Yuca:

Love And Death...  Radio Days...  Bananas...  Take The Money And Run...  Broadway Danny Rose...  Play It Again, Sam...

I first discovered Woody as a teenager; knew one or two kids who liked movies like 'Sleeper' (Yuca, add that to the list); would have seen something like 'Take The Money And Run' on TV before being baffled by 'Stardust Memories' at the local Odeon.  The best was yet to come: listening to the nightclub routines on cassette.  Nothing cooler - certainly not Cook, Moore, Bennett and Miller at the same kind of time.  I've read he was nervous as hell, performing before a pretty sophisticated crowd.  But he managed it.  He fucking well managed it.  All those routines about family, about being a skinny Jewish kid in Brooklyn (yes?), putting me in mind somewhat of Asimov, running his father's little store whilst reading popular science, 'Amazing Stories' etc.  Those of you who haven't heard Woody discussing his brief involvement with the Ku Klux Klan, you're in for a treat...

Yuca -

I would seek out 'Broadway Danny Rose', 'Hannah and her Sisters', 'Bullets Over Broadway', and, of his later films only 'Midnight in Paris' is worth a watch. Some also love 'Blue Jasmine'.

'Love And Death' is excellent but you really need to have boned up on your classic Russian literature and the movies of Ingmar Bergman before viewing.  It probably demands watching more than once.

The B/W shot of a much younger Woody is very pleasing indeed.  Chances are, I suppose, that he cut a better shape in life than in art.

Ebay seems as good a place as any to examine various looks.  Pretty consistent over the years.  His own look.  You can see that tweed and flannel thing going on quite clearly.  No problems with pleats either.  The bucket hat - check.  V-neck sweaters.  Check.  Only once did I notice him wearing a tie.

All his 70s/80s movies are worth watching and a couple of the later ones, too.

My favorites are Manhattan, Radio Days, Annie Hall, Love and Death.

RE: Socklessness, I think it’s wrong in winter. Did I notice this tendency of Northern Europeans to go semi-naked through minus degrees? Is it to prove that you are tough?

Ralph Lauren for his shirts and cashmere sweaters, sometimes corduroy pants, too, his Haspel suit in Manhattan Murder Mysteries was from Brooks Bros (along with other stuff, soft plaid shirts especially,) and even stuff from Paul Stuart from time to time. He mixed in his own clothing from home with the costumes.- which proved to be a nightmare for continuity.   He couldn't stand scratchy clothing-- everything had to be tested by him for softness (shirts were flannel- or- washed over and over until they were broken in, sweaters were cashmere, etc.)  He also couldn't stand to be "cut in half" by his clothing (that meant wearing a dark color on top and a lighter one on the bottom-- he hated it in any actor's costume, in fact.)

Last edited by Jdemy (2021-11-16 19:01:02)

All pretty specific, then.  Well done, Jdemy. 
I once favoured a maroon cashmere v-neck from Paul Stuart but it didn't last more than a couple of years.  The McGeorge has fared much better.  Sea Island cotton I love - from Smedley, though.  Fine next to the skin.  Plaid - flannel - great, spot on. 
I feel a strong, renewed 'Woody mood' washing over me...

Well, he had (has?) a strong aversion to change. Someone asked on another thread whether his look was his own or engineered by a team.  He was a young star when Ivy was commonplace and fashionable. You can also see him in horrendous, long collared 70’s shirts—- but the classics (in art and film and his own work) attracted him so it makes sense he went with the clothes, as well. His conflicted desire for a the whole wasp aesthetic is famous.  Like many Jews who found themselves on the outside of the establishment, he wanted in. After that, his natural intolerance of anything new kept him in that look. As mentioned, he brought his own clothes from home and mixed them in with the costumes (laziness and comfort were always his guides). He has a pair of corduroy pants that he nervously rubbed his hands on when he would sit and those areas were bald.

Watch 'Annie Hall': the scenes at the LA mansion: the conflict between Woody's NYC angst and conservatism and the banal, inane stupidity of the rock stars and their hangers-on, drug-addled and infantile.

The people who produce the popular culture of the era are present and, as you say, not portrayed in a positive light. But the culture itself is absent i.e. instead of using Led Zeppelin or whoever he uses Gershwin, and Annie is a jazz singer rather than a rocker.

I'd take Bird over Kenny Ball any time though.