Bananas (film)

For the documentary, see Bananas!*.

Bananas
Theatrical release poster by Jack Davis
Directed by	Woody Allen
Produced by	Jack Grossberg
Written by	Woody Allen Mickey Rose
Starring	Woody Allen Louise Lasser Carlos Montalban
Music by	Marvin Hamlisch
Cinematography	Andrew M. Costikyan
Editing by	Ron Kalish Ralph Rosenblum
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	April 28, 1971
Running time	82 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,000,000
Box office	$11,833,696

Bananas is a 1971 comedy film written by Mickey Rose and Woody Allen, directed by Allen, and starring himself and Louise Lasser. Parts of the plot were based on the book Don Quixote, U.S.A. by Richard P. Powell. It was filmed on location in New York City, Lima (Peru), and various locations in Puerto Rico, including San Juan, Carolina and Loiza. This film is number 78 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Plot

Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen) is a neurotic blue collar man who tries to impress social activist Nancy (Louise Lasser) by trying to get in touch with the revolution in San Marcos, a fictional South American country, or "banana republic." He visits San Marcos and attempts to show his concern for the native people. However, nearly killed by the local caudillo, only to be saved by the revolutionaries, he is then indebted to help them. Mellish clumsily learns how to be a revolutionary. When the revolution is successful, the Castro-style leader goes mad, forcing the rebels to place Mellish as their President.

When traveling back to the U.S. to obtain financial aid, he reunites with his activist ex-girlfriend and is exposed. In a classic courtroom scene, Mellish tries to defend himself from a series of incriminating witnesses, including a middle-aged African-American woman who facetiously claims to be J. Edgar Hoover and is taken seriously by the whole court. He is eventually sentenced to prison, but his sentence is suspended on the condition that he does not move into the judge's neighborhood. Nancy then agrees to marry him. The between-the-covers consummation of their marriage -- an event that was over much more quickly than Nancy had anticipated -- was announced "play by play" by Howard Cosell.

Cast

• Woody Allen as Fielding Mellish
• Louise Lasser as Nancy
• Carlos Montalban as Gen. Emilio M. Vargas
• David Ortiz as Sanchez
• Natividad Abascal as Yolanda
• Dorothi Fox as J. Edgar Hoover
• Dan Frazer as Priest
• Howard Cosell as Himself
• Don Dunphy as Himself
• Roger Grimsby as Himself
• Sylvester Stallone as Subway Thug (uncredited)
• Mary Jo Catlett as Woman in Hotel Lobby Cheering Honeymoon (uncredited)

Production

According to an interview in the notes of the film's DVD release, Allen said that there is absolutely no blood in the film (even during executions) because he wanted to keep the light comedic tone of the film intact.

Allen and Lasser were married from 1966 to 1969 and were divorced when the film was made.

Title

The title is a pun, "bananas" being slang for "crazy," as well as being a reference to the phrase "banana republic" describing the film's setting. The title also may be a respectful nod to The Cocoanuts, the first film by the Marx Brothers, by whom Allen was heavily influenced at the time.^{[citation needed]} However, when Allen was asked why the film was called Bananas, his reply was, "Because there are no bananas in it." In Don Quixote, U.S.A., the novel by Richard P. Powell that served as a source for Bananas, the protagonist was an agronomist specializing in bananas.

Reception

American Film Institute recognition

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs #69

External links

• Bananas at the Internet Movie Database
• Bananas at AllRovi
• Bananas at Box Office Mojo
• Bananas (film) at Rotten Tomatoes