TELEVISION: Pre-Bananas

Woody's back -- the funny one

The question used to be which Woody Allen you preferred: the later, "mature" one (who made Crimes and Misdemeanors) or the earlier, funny one (Bananas). Now, after the tabloid headlines and a few box-office flops, the issue is starker: Is Woody Allen still a viable filmmaker? In this year's Bullets over Broadway, he retreated to the sort of schematic period piece that friendly critics usually lap up, and they did. Now he has regressed further -- back to his first play, Don't Drink the Water. What's more, he has cast himself in the lead and directed it for TV, his first...

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