Broadway Danny Rose is the 12th film written and directed by Woody Allen.
A love letter to his comic roots, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE marks the time when Allen managed to synthesise his European influences with his American humour into something all his own. It’s a small story – and a short one – but Allen’s story is full of heart and he creates two of his best characters in Danny and Tina.
Woody Allen stars as Danny Rose. The character’s name has become an archetype – a naive but lovable talent manager, who would do anything for his acts. In a great chequered suit, Rose represents all that Allen loves about show business. In fact, despite not being a particularly funny film, it’s Allen’s love letter to comedy.
Welcome to the Woody Allen Pages podcast, from me, the creator of the Woody Allen Pages website. This week, episode six, we look at 1984’s BROADWAY DANNY ROSE. Of course, spoilers are everywhere – so watch the film first.
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6 Comments
“Lou tells me, you’re an interior decorator!!” BDR is without doubt an outright masterpiece from The Maestro. This is Woody and the whole team full throttle, pumpin’ on all cylinders. The writing and acting are superb and I love all the exterior black and white footage of New York and the surrounding area a la Manhattan. The flow and rhythm of the whole piece just works; it’s eighty-four minutes of magic. You know you’re stuck in a rough patch when you have your closest friends over for Thanksgiving and as you’re serving up TV dinners, your guests remind you – even the cranberry sauce is dry!!! Folks those are hard luck times; but I love Danny’s optimism and his mantra acceptance, forgiveness, and love. You can’t beat it.
Star. Smile. Strong.
GO WOODY!!!!!
This episode highlighted the film’s soundtrack. It’s absolutely wonderful but, in my experience, impossible to buy. I wonder why that should be? Copyright issues?
I mean no disrespect but I couldn’t quite connect with this episode. I felt there was too much information on offer, if that doesn’t sound ridiculous. Too much weight given to Italian Neo Realism and other matters extraneous to the film which I found rather distracting. I adore this film, and while I understand the author wanting to shed as much light on it as possible for listeners I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the end. BDR is a perfectly formed little gem and I felt it was swamped by too much attention to background and meaning rather than just an enjoyment of the film itself, the beauty of the narrative and the characters. Sorry, the fault is probably mine. I feel guilty (appropriately enough) for criticising however slightly this episode, because the series is a wonderful piece of work.
I was harsh. I’ve listened to the episode several times now and see that I was overly critical after one hearing. I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Perhaps like many of Woody’s best films I appreciate it more after multiple sittings. Thanks.
All good Bob. The approach is definitely more is more. I feel the same way about some episodes – if the fact of the simple joy of it comes across. I’m treating each one like a 30 minute lecture – so telling the story is part of it.
But so is starting a conversation – if you disagree, that’s ok!
The tearing up money bit never gets old. There’s also a tip of the cap to Bicycle Thieves with Tina going to see the fortune teller. Broadway Danny Rose is a terrific film. I really enjoyed this episode.