I find Yale an effective counterpoint (if that's the word I'm looking for) to Isaac.  I find 'Manhattan' a disturbing movie, but have a framed still of Woody and Diane in silhouette on my study wall.  'Radio Days' I adore.  'Small Time Crooks' is probably underrated, but Elaine May makes it a corker IMO. 
'Manhattan' certainly has an edge to it, in a way that, say, 'Annie Hall' doesn't.  A pity Woody talks such rubbish on the American political scene: something by his own admission he's never taken much interest in, as a 'meat and potatoes' Democrat.

Does he talk rubbish about politics? I've always viewed him as largely apolitical, and a meat and pots Democrat can't be that bad a thing can it? I mean, I guess I'm a meat and pots Labour voter?

I increasingly value cinema more for it's purely cinematic qualities - ie. lighting, music, costume, the mise-en-scene, the quality of the artifice - and care less for plot, which is why I adore Manhattan.  You're a lovely chap by the way and I thank you for contibution to my groaning library, which I received this morning.

g.g.

I like almost everything he made, haven't seen "whatever works" yet, but I'll be careful...

I really liked Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona, too, that was the last one I've seen... I'm not so happy about some of the very early stuff... Casino Royale is... funny, okay, but not something you would want to watch twice....

I hope people - including GG himself - will forgive me for bumping this thread, but my mind is still often on Woody - and the more so as my wife and I sat through the awful 'Godfather 111' last night.  Diane Keaton reprising her role as Kay. 
I find it hard to go back to the old movies, especially 'Annie Hall' and 'Manhattan'.  'Radio Days', too, remains a favourite. 
The original posting, however, which can be read by clicking on 'quote' - and should be - is important because it steered forum members back in the direction of a kind of 'fantasy' NYC (also to be seen in dozens of movies through the years, including 'Rosemary's Baby').  GGs attention to detail has always been second to none. 
I did attempt the look around a dozen or so years ago with the natural shoulder tweed jackets and hefty shoes then moved on.  But it's a look some of our posters may yet care to consider.

Years ago, when we were contemplating the possibility of visiting the USA, my wife raised doubts about whether I would get much out of it.  'You'd need to go back in time' was what she said, and how right she was.  The question is: how far back?  The answer (perhaps) to when something like 85 per cent of clothing sales for men were 'Ivy League' (or whatever you choose to call it).  Circa 1964?  Earlier?  To around the time Woody was telling funny jokes about orgasmic insurance to hip, sophisticated audiences?  Then, for me anyway, if not necessarily our Gibson, there is the 'American Graffiti' period, so appreciated by Kenny Lovegrove and some of our current posters.  All fantasy.  All in the past.  As Gibson said in another context, all dust.

I'd quite forgotten the name of the actor: Michael Murphy.  My word, though, that jacket he's wearing on his Wiki page looks as if it's taking the strain.

Linked to the original posting, albeit slightly tenuously, might be the slightly 'Bohemian' 1960s look in NYC: creative types in corduroy jackets: authors, artists, graphic designers, photographers - and jazz musicians natch.  A world most of us on here were far too young and geographically removed to know but which some might attempt to recreate.  The cinnamon cord jacket, chinos, maybe sneakers as an alternative to loafers.  Depends where you're going and who you're meeting.  Dress to impress some business contact or a beatnik chick?  The choice is yours.

I find this NYC-cool-UK vibe increasingly seductive.  It can be done, of course, in a number of ways: according to the season.  My word, though, it's subtle, completely 'under the radar', and pretty much eschewing any lingering notions of 'Ango-Ivy'.  Quite looking forward now to wearing my sand-coloured duffle coat and striped scarf, rumpled chinos, button-down, conservative knitwear, possibly desert boots.  'Yale' might return next spring.  Fabric?  Tweed.  Width of lapels?  Undecided.  Plain-fronted cotton trousers.  A decent loafer or PTBs?  Grey or beige USA-made Russell Athletic for hanging round the fives court hoping for a glimpse of a Smith girl...

Oh, yes, and what strikes me as 'Manhattan' as a movie is just how 'adult' it is, unlike so much American cinema - particularly modern American cinema, with its car chases, cutsie-pie/obnoxious teenagers, blatant product placement and endless violence.  But, watch 'The Thin Man' first and draw comparisons.  American cinema began its slow decline with the coming of Abbott and Costello - and it's sometimes difficult to take the French seriously if you consider that they find Jerry Lewis funny.  Modernists - go back to the period 1933-1938: art deco, skyscrapers, dancing girls (and boys), a cold Martini, everything larger than life for the hard-hit Depression audience.

Those times are largely over. There are no bad parts of the city, except maybe in the Bronx. Everything is gentrification and real estate.

The clothing aside, marvel at the photography and editing and wallow in that great Gershwin music.  'Strike Up The Band', which I think I'm fairly sure I've heard sung by Judy Garland, is very stirring if you know its earlier context as a patriotic song for World War Two (as heard in 'The World At War', which some of you will remember: that great Carl Davis score).  Then there's 'Someone Who'll Watch Over Me', one of the greatest songs ever written.  That era has so much excellent music to enjoy and the cross-pollination between Tin Pan Alley and jazz, classical and Porter/Porter-inspired charm and sophistication is simply marvellous, compelling.