Bananas (1971) 7.1
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion. Director:Woody Allen |
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Bananas (1971) 7.1
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion. Director:Woody Allen |
|
0Share... |
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Woody Allen | ... | ||
Louise Lasser | ... | ||
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Carlos Montalbán | ... | |
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Nati Abascal | ... |
Yolanda
(as Natividad Abascal)
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Jacobo Morales | ... | |
Miguel Ángel Suárez | ... |
Luis
(as Miguel Suarez)
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David Ortiz | ... |
Sanchez
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René Enríquez | ... |
Diaz
(as Rene Enríquez)
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Jack Axelrod | ... |
Arroyo
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Howard Cosell | ... |
Himself
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Roger Grimsby | ... |
Himself
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Don Dunphy | ... |
Himself
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Charlotte Rae | ... |
Mrs. Mellish
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Stanley Ackerman | ... |
Dr. Mellish
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Dan Frazer | ... |
Priest
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Fielding Mellish (a consumer products tester) becomes infatuated with Nancy (a political activist). He attends demonstrations and tries in other ways to convince her that he is worthy of her love, but Nancy wants someone with greater leadership potential. Fielding runs off to San Marcos where he joins the rebels and eventually becomes President of the country. While on a trip to the states, he meets Nancy again and she falls for him now that he is a political leader. Written by &view=simple&sort=alpha">Scott R. Vaughn <scott@vaughn.hon.msu.edu>
I went to see "Bananas," in the early 1970s with three of my high school buddies, in our local theater. And, it remains -- three decades later -- one of the most memorable and one of my most talked about movie-going experiences ever. So much of it was comprised of absolutely hysterical scenes which I've told countless people about through the years, and still tell people about.
Watching this movie today, it seems as if it had been somewhat haphazardly written. I get the feeling that Woody Allen had kept a journal in which he noted the funniest sights he'd witnessed and the cleverest one-liners he'd heard, over a period of years, and then set about mixing all of these totally unrelated funny things into one script. It's like he was saying to himself, "I think I'll throw in the bit about the guy trying to discreetly buy a sex magazine in a quiet neighborhood store and getting embarrassed, and then the snake bite bit later on. But first before the next plot turn, I think I'll put in the bit in which a guy gets out of his car and falls into an open manhole.", etc. You feel at times like you're watching a Benny Hill-type comedy show, or a TV variety show with a series of comedy skits that have nothing at all to do with each other. Somehow, Woody blended it all together into a fairly coherent story. There are also a few scenes which feature "Airplane"/"Naked Gun"-style tongue-in-cheek humor. But, this movie had been made *long* before those were even thought of. There's a message in that: This movie was ahead of its time. There's a segment of "Bananas," early on, which is just one outrageously funny bit after another after another.
I guess the movie doesn't really have a point . . . except maybe that maniacal dictators are crazy, dangerous and should be driven from power . .. or maybe that freedom is worth fighting for . . . or maybe that some causes are worth laying down your life for. Obviously, there's relevance in all of that for us, today. Or maybe the whole point of this movie could simply be that Woody Allen knows how to make people laugh.
Later, Art