Verdict
Summary
Play it Again, Sam very much feels like the template from which Woody Allen’s entire future oeuvre would spring from, but it was directed by Herbert Ross, though it completely resembles one of Allen’s later films with his directing style on full display. Allen emerges a star here, with all his ticks, quips, and comedic timing gleaming like unpolished diamonds, and his rapport and chemistry with Keaton was undeniable.
Plot:
An insecure movie journalist splits fro his wife, embarking on a quest to find love again.
Review:
Allan (Woody Allen, who wrote the screenplay from his stage play) is a self-absorbed movie journalist whose wife Nancy (Susan Anspach) dumps him, leaving him reeling (literally and figuratively) into a fantasy where he gets life advice from his movie idol Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy, usually lurking in the shadows). Allan just wants to get laid again as soon as possible, and his best friends Dick (Tony Roberts) and his wife Linda (Diane Keaton) do their best to try to hook them up with available women they know, but there’s a big problem: Allan is a wreck of a man, completely incapable of being real with anyone, much less an attractive woman. The only person who “gets” him is Linda, who is actually willing to get on his level, and partly because she’s woefully neglected by Dick, whose first love is the work he’s married to. When Allan and Linda finally admit they love each other, they sleep together, altering their dynamic, and when Bogart directs Allan into a life path that may grow him up a little, the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur.
Play it Again, Sam very much feels like the template from which Woody Allen’s entire future oeuvre would spring from, but it was directed by Herbert Ross, though it completely resembles one of Allen’s later films with his directing style on full display. Allen emerges a star here, with all his ticks, quips, and comedic timing gleaming like unpolished diamonds, and his rapport and chemistry with Keaton was undeniable. The movie holds up well, particularly for fans of Allen’s (which I am), and it’s interesting watching it if you’ve read Allen’s autobiography Apropos of Nothing because this movie mirrors the time of his life when he cheated on his first wife with Louise Lasser. It’s uncanny.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray edition of Play it Again, Sam comes in a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, and it’s likely never looked or sounded better. I couldn’t find anything to complain about, and the disc comes with an audio commentary by screenwriter / producer Alan Spencer and film historian Justin Humphreys, as well as a trailer and a slipcover.
