Broadway Danny Rose **** (1984, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Nick Apollo Forte) – Classic Movie Review 1811

Writer-director-star Woody Allen’s wry and warm 1984 movie about life on the lower rungs of the showbiz ladder is delightfully quirky and affectionate. The third of Allen’s 13 movies with Mia Farrow, and Allen’s 13th movie, it won the Bafta and Writers Guild of America awards for Best Original Screenplay.

Allen’s on top form as Danny Rose, a hapless seedy artists’ talent agent whose story is told in flashback among a group of comedians over lunch at New York’s Carnegie Deli. Danny’s one-man talent agency represents countless untalented entertainers. Danny falls foul of the Mafia while trying to promote washed-up lounge singer crooner Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte, in his only film appearance).

Mia Farrow is delightful as Tina Vitale, the man’s blonde, brassy broad of a mistress, an ex-Mafia wife whom Danny has to chaperone to a concert. But when Danny tries to reconcile Lou with his mistress, he is mistaken as her lover by a jealous gangster.

Broadway Danny Rose is richly satisfying because it’s truthful, charming and warm rather than hilarious, though there are lots of funny showbiz jokes and amusing characters. The sequence with Allen’s introduction of his character Danny’s finest turns is a witty cinematic gem. The film looks a terrific treat thanks to Gordon Willis’s sharp black and white cinematography.

Allen’s manager and producer Jack Rollins (who appears in the movie as himself) was Woody’s inspiration for Danny Rose. Retired comic and actor Leo Steiner, the owner of the location of the legendary Carnegie Deli, appears in the film. He later created a Danny Rose sandwich of corned beef, pastrami and coleslaw.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1811

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