Review by Pamela Zoslov
In 2008, Woody Allen said that he isn't an intellectual.
“I'm basically a low-culture person,” he said to a group of film
critics, including me. "I'm not saying I'm an insensitive Neanderthal.
But basically, I'm the guy who's watching the playoffs and drinking a
Beck's. I'm not at the opera. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of people
thinking I'm an intellectual." Here is what I wrote at the time:
If
fans have mistaken a beer-drinking, Knicks-watchings shlub for an
intellectual, it's understandable: Allen's movies are studded with
references to Kafka, Freud and Tolstoy, and his filmography includes
homages to Bergman and Fellini. But beneath it all, he insists, beats
the heart of a comedy writer. During his nightclub days, audiences
assumed, based on his bookish appearance, that he was an academic type,
and the persona stuck. When he wrote jokes, he says, it seemed funny to
drop names like "Kierkegaard." "I learned to utilize the intellectual
patois," he says. "It's just a skill. People think of me more seriously
than I really am.” (Sadly, many people — myself firmly excluded — now
have darker opinions of Woody Allen.)
Review by Pamela Zoslov
In 2008, Woody Allen said that he isn't an intellectual. “I'm basically a low-culture person,” he said to a group of film critics, including me. "I'm not saying I'm an insensitive Neanderthal. But basically, I'm the guy who's watching the playoffs and drinking a Beck's. I'm not at the opera. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of people thinking I'm an intellectual." Here is what I wrote at the time:
If fans have mistaken a beer-drinking, Knicks-watchings shlub for an intellectual, it's understandable: Allen's movies are studded with references to Kafka, Freud and Tolstoy, and his filmography includes homages to Bergman and Fellini. But beneath it all, he insists, beats the heart of a comedy writer. During his nightclub days, audiences assumed, based on his bookish appearance, that he was an academic type, and the persona stuck. When he wrote jokes, he says, it seemed funny to drop names like "Kierkegaard." "I learned to utilize the intellectual patois," he says. "It's just a skill. People think of me more seriously than I really am.” (Sadly, many people — myself firmly excluded — now have darker opinions of Woody Allen.)
