Word: nebbishness
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...anyone else in terms of the absolute number, quality, diversity and insightfulness of the comic ideas he has produced. Woody the loveable neurotic forces the audience to laugh at its own foibles and fuck-ups. Allen often reaches a peak of manic intensity amazing in such a small, redhaired nebbish of a man. So how does he do it? What makes Woody Allen funny, and why is he the way he is? In several of his films Allen gives a few clues, but one is never sure how seriously to take them. In Take the Money...
Well, she inherited fantastic millions, and it makes her kind of petulant and unpredictable. Actually she's very good at things like business and contracts and renting out her boats, but the fact is, she is just a nebbish when it comes to affairs of the heart. I mean, she's had two husbands, and they didn't work out. Well, a couple of weeks ago, she got married again. This time, it was a Russian! And not your ex-duke kind of Russian you see around some of the smart places in Paris and Miami Beach...
Bananas-Early Woody Allen, and while this film surely lacks the polish of his later work, it has more of the wild, reckless humor and endless one-liners that made Woody famous before everyone knew he was neurotic and an intellectual, too. In this one, he plays a nebbish, of course, who by weird circumstance ends up leading a Latin American revolution and reclaiming his lost sweetheart (Louise Lasser). Best moments Howard Cosell covering the assassination of a banana republic dictator and Woody ordering 500 hamburgers to go, 300 with cole slaw...
...never had before, and that's Respect. It'll be the largest crowd I've ever played for without an Italian mouse waiting in the wings. This could be my big break. Imagine--a whole new persona. I can see it now: I get Respect! Rodney Dangerfield--the nebbish with the Harvard education! The Boston Globe offered to do a story on me, but they said something about not wanting to put me "In This Corner" because I'm supposed to stay away from sharp objects...
...role of Dunn has proved to be a wise move by Brooks. Her past appearances in various Woody Allen films have left American audiences with a very tangible image of the actress: an often capricious yet charming woman who generally musters the strength to resist the prodigal nebbish's amorous advances. Keaton has tackled a character in Looking for Mr. Goodbar who is virtually an antithesis of her previous roles. Her Theresa Dunn is a willing woman, to put it charitably, a closet nympho who repeatedly allows herself to be sacrificed to the discredited altar of machismo. Although the context...