob a bank and boy are they unprepared. Their third accomplice chickens out nearly immediately and the vast amount of funds were already collected so the bank hardly has any money and Sonny needs it so his new 'wife', Leon (a brilliant Chris Sarandon) can get that sex change operation he was told he should want, though it appears he may actually want it. 

While the concept is simple, it is a superb film, complete with several twists and turns, including the reveal of Leon, and there is always the suspense of anyone could die at any time. And Sonny is constantly just pulling at threads, just trying to live the life he wants, and he needs money to do it. A TV reporter even asks him why he can't just get a job and Sonny acts like he could work, then he would. 

Now, there are a few problems, the main one is, how in the world do the cops figure out the bank is being robbed? (I suspect the third accomplice who left at the beginning.) Still, something needed to happen as they were clearly amateurs, and it made for good film making. Sidney Lumet delivers another excellent film, as this one is great, start to finish, with effortless performances and gritty feel makes you feel like you're transported back to August 1972, Brooklyn, New York, watching a bank being robbed. Grade: A

Side Notes:

-The funniest scene is when Sonny asks for and receives some pizza to feed the hostages and tries to pay for it with the stolen money.

-Sonny doesn't want to hurt anyone because he's a Catholic.

-Charles Durning is great as the first, most sympathetic cop. 

-Sonny's female wife, Angie (Susan Peretz) is particularly annoying and Sonny gets frustrated with her very quickly.