Woody Allen has claimed "Crimes & Misdemeanors" was a mistake, that he re-shot the final third of the film at the last-minute, completely changing the storyline and plot. Maybe he's that brilliant... maybe he's just being humble... whatever the case, "Crimes & Misdemeanors" works, and it stands as one of Woody's boldest statements on God & human nature.
There's wonderful symbolism at work as eye doctor Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) looks to the eyes of God for judgement on his sins and murderous misdeed, but the parallel story of Woody's principled documentarian forced to film Alan Alda's obnoxious TV producer rings just as true: the wicked often go unpunished and generally awful people are worshipped for their financial success. This to me was Woody's last great film before the 90's found him in various stages of personal and artistic crisis.
"Crimes & Misdemeanors" is thought-provoking, conversation-starting film with wonderful performances from Allen, Landau, and uber-jerk Alda. Catch it if you can...
GRADE: B+
There's wonderful symbolism at work as eye doctor Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) looks to the eyes of God for judgement on his sins and murderous misdeed, but the parallel story of Woody's principled documentarian forced to film Alan Alda's obnoxious TV producer rings just as true: the wicked often go unpunished and generally awful people are worshipped for their financial success. This to me was Woody's last great film before the 90's found him in various stages of personal and artistic crisis.
"Crimes & Misdemeanors" is thought-provoking, conversation-starting film with wonderful performances from Allen, Landau, and uber-jerk Alda. Catch it if you can...
GRADE: B+