Broadway Danny Rose

Writer/director/star Woody Allen plays agent/manager Danny Rose in this funny, loving, nostalgic look at the lower and fringe rungs of the entertainment industry, combined with a mob subplot and not a little "philosophy of life" contemplation.

The film begins with a gaggle of older Borscht Belt-caliber comedians sitting around a table at Manhattan's Carnegie Deli, trading stories about Danny Rose. Rose loves acts that are a bit "outside" the mainstream, so there is no shortage of laughs from our storytellers as they remember his one-legged tap dancer, his blind xylophonist, and so on.

After about 10 minutes or so of general reminiscing interspersed with footage of Rose portraying the stories, one man says he's got the Rose story to top them all, which launches us into the "film proper". It's a tale about Rose and his client Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte), a Louis Prima-styled singer who had one hit, "Agita", in the 1950s, but who is a has-been when Rose meets him. Broadway Danny Rose is primarily the story of how Rose gets mixed up in a comically deteriorating situation with Canova's mistress, Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow), while trying to ensure that she attends a career-restoring gig, despite the fact that Canova's wife is also going to be there.

Allen treats us to some entertaining postmodernist layering in the beginning. It seems like a normal enough film in the first few moments, but quickly turns into almost a mock documentary as our deli comedians talk about Rose. The Rose material is really all flashback, and even when it "takes over" the film during the Canova story, it still has a mock documentary feel at first. Eventually the Canova story proceeds as any film would, but the bookended storytellers emphasize the nostalgic tone of the film.

Allen is drilling in that fact that we're reminiscing. He wants the audience to reminisce about the tone of the main story, even if they don't have personal memories of the era or that segment of the entertainment industry. For Allen, the film has strong resemblances to some aspects of his personal experience as an up and coming standup comedian, and he even draws parallels such as a Carnegie Deli sandwich being named after Danny Rose in the film--in real life, you can eat a sandwich named after Woody Allen at the Carnegie Deli. Having characters in the film reminisce about what turns out to be a reminiscent mode in a flashback helps audience members outside of the relevant "nostalgia zone" to get into the proper mood.

Interestingly for this goal, even though Allen goes to the trouble to shoot the film in black & white, he doesn't attempt to remove blatantly anachronistic elements--as if he's trying to remind us that this is still artificial reminiscing. For example, a scene that takes place in a Times Square office features a window through which we can see the large flashing "Fuji" sign. On the other hand, Allen also exploits the fact that Broadway Danny Rose was shot just as the recent family-friendly gentrification of the New York City area was taking hold, as there are important scenes on the old, dilapidated West Side docks and in a Jersey City that still looks comparatively like a barren wasteland.

One of the reasons that this film is so charming is that even though Danny Rose is a loser, he's a good-hearted loser with an admirable philosophy of life, despite the fact that he's continually abused and/or given the short shrift by those he helps. Allen is still doing his "neurotic Jew" schtick here, but whereas he tends to draw that character as self-centered in other films, in Broadway Danny Rose he's almost completely altruistic. He actually tries to persuade other characters, who happen to be self-centered, to change their outlooks. He's a Tod Browning to a cadre of performing freaks, promoting and embracing them, even if to most eyes it has to involve exploiting them at the same time. But he admirably can't help seeing the best in everyone, encouraging them and honestly believing that they should be in a "higher position" than they are now. He even does this with the non-performing Tina when she makes some decorating suggestions about his apartment--suddenly, he wants to manage an interior decorating career for her, saying that she should be doing "hotels and embassies".

As is typical for an Allen film, Broadway Danny Rose is filled with amazing, often symbolic cinematography, by frequent collaborator (from 1977's Annie Hall through 1985's The Purple Rose of Cairo) Gordon Willis. It's also full of great performances (including Allen's) and it's infused with Allen's trademark pre-bop jazz, in this case heavily depending on variations of the Prima-like "Agita", somewhat similar to how "In A Persian Market" was used as a theme in the later Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).

If you like Allen's typical style, you've surely seen this film. If you're wondering where to start or dip into Allen's works further, Broadway Danny Rose is as good a place to begin as any.

This is a chamber piece, shot during Allen's black and white period. The first time I saw it, in a cinema, I found it disappointing, somehow uncinematic. I saw it a second time, on television and it seemed much more comfortable in that medium.The third time I saw it, some twelve years later, it seemed like a little gem.

A squeaky voiced Mia Farrow disguised in a curly blonde wig and dark glasses foreshadows Mira Sorvino's performance in Mighty Aphrodite. The rest of the cast are unknown, some of the actors being real-life Jewish comedians and speciality acts. It is interesting to reflect on the interchangeability of Jewish and Italian behaviour in the film, the exaggerated emotions and the theatrical gestures. This is something that is apparent in other films such as Dirty Dancing or Moonstruck, which would have worked equally well as Jewish films or Italian films.

Allen gives one of his best performances as the hapless Danny, promoting a portfolio of one-legged tap-dancers, one-armed jugglers, balloon folders, parrot acts and glass harmonica players. He achieves a pathos which is lacking in his more autobiographical roles. The reconciliation scene at the end is reminiscent of Chaplin in City Lights.

If there's one thing that almost all of Woody Allen's comedies have in common, it's charm. Few have more of it than Broadway Danny Rose. Not Allen's best, not his funniest, but this warm and sentimental film grabs the viewer immediately and never lets up.

This is accomplished, initially, by the extremely naturalistic dialogue between the comics whose reminiscences form the bulk of the film. Notice how they all talk at once, they cut each other off, and they trample all over each other's lines. We really feel like we're listening in on a diner conversation, rather than watching a theatrical performance of a diner conversation. This gives the film an initial boost of accessibility.

This "charm factor" is cemented once we meet Danny Rose. Now, many people criticize Allen as an actor, claiming that he only ever plays one character... himself. This is absolute rubbish, and "Broadway Danny Rose" proves it. I have never seen Allen play a character so kind, warm, and accepting as Danny Rose. It was quite a pleasant surprise. Danny has to be that good, though, in order for us to accept that Tina is haunted by her betrayal of him.

That denouement, by the way, was really touching. The Thanksgiving scene took a good, funny, enjoyable movie and made it something a little more special. Compare this to the gross-out comedies of today... how many modern comedies can be as funny as "Broadway Danny Rose," and yet still create characters so real and so sympathetic that moments like the Thanksgiving scene can work?

I try not to harp on about how funny Allen's comedies are, because you either like his humor or you don't. If you like it, you don't need me to tell you it's funny, and if you don't, you won't believe me anyway. So why bother? I don't know, but I will say that this film had a good six or eight laugh out loud moments, at least, and it kept me smiling throughout.

Also, after a good debut in "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" and a reduced, subdued role in "Zelig", this is the film where Mia Farrow really comes into her own as Allen's leading lady. For the first time, I don't miss Diana Keaton.

Although a very funny film, Broadway Danny Rose is more of character study and philosophical morality play. This film explores the life and values of Danny Rose (played by Allen)--a theatrical talent manager. Although he appears to be a hapless loser, Rose is smart enough to know how to get ahead in his business (do it to others before they do it to you) but is prevented from acting thusly by his morality and his compassion for his clients--which he treats like family. He pours all his energy into his clients' careers only to be abandoned by them when they finally hit it big. In the course of an "adventure" with the hard-bitten Farrow, his values imperceptibly rub off on her and begin working on her conscious. Her moral conversion is completed when she seeks Rose's forgiveness at the much talked about Thanksgiving dinner--a scene not about pathetic losers but rather a study of fellowship, compassion, redemption, and forgiveness.

Allen and Farrow both give career performances. Nick Apollo Forte is absolutely wonderful. The casting, locations, directing, and performances could not be better. Every aspiring film maker should study this film as the perfect example of a powerful "little" film. Watch the film several times and you'll like it more each time. It is may favorite Woody Allen film (everything else is a distant second) and one of my favorite films of all time. The film's lack of commercial and critical success speaks volumes about the sensibilities and values of our society.

Broadway Danny Rose (1984) -written/directed by Woody Allen who played the titular character, the small time show-biz agent with the clients like "blind xylophonists, piano-playing birds, and has-been crooners with drinking problems." Danny may not be successful but the famous comics having a good time in the legendary Carnegie Deli, Manhattan, NY tell the stories about him. "Broadway Danny Rose" may be considered as a minor Allen's work but it is equally charming and amusing dramedy that pays specific homage to Damon Runyon who is famous for portrayal New York City's colorful lowlifes of the 1920s and '30s when "respectability and the demi-monde rub shoulders".

Danny's problem is that as soon as one of his clients makes it to the top, they would drop him in favor of a big-name agent. Danny stuck with a drinking, self-centered Italian crooner Lou who is attempting (and just about to make it) a comeback, and Danny, being a loyal and protective agent, unwittingly gets involved with the singer's girlfriend Tina whose family has a long memory and strong resemblance to Soprano family. No wonder poor Danny needs "a valium the size of a hockey puck". Mia Farrow is almost unrecognizable as a tough and vulgar (but not a dumb) blonde. Her philosophy is her way of life "It's over quick, so have a good time. You see what you want, go for it. Don't pay attention to anyone else. And do it to the other guy first 'cause if you don't he'll do it to you." She obviously acts on her words but in the end of the movie she realizes that the things which count most in life are "acceptance, forgiveness, love" which is Danny's philosophy. She was cast against the type and it worked brilliantly in the funny but touchingly nostalgic movie. "Broadway Danny Rose" is a sparkling gem from the writer/director/star, one and only Woody Allen. I never expect anything else from him.