Bananas (film)

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Movie
German title Bananas
Original title Bananas
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1971
length 78 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Woody Allen
script Woody Allen,
Mickey Rose
production Charles H. Joffe ,
Jack Grossberg
music Marvin Hamlisch
camera Andrew M. Costikyan
cut Ron Kalish
occupation

Bananas is the second film by Woody, the Jonah , wherein Woody Allen directed. It was created in 1971 and, in contrast to later Woody Allen works, is to be assigned to the genre of slapstick and designed as a pure comedy .

action

The film begins with live reporting from the fictional dictatorial Latin American state of San Marcos. There the incumbent president is assassinated and replaced by the military ruler Vargas.

The neurotic American product tester Fielding Mellish lives a lonely life in New York . Attempts to find a life partner fail. When he meets Nancy, a student who supports the rebellion in San Marcos as a political activist , he immediately falls in love with her. Both begin a neurotic and unhappy relationship. Leaving Nancy, Fielding went to San Marcos himself. There the regime tries to murder him as part of a false flag operation and blames the rebels for the act. Fielding is saved by the rebels and is forced to join them. The rebels are preparing the revolution in a jungle camp . After the rebel victory, the rebel chief becomes president. However, since he turns out to be insane, the rebel group decides to appoint Fielding as president.

As head of state, he is confronted with the catastrophic economic situation of his poor agricultural state. The Eastern Bloc refuses to support it because it sees the government as a puppet government of the United States. The US, however, considers the new government to be communist . To get foreign currency for his impoverished country, Fielding travels back to the USA as president. He tries in vain to find financiers. Anti-communists in the secret service mistake Fielding for a communist and initiate a show trial . Fielding is tried as a subversive communist and is acquitted on parole, with the condition that he does not move into the judge's neighborhood. During the trial, he has to defend himself. Back at large he proposes to Nancy, which she accepts. The consummation of the marriage takes place in a hotel room in the presence of fans and is commented on by Howard Cosell.

Reviews

" Sketchy entertainment that often sketches more than carries out and mixes parody and sharp satire of different caliber."

- Lexicon of international film

The American Film Institute ranked the film 69th of the 100 Best American Comedies of All Time in 2000.

Bananas has an 88% positive rate on Rotten Tomatoes , based on evaluated 24 reviews.

backgrounds

  • Sylvester Stallone has a small supporting role in Bananas . In one short scene he plays a thug who tries to beat up Fielding Mellish on the subway .
  • Louise Lasser, who plays Nancy, was Woody Allen's second wife in real life.
  • Woody Allen described the film as a cartoon in an interview with film journalist and director Stig Björkman , as there are no real deaths and one joke after the next follows.
  • Editing Ron Kalish was also involved in editing Woody the Unlucky Raven and Boris Gruschenko's Last Night .
  • The title "Bananas" is a play on words. In US slang, the word stands for “crazy” on the one hand, and on the other hand the title is an allusion to a “ banana republic ”.
  • In the revolution scene you can see a pram rolling down a flight of stairs in the chaos - a homage to the classic film Battleship Potemkin .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bananas. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 1, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Bananas . In: Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster. Retrieved April 9, 2014.