Woody Allen, Diane Keaton--"Play It Again, Sam" (1972)

Since I have played a few favorite hit songs from 1972, I thought I would add a couple of films I enjoyed now and back then as well.

Seventy-Two was a pretty good year for mainstream movies. There was that
"Godfather" movie, which holds up pretty well. But I imagine many of you have seen that one since, especially those of you who have sibling rivalries or a family business involving the wearing of hidden revolvers and homicide.
Then there was the movie "Cabaret" with Liza Minnelli and Michael York. But the truth is I didn't see that movie when it was first released--and didn't see it for about 25 years after. When I finally did see it I thought it was one of the best movies of the 1970's. But back when I was a kid I was afraid it was going to be something like "Hello Dolly" with Nazis.

But this early Woody Allen movie I think is a pretty good pick. I reesw recently after many years and found it still pretty funny. I had a lot in common back then with the progagonist of the movie, a guy who loved Bogart movies and was very interested in girls. Of course at age 12 most
of my interest was hampered by immaturity and a early case of acne. That's probably one of the reasons I liked this movie so much I saw it three times in short succession when it was released--here was a grown man (Allen) who had this great job as a film critic and he also was as awkward around the opposite sex as I felt. The difference was he got to have an adult life with an apartment and he got to try and seduce women--very badly of course, but he tried.

The movie has a naive charm to it that you don't get in movies today--it doesn't make it a better film than modern comedies, but it does make for a good time. Anyway, here's one of my favorites then and now.

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Theatrical trailer for the 1972 Woody Allen comedy "Play it Again, Sam" also starring Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Susan Anspach, Viva, Joy Bang, Jennifer Salt, Susanne Zenor and Jerry Lacy. Directed by Herbert Ross ("The Goodbye Girl").