Crimes and Misdemeanors

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Timing: 1:44 (104 min)

7.463/10
837

7.204/10
5329

7.8/10
63000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 10

Actors and characters

Release date

1989-10-13

Country

United States

Production

Orion Pictures, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Genre

Comedy, Drama

Budget

$19 000 000

Revenue

$18 254 702

Website

Director

Woody Allen

Actors

Woody Allen, Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, Joanna Gleason, Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach, Jenny Nichols, Caroline Aaron
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Robert Greenhut, Charles H. Joffe, Jack Rollins

Operator

Sven Nykvist

Composer

Artist

Audition

Juliet Taylor

Editing

Susan E. Morse
All team (65)

• For one-third of the film, Woody Allen shoots a documentary, directed by Mia Farrow. Allen disliked these scenes in the final version of the film. During post-production, he cut a third of the film and then rewrote and reshot those scenes from scratch. As a result, Sean Young's scenes were completely cut, and Daryl Hannah's role was reduced to a cameo.
• The role of Professor Louis Levy was not played by an actor, but by Woody Allen's acquaintance and therapist, world-renowned Martin S. Bergman – a clinical professor of psychology teaching a postdoctoral program at New York University.
• Alan Alda was initially only supposed to appear in the opening scene with Daryl Hannah. Woody Allen asked Alan to improvise in that scene. He liked the result and ultimately decided to leave it in the final version of the film.
• Woody Allen felt he had been too "nice" to the other characters at the end of the film *Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986), and he made this film as a response to those feelings.
• Lester (Alan Alda) was modeled after Larry Gelbart, with whom both Woody Allen and Alan Alda worked. Both harbored resentment towards him due to his despotic methods. Various comments attributed to Lester, such as "Comedy is tragedy plus time" and "If it bends, it’s funny, if it breaks, it’s not funny," are quotes by Larry Gelbart. Despite his well-known dislike of Gelbart, Allen called him "the best comedy writer I ever knew and just a wonderful human being" in a statement shortly after Gelbart's death. And Alda said: "Larry’s genius as a writer changed my life, because I got to say his lines, which are so good they’ll live on. But his other genius was his enormous talent for companionship, and that ‘light’ went with him, and we’re left sitting in the dark" (from the Los Angeles Times obituary).
• Martin Landau originally auditioned for the role of Jack Rosenthal.
• The woman who says, "Hello Lester… Thank you so much for the invitation… This is a wonderful party" at 10 minutes and 10 seconds into the film is Wanda Toscanini-Horowitz, the wife of the great pianist Vladimir Horowitz.
• During his argument with Cliff, Lester states he has a closet full of Emmys. In real life, Alan Alda had won four Emmys before appearing in this film.
• Clifford’s sarcastic remark, directed towards Haley Reed (Mia Farrow), that she loves Lester like a brother, is a reference to David Greenglass, who was the brother of executed "atomic spy" Ethel Rosenberg, and whose testimony in court helped convict her and her husband Julius Rosenberg of espionage.
• During the wedding celebration, a jazz orchestra plays Crazy Rhythm, with muted trumpet sounds audible, even though the trumpeter isn't playing at that moment.
• When Jude decides to kill Dolores, he dials only 7 digits when calling his brother, Jack. Jude lives in Connecticut, and Jack lives in New York, so he would have needed to dial at least 10 digits to reach him.
• Woody Allen felt he was too "nice" to the other characters at the end of "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), and he made this film as a response to those feelings.
• Lester (Alan Alda) was created in the image of Larry Gelbart, with whom both Woody Allen and Alan Alda worked. Both felt animosity towards him due to his despotic methods. Various remarks by Lester, such as: “Comedy is tragedy plus time” and “If it bends – it’s funny, if it breaks – it’s not funny” – are quotes by Larry Gelbart. Despite his well-known dislike for Gelbart, Allen called him “the best comedy writer of anyone I’ve ever known and just a wonderful human being” in a statement shortly after Gelbart’s death. And Alda said: “Larry’s genius as a writer changed my life because I got to say his lines, which are so good they will live on. But his other genius was his enormous talent for companionship, and that ‘light’ went with him, and we are left sitting in the dark” (from the Los Angeles Times obituary).
• The woman who says “Hello Lester… Thank you so much for the invitation… It’s a lovely party” at 10 minutes and 10 seconds into the film is Wanda Toscanini-Horowitz, the wife of the greatest pianist Vladimir Horowitz.
• Clifford's sarcastic remark, directed at Hayley Reed (Mia Farrow), that she loves Lester like a brother, is a reference to David Greenglass, who was the brother of convicted “atomic spy” Ethel Rosenberg, and whose testimony in court helped convict her and her husband Julius Rosenberg of espionage.