At his prime, from his Oscar-winning film “Annie Hall” in 1977 to “Hannah and Her Sisters,” which was nominated for the 1986 Best Picture and won Original Screenplay Oscar, Woody Allen was not only the most famous Jewish director but the most famous and most acclaimed American filmmaker, based on a strong cycle of serio-comedies.
Only one of a handful American directors who justify the label of “auteur,” Allen has enjoyed complete artistic control over his work, an enviable condition first forged with Orion Pictures in the early 1980s and then with United Artists and other studios.
Regardless of their specific genre (comedies, dramas, melodramas), most of Allen’s films are highly personal, containing many allusions to his private life as well as to his notions of art, love, philosophy, and religion.