New York Stories (1989)

Directors:

Woody Allen
Francis Ford Coppola

Writers (WGA):

Richard Price (written by) (segment)
Woody Allen (written by) (segment)

Release Date:

10 March 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

One City. Three Stories Tall.

Plot:

A middle-aged artist obsessed with his pretty young assistant, a precocious 12 year old living in a hotel, and a neurotic lawyer with a possessive mother make up three stories.

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Painter | Henpecked Son | Big City | Musician

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Sheldon
Marvin Chatinover	...	Psychiatrist
Mae Questel	...	Mother
Mia Farrow	...	Lisa
Molly Regan	...	Sheldon's Secretary
Ira Wheeler	...	Mr. Bates
Joan Bud	...	Board Member
Jessie Keosian	...	Aunt Ceil
Michael Rizzo	...	Waiter
George Schindler	...	Shandu, The Magician
Bridgit Ryan	...	Rita
Larry David	...	Theater Manager
Paul Herman	...	Detective Flynn / Clifford, The Doorman / Cop
Herschel Rosen	...	Store Clerk
Lola André	...	Citizen

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Brazil:14 | USA:PG (Certificate No. 29611) | Finland:S | France:U | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | West Germany:12 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The performance piece that Steve Buscemi delivers in the Martin Scorsese segment was conceived and written by the actor himself.

Quotes:

Zoe: [Last lines of the segment] So, you could say we all lived on tour happily ever after.

Movie Connections:

References "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams" (1977)

Soundtrack:

Bolero De Django

Allen's was hilarious, Scorsese's was interesting, Coppola's was unnecessary

"New York Stories" tells three tales of the Big Apple. Martin Scorsese's "Life Lessons" shows artist Lionel Dobie (Nick Nolte) trying to assess his relationships with people, Francis Ford Coppola's "Life without Zoe" shows a very mature girl, and Woody Allen's "Oedipus Wrecks" is about Sheldon Mills (played by Allen himself), a man who quite literally cannot get away from his mother.

I have to say that Scorsese did a very good job looking at troubled relationships, and Allen shows how hard it is to have certain kinds of people as parents (of course he often shows that). But Coppola's segment was so dull that I choose not to even write about it. But don't worry; the movie is overall really good, and we should assume that it really sucks to be Allen's character, given what happens in that segment.