Bananas is a film written and directed by Woody Allen in 1971 and starring him 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 and in various locations in Puerto Rico: San Juan, Carolina and Loiza Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Königsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Königsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Königsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... Jacobo Morales (born approx. ... -1... Carlos Montalbán (June 5, 1903 - March 28, 1991) was a Mexican character actor. ... Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. ... Howard William Cosell, born Howard William Cohen (March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist on American television. ... Miguel Angel Suarez (born Miguelangel Suarez July 5, 1939 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a well known Puerto Rican soap opera and movie actor. ... The current United Artists logo (a variant was used during the 1980s). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Direct is associated with a number of meanings: A direct route or service is the one that goes between the start and end points without diverting to a third location en route. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Königsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... A movie star or film star is a celebrity who is a person known for his or her roles in motion pictures. ... -1... Richard P. Powell (1908-1999]) was an American novelist. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Nickname: Location of San Juan within the island of Puerto Rico Coordinates: Country United States Territory Puerto Rico Founded 1508/1521 Area  - City 76. ... Nickname: Gentilic: Carolinenses Location Location of Carolina, Puerto Rico within Puerto Rico Coordinates , , Government Founded Mayor José Aponte, Jr. ... Loíza is a small town in the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico, near Canóvanas, Carolina and San Juan. ...

This film is number 78 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". This article is about the U.S. cable network. ...

Synopsis

It is centered around one of Allen's rare character-types. Allen plays a mediocre unintellectual blue collar man, Fielding Mellish, who tries to impress Nancy (Lasser), a social activist he loves. Trying to get in touch with the San Marcos revolution, he visits attempting 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, and then in an effort to feed the troops goes to a restaurant and in typical New Yorker fashion orders out thousands of deli sandwiches (with wheelbarrows of cole slaw on the side). When the revolution is successful, the Castro-style leader goes mad (declaring at one point that all underwear be worn on the outside), 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 J. Edgar Hoover disguised as a black woman). He is eventually sentenced to prison, but his sentence is suspended on the condition that he doesn't move into the judge's neighborhood; Nancy then agrees to marry him. A blue-collar worker is a working class employee who performs manual or technical labor, such as in a factory or in technical maintenance trades, in contrast to a white-collar worker, who does non-manual work generally at a desk. ... Social activists are people who act as the conscience and voice of many individuals within a society. ... Fictional Latin American republic loosely based on Cuba, featured in ‘Bananas’, the 1971 Woody Allen comedy. ... Caudillo is a Spanish (caudilho in Portuguese) word usually used to designate a political-military leader at the head of an authoritative power. ... Revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. ... A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about law, crime, punishment or the legal profession. ... John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an influential but controversial director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ...

On the 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. 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. A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech, or word play which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words within a phrase or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Banana Republic is a chain of clothing stores owned by Gap Inc. ... Cover of sheet music for When My dreams Come True The Cocoanuts (1929) is the first released Marx Brothers film. ... Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo, Frenchy (father), Chico and Harpo. ... Richard P. Powell (1908-1999]) was an American novelist. ...

Famous scenes

Allen's most famous scenes in this film include his testing a work office gym (a reference to Chaplin's Modern Times), his cowardly attempts to defend an elderly woman from subway thugs (including Sylvester Stallone), his indiscreetly trying to buy men's magazines in a general magazine store in front of mixed company, the series of mishaps he goes through learning the various techniques of jungle warfare (sucking the poison out of a snakebite wound...), and a totally absurd courtroom trial: Modern indoor gymnasium with pull-down basketball hoops. ... Modern Times is a 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin that has his famous Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. ... A rapid transit, underground, subway, tube, elevated, or metro(politan) system is a railway—usually in an urban area—with a high capacity and frequency of service, and grade separation from other traffic. ... Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. ... Porn redirects here. ...

Also noteworthy is Fielding's return to the United States as the President of San Marcos, where he is greeted by a representative from the State Department and Mr. Hernandez, the official interpreter. After a few pleasantries are exchanged and it is obvious that Fielding speaks and understands perfect English, Mr. Hernandez is chased away by two men with butterfly nets. And also an interview with his psychiatrist:

"I remember when I was a little boy, I once stole a pornographic book that was printed in Braille. I used to rub the dirty parts."

Bookending the movie are two scenes of absolute absurdism, where ABC's Wide World of Sports covers a live assassination in San Marcos, complete with Howard Cosell shouting "It's all over for El Presidente!" as well as Fielding Mellish's honeymoon with Nancy, which plays out as a boxing match. Braille code where the word (, French for first) can be read. ... ABCs Wide World of Sports is a long-running sports anthology show on American television. ... Howard William Cosell, born Howard William Cohen (March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist on American television. ...

Continuity problem

One continuity problem in this film occurs during the assassination of the original president of San Marcos. The assassin draws his revolver and begins to fire. The camera (now on the front of the gun) shows three bullets left. Then the camera switches to the trigger, and, without pause, the assassin fires a further nine bullets from the same gun. However, this can also be interpreted as a joke, since it is likely that Allen was aware of the fact that a six-shooter only shoots six times. In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. ... Fictional Latin American republic loosely based on Cuba, featured in ‘Bananas’, the 1971 Woody Allen comedy. ... rEVOLVEr (2004) is the fourth studio album release by Swedish thrash metal band The Haunted. ...

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.

External links

• Bananas at the Internet Movie Database