2015-12-30

20151230: Comedy Review--Broadway Danny Rose





Name: Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Danny Rose, Mia Farrow as Tina Vitale, Nick Apollo Forte as Lou Canova.

Sandy Baron as Sandy Baron, Corbett Monica as Corbett Monica, Morty Gunty as Morty Gunty, Milton Berle as Milton Berle, Will Jordan as Will Jordan, Howard Storm as Howard Storm.

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.


The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film opens with a smoker party of comedians/entertainers who have operated in the Catskills and other clubs on the Atlantic seaboard.  During their reminiscences, the group starts talking about the legendary nebbish personal manager Danny Rose.

In the process, the story starts of Danny's nurturing the career of Lou Canova after it has already fallen a considerable distance.  The comedians show up intermittently to nudge the story forward.

Delineation of conflicts:  Tina Vitale becomes important to Lou Canova, but she's a big bag of randomness.  Dealing with her to keep Lou centred is Danny's challenge.  Plus, Lou is married to Teresa, and has been for years.  What could possibly go wrong?  Danny finds out as Lou's career shows a few moments of picking up.  Danny's problems get worse when Tina's relatives (part of the mob) get involved, and not in a nice way.

Resolution: The nebbish and the doll go on the run.  Will it save them?

One line summary: Woody Allen plays a theatrical manager.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Black and white, not my favourite by any means, but beautifully shot.

  b. Sound: 9/10 Recorded in monaural, but still good.

  c. Acting: 8/10 The lead trio gave good performances.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 Some clever writing here.  I had no idea that "I didn't do anything!" could be repeated for good effect so many times.

Final rating: 8/10 I had quite a number of laughs.


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