Review of Broadway Danny Rose (1984) by Allan C — 29 May 2016

Likable but Woody Allen comedy/drama about a low level entertainment agent, Danny Rose, who books the likes of balloon animal acts or people who make music on wine glasses. Rose gets his big break with a washed up Italian lounge singer, Nick Apollo Forte, but gets sucked into the singer's personal drama involving his mistress played by Mia Farrow, who plays a very out-of-character type of role as a brassy broad, but does it well.

The film is shot in black and white by the great Gordon Willis and the story told in flashbacks by a group of agents sitting in a deli swapping stories about Broadway Danny Rose, with Sandy Baron narrating the main story.

I think my main complaint is the film's absurd Felliniesque moments seem out of place with the film's dramatic elements. They would have worked if the film was a straight comedy, but costumed superheroes showing up in the middle of a field or women in bird costumes, seem out of place if we were to take the drama seriously.

Still, getting to see Allen do stand-up in a Catskills or the bits involving stuttering ventriloquist are just pure cinema magic. It's a flawed film, but it's also kind of magic.