Play It Again, Sam (1972)

Written for the stage and coherently opened up for the screen by veteran director Herbert Ross, Play It Again, Sam is closer to a conventional comedy than Woody Allen's more self-contained films, but his smart script and archetypal hero-nebbish achieve a special charm aimed squarely at movie buffs. Allen is Allan Felix, a film critic on the rebound after his wife's desertion trying to brave the choppy waters of born-again bachelorhood and struggling to reconcile his celluloid obsessions with the hazards of real-world dating. His apartment is a shrine to Humphrey Bogart, and it's none other than Bogey himself who materializes at strategic moments to counsel Allan on romantic strategy. He gets more corporeal aid from his married friends, Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts), who try to orchestrate prospective matches and reassure him when those chemistry experiments explode. When Allan finds himself falling in love with Linda, the dissonance between fantasy and reality proves both funny and poignant--a precursor to the deeper emotionalism missing from the star's earlier directorial efforts that was soon to inform Allen's most affecting '70s comedies. It's also the start of his onscreen relationship with Keaton, further underscoring Allen's evolution toward a more satisfying contemplation of the friction between head and heart. --Sam Sutherland Amazon.com essential video

 One of Woody's best!
You've got to love Woody Allen in this flick. Everything is great especially with Humphrey Bogart guiding Woody in every-day problems. Great movie! April 5, 2008

 We had it all, like Bogie and.....er, Woody?
I don't know what it is about this particular Woody Allen vehicle, but no matter how many times I have viewed it over the years, I laugh just as hard at all the one-liners as I did the first time I saw it. Annie Hall and Manhattan may be his most highly lauded and artistically accomplished films, but for pure "laughs per minute", I would nominate this 1972 entry, with a screenplay adapted by Allen from his own original stage version. Ironically, it's the only "Woody Allen film" that wasn't directed by him (those chores went to Herbert Ross). Allen portrays a film buff who is particularly obsessed with Humphrey Bogart. He fantasizes conversations with Bogie's ghost (played to perfection by Jerry Lacy) who advises him on how to "be a man" and attract the perfect mate. He receives more pragmatic assistance from his best friends, a married couple (Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts) who fix him up with a series of women (the depictions of the various dating disasters are hilarious beyond description). A true comedy classic. February 15, 2008

 I love the rain, it washed memories off the sidewalk of life.....
I dont think this is as good as 'Take the money and run' but it runs a close second. This movie will appeal to people who have insecurites, are nuerotic, doubt themselves and become rigid with worry when around the opposite sex - basically 95% of the human race feel like that at some stages in life. It will also appeal if you just want a good old belly laugh without any profanities or over the top in-your-face comedies that come out today.

Allen Felix's (Woody)wife leaves him because she wants to 'live', participate in life and be a 'doer' and not a 'watcher', to run through Europe on a motorcycle, go dancing and skiing. She also doesnt dig him physically - then tells him for "gods sake dont take it personally"! After some prodding from best friends Dick and Linda, he decides to start dating again. After many disasters, he falls for his best friends wife which is doomed to fail.

Finally he comes to terms with being Allen Felix and no longer has to put out his 100 yard dash track record medal(that he payed 20 dollars for) put on the proper mood music, or try to be Humphrey Bogart to impress a woman. He learns if he is to succeed he has to accept and realise his own potential and walks off into the mist with 'As time goes by' playing. Its a low key and a pretty film with a very touching conclusion. The hard thing about any comedy is to fuse human frailty and be funny without being shmaltzy. Woody manages to succeed at this. I see the film as about losing and ultimately finding. The Alen Felix character eventually finds love and then loses it. He loses his best friend. But most importantly, he finds himself. After all, real love starts with self love.

It does tend to run out of steam toward the end but its still a classic with some great sight gags and one liners. December 18, 2007

 CHECK OUT THIS WOODY!
If you are not sure if you will like a "Woody Allen" movie, I suggest you start with this one. It is one of his more straight forward films and it is funny! I am a fan,but I must admit that I like his earlier films (Play it again Sam,Banana's,Take the Money and Run,Sleeper,Manhattan,Annie Hall). There are some really funny scenes in this one. The scene where he is introduced to a blind date at his apartment is hilarious! The DVD transfer looks good,but the treatment could be better. August 3, 2007

 A Cowardly Nebbish Would Never Fall For His Best Friend's Wife. Or Woody?
Woody Allen plays film magazine writer Allan Felix, a man who, since his wife left him, has been an amalgam of devastation and cowardice. Allan is a disheveled mess. An uber-schlemiel.

Helping him get back into the dating world is his apparition of Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy). He's Allan's hidden, tough-guy interior longing to come out, but Allan's too scared to let him take the leap. Allan's no Bogart, but will he be by the end of the movie?

Besides Bob Hope, who Woody admittedly lifted his "faux nervous guy" from, PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM marks one of the first appearances of Hero Neuroticus. There doesn't seem to be a wasted sweat bead, grunt, or record toss (more on this later). It's also the first pairing of Woody and the magnificent Diane Keaton.

SAM is also a great movie to watch if you've never seen a Woody Allen movie, or if you have and aren't impressed. This is because it was made before Woody wanted to make serious movies. This was one of his "early funny ones." It's a nice mixture of smart jokes and sight gags, one such being when he is at a loss for words after his date asked him about his ex-wife. He is holding a record, and when he casually tosses his arms up to nervously shrug off the question, the record goes sailing out of its jacket and crashes off screen. Perhaps one of the funniest sight gags I've ever seen. I've heard secondhand that Woody didn't tell the crew he was going to do that, so when they broke up laughing, they ruined the shot.

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM, adapted by Woody Allen from his Broadway play, was directed by Herbert Ross and photographed by Owen Roizman, both of whom have laundry lists of commercial successes. It's an adeptly structured romantic comedy, for love eventually does find Allan Felix in the end. And like Bogey, he handles it with class. Here's looking at you, Woody. July 30, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...