Bananas (1971)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writers:

Woody Allen (written by) and
Mickey Rose (written by)

Release Date:

28 April 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.

Plot Keywords:

Directed By Star | Latin America | President | Protest | Political

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Fielding Mellish
Louise Lasser	...	Nancy
Carlos Montalbán	...	General Emilio M. Vargas
Natividad Abascal	...	Yolanda
Jacobo Morales	...	Esposito
Miguel Ángel Suárez	...	Luis (as Miguel Suarez)
David Ortiz	...	Sanchez
René Enríquez	...	Diaz (as Rene Enríquez)
Jack Axelrod	...	Arroyo
Howard Cosell	...	Himself
Roger Grimsby	...	Himself
Don Dunphy	...	Himself
Charlotte Rae	...	Mrs. Mellish
Stanley Ackerman	...	Dr. Al Mellish
Dan Frazer	...	Priest

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for comic sexuality including some pin-up nudity, some drug use and crude language.

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:16 | Iceland:Unrated | Ireland:15 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:AA (cut) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Trivia:

The majority of the scenes in the film were improvised. When Allen felt he had captured the right shot, he would move on to the next one.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Fielding is offering Nancy some ribs, he has his hand on his collar. In the next shot his hand is by his side.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Don Dunphy: Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (#9.12)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Cause I Believe In Loving

Woody Allen's best comedy

This is one of Woody Allen's earliest films -which should rank with the all-time greatest comedies. Although it was made back when the trial of The Chicago Seven was still fresh and Tobacco was still advertised on television, Bananas is timeless and still topical: J. Edgar Hoover in drag; the CIA sending US troops to fight on both sides of a revolution because they are afraid of being on the wrong side. One can usually recall a few scenes from a good movie, but Bananas is one of those great movies which one can replay in the mind from beginning to end. (Bananas is neatly bracketed at the beginning and end by Howard Cossell playing himself in bizarre Wide World of Sports coverages.) Allen has total control as writer, director and lead actor as in his later films, but in Bananas, the humor is broader and more cinematic. He plays the nebbish Fielding Mellish with less of the existential whining that mars his later films. There is a youthful resiliance like a toy punching bag that keeps coming back up. That is what made Chaplin's little tramp both comical and endearing.