50th Academy Awards · 1978
Annie Hall
Directed byCooked up by Woody Allen
“A nervous romance.”
“La-di-da, la-di-da. Annie's outfits ate, Alvy overthought it 🦞”
The storyThe lore 📖
New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.
Alvy Singer is a neurotic New York comedian who overthinks literally everything, and he falls for the quirky, fun Annie Hall ✨. They have the most awkward cute moments, like chasing lobsters around a kitchen 🦞. But as Annie gets more confident and starts her own era, their situationship hits a vibe check. It's a funny, honest look at why some relationships just don't last.
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
97%
Fresh
#10 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
La-dee-da, la-dee-da.
A relationship, I think, is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.
this guy goes to his psychiatrist and says, "Doc, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken." And the doctor says, "Well why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs.
two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such small portions.
Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.
Marshall McLuhan: I heard what you were saying. You know nothing of my work. …
Alvy: Boy, if life were only like this!
I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories.
When my mother took me to see Snow White, everyone fell in love with Snow White. I immediately fell for the Wicked Queen.
Alvy Singer: The universe is expanding.
…
Mrs. Singer: What has the universe got to do with it. You're here, in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding.
That's because they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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Thunderbolt roller coaster
Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York
Allen spotted the house under this coaster while scouting and wrote it in as Alvy's childhood home.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming, editing and music
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South Fork of Long Island
New York
Shooting began here with the scene in which Alvy and Annie boil live lobsters.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming, editing and music
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East 70th Street
Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City
Annie's apartment sits on the block between Lexington and Park, which Allen calls his favorite in the city.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- Annie Hall began as a murder mystery with a romantic subplot; according to Woody Allen, the murder came right after the scene where Annie and Alvy miss a Bergman film, and the idea later became Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993).Wikipedia · Writing
- Woody Allen's working title was Anhedonia, a term for the inability to feel pleasure, while co-writer Marshall Brickman suggested alternatives including It Had to Be Jew, Rollercoaster Named Desire and Me and My Goy.Wikipedia · Writing
- Diane Keaton's real surname is Hall and 'Annie' was her nickname; she and Woody Allen had once been romantically involved, though Allen insists the film is not autobiographical.Wikipedia · Casting
- When a costumer objected to Diane Keaton's mannish clothes, Woody Allen said, 'Leave her. She's a genius,' and the resulting 'Annie Hall look' of oversized blazers, vests and ties influenced late-1970s fashion.Wikipedia · Legacy and influence
- Federico Fellini was Woody Allen's first choice for the movie-line cameo, but after Fellini and Luis Buñuel declined, media theorist Marshall McLuhan stepped in to correct the pompous man in line.Wikipedia · Casting
- Alvy's accidental sneeze into a trove of cocaine wasn't in the script but came from a rehearsal mishap; test audiences laughed so long that a much longer pause had to be added after it.Wikipedia · Filming, editing and music
- The closing narration with the 'we all need the eggs' joke was conceived and recorded only two hours before a test screening.Wikipedia · Filming, editing and music
- Alvy's childhood home under a Coney Island roller coaster wasn't in the script; Woody Allen spotted the house while scouting Brooklyn and decided on the spot to use it.Wikipedia · Filming, editing and music
- A study cited by Roger Ebert found the average shot in Annie Hall lasts 14.5 seconds, compared with 4 to 7 seconds for other films made in 1977.Wikipedia · Style and technique
- The Writers Guild of America named Annie Hall the funniest screenplay ever written, ahead of Some Like It Hot, Groundhog Day, Airplane! and Tootsie.Wikipedia · Legacy and influence