A true film buffs film about a film buff, Allen Felix (Woody Allen), who is obsessed with CASABLANCA. The impish, neurotic Allen patterns his personality after Humphrey Bogart but has nothing of the actors tough guy image. When Allen's wife leaves him she explains, You're one of lifes great watchers. I'm not like that, I'm a doer. The film stars longtime Allen regulars Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts, and Jerry Lacy plays a convincing Humphrey Bogart. Based on Allen's Broadway play (Allen, Keaton and Lacy all appeared in the stage version) PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM differs somewhat from Allen's earlier pictures. Allen handed over the directorial reins here to Herbert Ross, a craftsman, but a director with no recognizable style of his own. What Ross brings to Allen's play is a sense of control and drama as opposed to the slapstick vignettes of TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN and BANANAS. Still, PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM is still clearly Allen,s film. (Atypical, however, for an Allen film is the location. A strike in New York caused filming to move to San Francisco.) What Allen hits on in PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM is a cultural phenomenon unique to the movie era - audiences living their lives as a movie. While not every audience can relate to the New York intellectual idiosyncrasies of ANNIE HALL, they can relate on a gut emotional level to an average man idolizing a movie star. For film buffs, Allen has included countless film references (Erich von Stroheim, Francois Truffaunt, Ida Lupino), film posters, and, of course, clips and music from CASABLANCA. Come see this classic Woody Allen film with great scenes of San Francisco and Marin County in the 70's.
