Totalfilm Lists 50 Greatest Woody Allen Characters

The wonderful film magazine/blog TotalFilm make great lists. Their latest list is very dear to our hearts. They’ve picked and listed the 50 Greatest Woody Allen Characters.

It’s the first such poll we’ve seen. There’s plenty of lists of greatest Woody Allen films, but to focus on characters is very clever and refreshing. The full poll, with great commentary, is over on their site.

We don’t know how TotalFilm comes up with these (we imagine fun conversations in their office). They’ve also gone far and wide, including characters from films Allen did not direct (‘Casino Royale‘), write (‘Antz‘) and even his take on some fictional characters (such as Bogart from ‘Play It Again, Sam‘).

Here’s the list, with the actors who portrayed the role and the film they appear in.

50. Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen, Casino Royale)
49. Frenchy (Tracey Ullman, Small Time Crooks)
48. Cheech (Chazz Palminteri, Bullets Over Broadway)
47. Joe (Seth Green, Radio Days)
46. Rags (Sleeper)
45. Mel (Robin Williams, Deconstructing Harry)
44. Melinda (Radha Mitchell, Melinda And Melinda)
43. Dr Ross (Gene Wilder, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex)
42. Gil Pender (Owen Wilson, Midnight In Paris)
41. Duane Hill (Christopher Walken, Annie Hall)
40. Tina (Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose)
39. Marion Post (Gena Rowlands, Another Woman)
38. Harry Block (Woody Allen, Deconstructing Harry)
37. Z-4195 (Woody Allen, Antz)
36. Howard Prince (Woody Allen, The Front)
35. Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson, Match Point)
34. Elliot (Michael Caine, Hannah And Her Sisters)
33. Marcia Fox (Angelica Huston, Manhattan Murder Mystery)
32. Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly, Bullets Over Broadway)
31. Emmet Ray (Sean Penn, Sweet And Lowdown)
30. Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen, Bananas)
29. Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling, Stardust Memories)
28. Frederick (Max Von Sydow, Hannah And Her Sisters)
27. Danny Rose (Woody Allen, Broadway Danny Rose)
26. Marshall McLuhan (Marshall McLuhan, Annie Hall)
25. Boris (Woody Allen, Love And Death)
24. Mother (Mae Questel, New York Stories)
23. Sandy Bates (Woody Allen, Stardust Memories)
22. Juan Antonio Gonzalo (Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
21. Hattie (Samantha Morton, Sweet And Lowdown)
20. Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite)
19. Sally (Judy Davis, Husbands And Wives)
18. Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose Cairo)
17. Ernest Hemingway (Coery Stoll, Midnight In Paris)
16. Sperm #1 (Woody Allen, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex)
15. Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen, Take the Money And Run)
14. Sonja (Diane Keaton, Love And Death)
13. Gabe Roth (Woody Allen, Husbands And Wives)
12. Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway)
11. Miles Monroe (Woody Allen, Sleeper)
10. Tracy (Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan)
9. Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy, Play It Again, Sam)
8. Cecilia (Mia Farrow, The Purple Rose Of Cairo)
7. Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
6. Zelig (Woody Allen, Zelig)
5. Alvy Singer (Woody Allen, Annie Hall)
4. Holly (Dianne Wiest, Hannah And Her Sisters)
3. Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau, Crimes And Misdemeanors)
2. Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, Annie Hall)
1. Isaac Davis (Woody Allen, Manhattan)

Some interesting stats.
Woody Allen makes up 15 of the spots
Mia Farrow, Diane Keaton and Dianne Wiest both take 2 spots each.
19 of the spots go to women, which is more than the non Woody Allen male roles.
‘Annie Hall‘ gets 4 characters.
Both ‘Bullets Over Broadway‘ and ‘Hannah And Her Sisters‘ had 3 characters.

Some great films were ignored completely (Everyone Says I Love You for example!)
Farrow appeared in 12 Woody Allen films, and feels unfairly neglected.
Another notable omission is Diane Keaton’s Mary from Manhattan.

What do you think of the list? Who did they miss?

Remember to check out the full list over on their site.