The first true Woody Allen-directed picture (he had overseen What's Up, Tiger Lily? in which he had overdubbed ridiculous dialogue to an Asian film in 1966) was Take The Money And Run in 1969. A success, the film was a straight-out comedy, mocking the cinema-verite style popular at the time.
Allen plays Virgil Starkwell, an incompetent criminal who is followed by a camera crew throughout his life of failed crime. The character introduces the persona which would become synonymous with Woody Allen over the course of his next few films, that of the socially awkward, self-aggrandising fool. Take The Money And Run mixes slapstick comedy and verbal wit to great effect, and established Woody Allen as a filmmaker to take notice of.
Bananas
Stylistically, Allen was still finding his feet, and his early films reflected the anarchy of the Marx Brothers more than the likes of Ingmar Bergman, who increasingly became an influence on his work. After signing a contract with United Artists, Woody Allen delivered Bananas (1971), another comic tale in which Allen's bumbling Fielding Marshall falls for a girl, travels after her, and inadvertently becomes head of a revolution in San Marcos.
Bananas features some surreal elements, such as the filming of the opening assassination as a sports event, a conceit which is then used at the close of the film for Marshall and Nancy's sex scene. The film reflects some of Allen's pieces for the New York Times and his short stories, which are full of fantastical ideas and twists.
Play It Again, Sam
During this period Allen acted in Hubert Ross' film version of his own stage script Play It Again, Sam. Allen joined Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts in a reunion of the stage cast for the film, which due to Ross' adept direction, was the most mature realisation of Allen's voice up to that point. With the surrealist flash of Humphrey Bogart acting as his guide, Allen was able to mix his surreal humour with a more substantive look at failing relationships.
Allen next adapted David Reuben's book Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask). Released in 1972, the film is split into sections, dealing with several questions relating to sex. Whilst some vignettes are not successful, the 'What Is Sodomy' piece with Gene Wilder as a doctor who falls in love with a sheep and the 'What Happens During Ejaculation?' section featuring Burt Reynolds behind the ejaculation control desk are fondly remembered.
Sleeper
By 1973's Sleeper, Woody Allen had grown in confidence regarding his directing. The film also saw the introduction of Diane Keaton as his romantic foil on screen, and their chemistry and balanced performances made Sleeper an enduring hit. Marshall Brickman also co-wrote the film, as he would for several of Allen's biggest successes.
Sleeper concerns Allen's character of Miles Monroe, who is unthawed in the year 2173 after being frozen following a complicated ulcer surgery. In the future he finds a world stripped of individualism and personality, with giant crops terrorising him. The film is visually exciting, although Allen had yet to develop a distinctive style.
Love And Death
Love And Death (1975) involved going back in to the past, almost creating a comedy version of a Dostyoyevsky novel. Allen's Boris falls for Keaton's Sonja, who agrees to marry him thinking he'll die in an imminent duel. When he does not, Sonja decides they should assassinate Napoleon, which leads to the death part of the title.
Love And Death features in the relationship between Boris and Sonja some of the witty observations about love that had characterised Allen's stand-up. Despite the large and impressive battle scenes within the film, it is the more intimate moments, with just Allen and Keaton bantering, which provide the movie's highlights, and suggest the award-winning direction Allen was about to take with his next film.
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