Bananas (1971)

Doesn't hold up too well

This is one of Allen's earlier efforts when he was mostly concerned with just being funny. The movie starts off at breakneck gag pace - plenty of physical humour and slapstick as the hapless Fielding Mellish loses the girl, exiles to South America and gets involved with the Castro like rebel movement of the fictional republic San Marcos. By the end, the jokes are waning and it is just Allen on hyper auto pilot - a long and not particularly funny courtroom scene and a tagged on ending of the consummation of his marriage played out as a boxing fight. This movie would never get produced these days,such is the amateurish and sloppy nature of the whole thing though I grant it was probably a fresh and funny satire back in the day. June 30, 2008

a wonderful political/social satire---classic early Woody Allen......

I first saw BANANAS on the local Public Broadcasting channel in Seattle. It's honestly surprising to me that people don't talk more about this film. I happen to think that it's funny, enlightening and very intelligent. What's more, it has chilling parallels with the state of politically revolutionary and anti-American Latin American governments of today (and no, I am not "naming names"---that would only get me into hot water here, and that isn't the purpose of the review). Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen) is a gawky product tester who falls in love with a politically active young woman, Nancy (Louise Lasser--Allen's first wife before the age of Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow or Soon-Yi Previn). Though very drawn to her, Mellish is not able to truly capture the young woman's heart. Why? Because he isn't as politically involved as she would like him to be. Well, all that changes when the awkward (not so young) man takes a life-altering trip to San Marcos, a small island nation falling under the thumb of pronounced political upheaval. Their leader, with strong leanings toward dictatorship and supression, has been assasinated and everything is in flux. It is during Mellish's trip that a very unlikely and (perhaps) profoundly unbelievable political shift occurs. I won't ruin it for you. You will have to see it for yourself. I will tell you that as many years as it has been since BANANAS' 1971 release, it still remains a very bold and wonderful showcase for Allen's irrerepresible physical comedy, as well as the quirky/neurotic brand of incidental insight that he is known best for today. September 11, 2007

"Yes, well, freedom is wonderful. On the other hand, if you're dead, it's a tremendous drawback to your sex life."

In his earlier film, a pure comedy "Bananas", screen writer/director Woody Allen stars as Fielding Mellish, a timid and nervous New Yorker products tester for a marketing research. Fielding does not like his job, "I'm not suited to this job. Where do I come off testing products? Machines hate me. I should be working at a job that I have some kinda aptitude for, like donating sperm to an artificial insemination lab" and gets rejected by his political activist girlfriend Nancy (Louise Lasser, second Mrs. Woody Allen with whom he had made three comedies) who tells him that he's missing something and doesn't have leadership ability. Mellish takes a trip to the South American country San Marcos, reluctantly gets involved in a revolution and becomes the president of the country.

"Bananas" contains some great jokes and scenes and proves that Allen is one of the true comic geniuses along with Chaplin and Keaton. I liked the film a lot - but I liked the parts much better than the whole thing. Having seen every movie Allen directed, I prefer his later work and his funniest movie for me is "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993).

Very young Sly Stallone make a short appearance in "Bananas" - he played one of two hoods who terrorized the passengers in the subway car.
3.5/5 or 7/10

June 3, 2007

Classic Woody Allen

This movie is a comedy classic, it's ridiculous. If your a fan of whitty and at times over the top humor this movie will not disappoint. May 25, 2007

Still relevant after all these years (1970)

Good old-fashioned slapstick comedy, Bananas illustrates the dictatorship to revolution to new dictatorship cycle of third world - and worldwide - bureaucracies. The most hoot-aloud hilarious of Woody Allen's films. November 17, 2006

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