Zelig (1983)

Regisseur:

Woody Allen

Drehbuchautor:

Woody Allen (written by)

Premierendatum:

15. Juli 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Komödie

Plot:

"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.

Plot Keywords:

American Indian | Black & White To Color | Moby Dick | National Craze | Secret Filming

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 9 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

Zelig is a masterpiece

Besetzung

Woody Allen	...	Leonard Zelig
Mia Farrow	...	Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher
John Buckwalter	...	Dr. Sindell
Patrick Horgan	...	The Narrator (voice)
Marvin Chatinover	...	Glandular Diagnosis Doctor
Stanley Swerdlow	...	Mexican Food Doctor
Paul Nevens	...	Dr. Birsky
Howard Erskine	...	Hypodermic Doctor
Ralph Bell	...	Other Doctor
Richard Whiting	...	Other Doctor
Will Hussong	...	Other Doctor
Robert Iglesia	...	Man in Barber Chair
Eli Resnick	...	Man in Park
Edward McPhillips	...	Scotsman
Gale Hansen	...	Freshman #1

Alternativ:

Identity Crisis and Its Relationship to Personality Disorder (USA) (working title)
The Cat's Pyjamas (USA) (working title)
Zelig (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

79 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch | Deutsch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss | Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Altersfreigabe:

Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Finland:S | France:U | Norway:12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG

Drehorte:

Alpine, New Jersey, USA

Firma:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Dies und das:

Because it took so long to match Woody Allen to the old newsreel footage, Allen managed to film and complete A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) and Broadway Danny Rose (1984), in the time it took to complete this. He later claimed that there is no mechanical way to 'age' film, so they would either scrunch the negative up, or stomp on it.

Dialogzitate:

[Leonard Zelig is apologizing on radio to all the people he misrepresented himself to]
Leonard Zelig: My deepest apology goes to the Trochman family in Detroit. I...I never delivered a baby before in my life, and I... I just thought that ice tongs was the way to do it.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in "Just Shoot Me!: My Dinner with Woody (#2.6)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

You May Be Six People, But I Love You

Zelig is a masterpiece

Yes, a masterpiece. The entire premise of the movie is wildly original, even coming from WOODY ALLEN who continually cranks out one interesting film after another to this day.

The label of mock-umentary just doesn't do justice to the uniqueness of this film. ALLEN and his amazingly talented staff created a movie that no other director could have made nor even thought of doing. Some of the humor is rather modern like the forward references to self-gratification during the psychiatrist scenes with MIA FARROW. But mostly, it's filled with humor from another time and place which we'll never return.

To me, one of the wonderful aspects of this is the period music dispersed throughout with joyful admiration. We are lucky that ALLEN has continued to use music from the early part of the 20th century. I think no other director has so consistently had such a reverence for this wonderful music. Perhaps no other director has such a strong knowledge of it either.

That WOODY ALLEN normally portrays himself as a nebbishy character in many of his own movies works so well in this movie. A more aggressive person who becomes a chameleon would not have worked as well at all. I am glad that MIA FARROW was still associated with him when he made this film, I think no other modern actress could have pulled this off as well as she did. She has that timeless look that is appealing but has a far-off feeling.

The flavor of the period-looking cinematography and photography is part of the genius of the implementation here. It is so right on the money. The flickering of projectors, the out-of-focus look to so man scenes shot today meld amazingly well with the contrived shots.

THINK ABOUT THIS - this is years before CGI took over Hollywood...years before FORREST GUMP and countless of other knock-offs have proliferated in movies. Gee whiz, there is CGI in so many movies these days. I watched a DVD of a recent movie recently which used special effects in the most unexpected, unlikely and unnecessary parts you'd be surprised.

Yes, ZELIG is a masterpiece and I only feel sorry for those who cannot see the astounding piece of cinema this is.