Manhattan (1979 movie)
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Manhattan is a 1979 romantic comedy film. Like Annie Hall, the movie was written by Allen and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen.
Allen insisted that this movie be shown in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 when it was released on video. As a result, all copies of the movie on video are letterboxed, the first video to be released in such a format. He sued a Swiss TV channel that broadcast a pan and scan version of the movie. A pan and scan version has since been aired on UK television. The film is shot in black and white by cinematographer Gordon Willis, who also filmed the The Godfather and its sequels.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mariel Hemingway) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film is consistently on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films and was #46 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Auteurist film critic Andrew Sarris notably praised Manhattan as "the only truly great American movie of the 1970s."
The movie opens with a montage of images of Manhattan accompanied by George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
It features Allen as his alter ego Isaac Davis, a twice-divorced forty-something comedy writer dealing with women in his life. He is having an affair with a high school girl, played by Mariel Hemingway. However, he falls in love with his best friend's mistress, played by Diane Keaton. Also, his ex-wife, played by Meryl Streep, is writing a tell-all book about their relationship.