Mary Boylan Movies

Woody Allen's romantic comedy of the Me Decade follows the up and down relationship of two mismatched New York neurotics. Jewish comedy writer Alvy Singer (Allen) ponders the modern quest for love and his past romance with tightly-wound WASP singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, née Diane Hall). The twice-divorced Alvy knows that it's not easy to find a mate when the options include pretentious New York intellectuals and lifestyle-obsessed Rolling Stone writers, but la-di-dah-ing Annie seems different. Along the rocky road of their coupling, Allen/Alvy weigh in on such topics as endless therapy, movies vs. TV, the absurdity of dating rituals, anti-Semitism, drugs, and, in one of the best set pieces, repressed Midwestern WASP insanity vs. crazy Brooklyn Jewish boisterousness. Annie wants to move to Los Angeles to find that fame that finally does in the relationship -- but not before Alvy gets in a few digs at vacuous, mantra-fixated California. Originally entitled Anhedonia (the inability to enjoy oneself), Annie Hall blended the slapstick and fantasy from such earlier Allen films as Sleeper (1973) and Bananas (1971) with the more autobiographical musings of his stand-up and written comedy, using an array of such movie techniques as talking heads, splitscreens, and subtitles. Within these gleeful formal experiments and sight gags, Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman skewered 1970s solipsism, reversing the happy marriage of opposites found in classic screwball comedies. Hailed as Allen's most mature and personal film, Annie Hall beat out Star Wars for Best Picture and also won Oscars for Allen as director and writer and for Keaton as Best Actress; audiences enthusiastically responded to Allen's take on contemporary love and turned Keaton's rumpled menswear into a fashion trend. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

The shockingly brutal murder of a little girl in a church where she was just about to receive her first Communion sets a strong tone for terror in this disturbing horror film. The prime suspect in the death of Karen Spages (Brooke Shields) is her sister, Alice (Paula Sheppard), who happily tormented Karen by donning a mask and a raincoat to scare her. Comforting the grieving mother, Catherine Spages (Linda G. Miller), is her sister, Annie (Jane Lowry); local priest Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich); and Catherine's estranged husband, Dominick (Niles McMaster). Other characters include Father Tom's quirky housekeeper, Mrs. Tredoni (Mildred Clinton); a pair of detectives (Tom Signorelli, Michael Hardstark); and Catherine Spages' obese, cat-loving landlord (Alphonso De Noble). While the police investigation and all visual clues quickly point to Alice, director Alfred Sole manages to cast doubt on the killer's identity while the masked madman strikes several more times. About two-thirds of the way through the movie, Sole allows the viewer to see the killer. However, he smartly keeps his characters in the dark setting up a tense finale which culminates in yet another bloody slaying on holy ground before the lunatic is finally stopped. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi

Harry Belafonte was both producer and star of this hard-edged film noir crime drama. Dave Burke (Ed Begley, Sr.) is an ex-cop who has been kicked off the force for refusing to inform on his colleagues to the State Crime Committee. Short on money, the former policeman jumps to the other side of the law and plans to knock over a bank in upstate New York. He'll need help, so Burke brings in two other men to assist him -- Johnny Ingram (Belafonte), a jazz musician with an addiction to gambling that's put him deep in debt to gangster Bacco (Will Kuluva), and Earl Slater (Robert Ryan), a disturbed war veteran who hasn't been able to find work after serving time for manslaughter. While their common greed and desperation has brought these men together, their differences threaten to tear them apart, especially when Slater's fear and hatred of black men rises to the surface. Blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky co-wrote the screenplay for Odds Against Tomorrow, using his friend John O. Killens as a "front." John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet contributed a memorable musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Alfred Hitchcock lets us know from the outset that The Wrong Man is a painfully true story and not one of his customary fabricated suspense yarns, through the simple expedient of walking before the camera and telling us as much (this introductory appearance replaced his planned cameo role as a nightclub patron). The real-life protagonist, musican Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, is played by Henry Fonda. Happily married and gainfully employed at the Stork Club, Balestrero's life takes a disastrous turn when he goes to an insurance office, hoping to borrow on his wife's (Vera Miles) life insurance policy in order to pay her dental bills. One of the girls in the office spots Balestrero, identifying him as the man who robbed the office a day or so earlier. This, and a few scattered bits of circumstantial evidence, lead to Balestrero's arrest. Though he's absolutely innocent, he can offer no proof of his whereabouts the day of the crime. Lawyer Frank O'Connor (Anthony Quayle) does his best to help his client, but he's up against an indifferent judicial system that isn't set up to benefit the "little man". Meanwhile, Balestrero's wife becomes emotionally unhinged, leading to a complete nervous breakdown. As Balestrero prays in his cell, his image is juxtaposed onto the face of the actual criminal-who looks nothing like the accused man! Utilizing one of his favorite themes-the helplessness of the innocent individual when confronted by the faceless bureaucracy of the Law-Hitchcock weaves a nightmarish tale, all the more frightening because it really happened (the film's best moment: Fonda looking around the nearly empty courtroom during his arraignment, realizing that the rest of the world cares precisely nothing about his inner torment). Hitch enhances the film's versimilitude by shooting in the actual locations where the real story occured. His only concession to Hollywood formula was the half-hearted coda, assuring us that Mrs. Balestrero eventually recovered from her mental collapse (she sure doesn't look any too healthy the last time we see her!) Watch for uncredited appearances by Harry Dean Stanton, Bonnie Franklin, Tuesday Weld and Charles Aidman. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi