MovieChat Forums > Zelig (1983) Discussion > RIGHT IDEA, WRONG DIRECTOR

RIGHT IDEA, WRONG DIRECTOR

posted 17 years ago by ae7641
6 replies | jump to latest

It is said "Forest Gump" took from this. I don't know. But the idea of a man who has to fit in so much that he changes his appearance and loses his identity is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, Woody Allen has to put in all this anti-Catholic, childish and silly stuff and ruin what could have been a masterpiece.

In the hands of another writer or director who would leave out the foolishness, we could have a sad and funny classic.

Allens best films are the ones he isn't in.(Radio Days) The little neurotic atheist, sex maniac jewish character he plays who makes bad jokes about the Catholic and Jewish religions was okay at first, but gets tiring.

He should be a writer and not director. He should hand in his script to someone non Jewish so it can reach a bigger audience.

"The Front" was great because of Zero Mostel's performance and because Allen didn't do his usual thing.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sr_wolfrider 17 years ago

Allen is so prolific that all his films suffer in one way or the other. The question is, would you rather have 10 great Allen films or 5 great and 40 pretty good?

Last film seen: Robert Bresson's Pickpocket - Brilliant!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053168/

[–] mandrake62 16 years ago

I missed the anti-catholic. Maybe it isn't there. But it was certainly anti-conformist, anti-fascist and specifically anti-Nazi which was the ultimate expression of conformity.

[–] Smultronstallet 13 years ago

I've seen all but a few of Woody Allen's films, and I can't recall anything remotely "anti-Catholic." To what are you referring?

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

...I can't recall anything remotely "anti-Catholic.

I can only think it was the kerfuffle on Pope Pius's balcony, which I personally thought along with the Hitler sequences were the funniest in the movie.

[–] JimmyCagney 11 years ago

How is it possible that almost in every Woody Allen movie on imdb there is always a clever guy who claims he likes him, yet he is full of suggestions on what Woody should or shouldn't be doing?
Woody Allen has been making movies for more than 4 decades, writing stories even longer and in that time he has won almost every award available.
Do you really think, just because he mainly does comedy that he is somewhat lesser in size than other legends of cinema such as Bergman, Kubrick or Antonioni?
Do you honestly believe that you are in a position to suggest what an "auteur" like Truffaut or Hitchcock should be doing differently?
Woody Allen is no smaller in magnitude than any of the aforementioned. He is a living legend. That doesn't mean you have to adore all his movies. You can hate some or even all of them.
However, you can NEVER suggest what he should be doing differently. He isn't just a director, he is a true auteur with his movies being 100% his own work.
The same applies with books. You may like Stephen King's latest book, or you may not. But you can never suggest as a reader what the author (hence the term) should do differently.