WERE THEIR EYES WATCHING GOD? Roger Ebert's Great Movies series tackles one of my favorites today, Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The movie did not win an Oscar from among its three nominations -- Martin Landau lost to Denzel Washington (Glory) for Best Supporting Actor; Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July) took his second Best Director statue over Woody Allen, who also lost Best Original Screenplay to Tom Schulman for Dead Poets Society. At least on that one, Woody was in good company -- other "losers" in category were Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing), Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies, and videotape) and Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally . . . ).
C&M remains the masterwork of Allen's post-Annie/Manhattan period, a film which defies easy categorization. A comedy about the absence of God? A tragedy about infidelity and temptation? A sly preview of "Law & Order", with Sam Waterston and Jerry Orbach in key supporting roles?
I'm fond of Ebert's summary: "The evil are rewarded, the blameless are punished, and the rabbi goes blind." Now, that's a movie.
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