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Bananas

Play trailer Poster for Bananas PG-13 Released Apr 28, 1971 1h 22m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 35 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
In this early Woody Allen comedy, the director stars as Fielding Mellish, a hapless product-testing New Yorker desperately attempting to impress a young and attractive social activist named Nancy (Louise Lasser). When Mellish travels to the turbulent country of San Marcos, he falls in with resistance fighters and, before long, becomes drafted as their leader. While Mellish's position of authority wins Nancy over, he has to deal with the many burdens of being a revolutionary leader.
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Bananas

Critics Reviews

View All (35) Critics Reviews
J. Hoberman Tablet ...an inventive piece of filmmaking, full of cinephilic references and most evocative of the period during which it was made. Mar 16, 2021 Full Review Michael McNay Guardian Woody Allen is funny by reason of being Woody Allen, but that is becoming a decreasingly cashable asset. May 15, 2020 Full Review Jan Dawson Financial Times Much of the humour is blunted by Allen's self-indulgence as both a director and actor. May 15, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Choosing a favorite quip is a daunting task, although I'd have to go with Nancy telling Fielding that he's immature "emotionally, sexually, and intellectually," to which he replies, "Yeah, but what other ways?" Rated: 3.5/4 Sep 18, 2021 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Lighthearted, goofy, cynical, ridiculous, and scathingly critical in equal proportions. Rated: 6/10 Aug 27, 2020 Full Review Alif Majeed Battle Royale With Cheese It is safe to say that Bananas was one of the funniest movies among his earlier films and there is a lot in it that would get a laugh or at least a chuckle out of you. Jul 8, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dave S From early in Woody Allen’s career comes Bananas, the story of Fielding Mellish (Allen), a New York product tester, who finds himself in the middle of a revolution in the fictional land of San Marcos. There are some bits that are comedy gold (the break-up scene early in the film, for example), but there are an equal number of scenes that are either pointless or run far too long, like the excruciating courtroom scene. To make matters worse, it is marred by erratic direction from Allen, some really bad editing, and an exhausting and often pointless music score. Because it is mercifully short, it is not a total waste of time…but it’s pretty close. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 06/13/24 Full Review jaime h one of the funniest films of all time Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I found myself smirking dozens of times. I only laughed twice. This is classic Woody Allen humor, just without the strong characters and story driving it along. A great early exploration of comedy by the director, but it is not surprising the film has all but disappeared from public memory. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Not that funny. And the editing was a mess. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review bucky r Slapstick, silly, often outdated jokes are worth some laughs, but this is an early work that feels like a Jewish Benny Hill movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Bill M IMHO Woody Allen is one of the most overrated movie makers in the U.S. He has a reputation an "auteur" but his art is very derivative. Virtually every movie he makes is based on some other movie he's seen, some book he has read (or, in the case of Russian classics, heard about) etc. He tries to give the "Woody Allen touch" to stale material. It's "ersatz originality" masquerading as the genuine article. Take, for instance, The Purple Rose of Cairo, where a movie character walks out of the screen into real life. A stroke of genius when Buster Keaton did it, about half a century earlier, in Sherlock Jr. True, Woody Allen simply exploits this device to to illustrate his own ideas but these "ideas", while quite clever, result in a rather dull movie. At one time I thought it was merely Woody Allen's "serious" movies that were pretentious and dull, that his early "funny movies" were quite good. But a few days ago I re-watched Bananas, on TCM, and changed my opinion. Or, rather, I tried to watch it. I couldn't stomach more that 15 or 20 minutes. In one of his books Woody claims to have admired Bob Hope, and this early performance is like a bad Bob Hope parody. Woody is a stand-up comic. He has no slapstick chops. "Don't let them catch you acting," Larry Olivier advised a young novice. Woody was obviously "acting". Bananas is not funny; it's embarrassingly bad. Of course, that's just my opinion; others may disagree. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/28/20 Full Review Read all reviews
Bananas

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this early Woody Allen comedy, the director stars as Fielding Mellish, a hapless product-testing New Yorker desperately attempting to impress a young and attractive social activist named Nancy (Louise Lasser). When Mellish travels to the turbulent country of San Marcos, he falls in with resistance fighters and, before long, becomes drafted as their leader. While Mellish's position of authority wins Nancy over, he has to deal with the many burdens of being a revolutionary leader.
Director
Woody Allen
Producer
Axel Anderson, Antonio Encarnacion, Jack Grossberg, Manolon Villamil
Screenwriter
Woody Allen, Mickey Rose
Production Co
Rollins-Joffe Productions
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 28, 1971, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008
Runtime
1h 22m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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