Bullets Over Broadway is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri and Jennifer Tilly.
Bullets Over Broadway | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Woody Allen |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Carlo DiPalma |
Edited by | Susan E. Morse |
Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million[not verified in body] |
Box office | $37.5 million |
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Allen and co-writer Douglas McGrath for Original Screenplay, Allen for Director, Wiest & Tilly for Supporting Actress and Palminteri for Supporting Actor. Wiest won Best Supporting Actress for her performance, the second time Allen directed her to an Academy Award. It is considered one of Allen's best works.
In 1928, David Shayne is an idealistic young playwright newly arrived on Broadway. Desperate to gain financing for his play, God of Our Fathers, he is convinced by producer Julian Marx to cast actress Olive Neal, the girlfriend of gangster Nick Valenti, in a minor role.
Compensating for his frustration with the demanding and talentless Olive, Shayne is thrilled to cast alcoholic faded star Helen Sinclair in the lead role, along with the dieting British thespian Warner Purcell. Rehearsals are soon thrown into chaos when Olive shows up escorted by Cheech, a mob henchman, who insists on watching rehearsals.
Eventually Cheech starts giving notes on the script to Shayne, who is initially angered by the intrusion but quickly realises the ideas are excellent. Cheech, who barely learned to read before burning down his school, has a natural talent for playwriting, but is not interested in taking any credit. The cast members herald the revised script as genius, disparaging his initial draft as dull and pompous.
Buoyed by their imminent success, Shayne and the actors succumb to their vices. His partner, Ellen, catches him cheating on her with Helen. Warner indulges in overeating and begins an affair with Olive, which he attempts to break off when Cheech threatens his life. Growing increasingly frustrated with Olive's poor acting, Cheech tries to have her fired from the production. After Shayne reminds him he can't get rid of Olive, Cheech murders her and dumps her body in a river.
Olive's murder is widely assumed to be part of an inter-gang conflict, but Shayne immediately senses the truth and argues with Cheech. Regretting his mistakes, Shayne is dismayed to learn that Ellen is leaving him for his hedonistic Marxist friend Sheldon Flender.
On opening night, Valenti accuses Cheech of the murder, which he denies. Henchmen Rocco and Aldo chase Cheech backstage while the play is being performed, shooting him. With his dying words, Cheech gives Shayne a new final line for the play. The play is a critical and commercial hit, but Shayne skips the after party to confront Flender. He confesses his lack of talent and proposes marriage to Ellen, who accepts his newfound desire to leave high society.
The film's locales include the duplex co-op on the 22nd floor of 5 Tudor City Place in Manhattan.[1]
The film's title may have been an homage to a lengthy sketch of the same title from the 1950s television show Caesar's Hour; one of Allen's first jobs in television was writing for Sid Caesar specials after the initial run of the show. The film featured the last screen appearance of Benay Venuta. Allen cast her in a cameo role as a well-wishing wealthy theatre patron. She died of lung cancer months after the film opened.
Bullets Over Broadway received a positive response from critics. The review-aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports 95% positive reviews from 60 critics, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The consensus reads, "A gleefully entertaining backstage comedy, Bullets Over Broadway features some of Woody Allen's sharpest, most inspired late-period writing and direction."[3]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the film as "a bright, energetic, sometimes side-splitting comedy with vital matters on its mind, precisely the kind of sharp-edged farce [Allen] has always done best."[4] Todd McCarthy of Variety similarly called it "a backstage comedy bolstered by healthy shots of prohibition gangster melodrama and romantic entanglements" and wrote, "In its mixing of showbiz and gangsters, this is a nice companion piece to Allen's Broadway Danny Rose, and about as amusing."[5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised, "Bullets Over Broadway shares a kinship with a more serious film by Allen, Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which a man committed murder and was able, somehow, to almost justify it. Now here is the comic side of the same coin. The movie is very funny and, in the way it follows its logic wherever it leads, surprisingly tough."[6]
The film grossed $13.4 million in the United States and Canada and $24.1 million internationally for a worldwide total of $37.5 million.[7][8]
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
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20/20 Awards | Best Director | Woody Allen | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor | Chazz Palminteri | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Jennifer Tilly | Nominated | |
Dianne Wiest | Won | ||
Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated | |
Best Production Design | Santo Loquasto | Nominated | |
Best Costume Design | Jeffrey Kurland | Nominated | |
Academy Awards[9] | Best Director | Woody Allen | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actor | Chazz Palminteri | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Jennifer Tilly | Nominated | |
Dianne Wiest | Won | ||
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated | |
Best Art Direction | Santo Loquasto and Susan Bode | Nominated | |
Best Costume Design | Jeffrey Kurland | Nominated | |
American Comedy Awards | Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Chazz Palminteri | Nominated |
Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Jennifer Tilly | Nominated | |
Tracey Ullman | Nominated | ||
Dianne Wiest | Won | ||
Artios Awards[10] | Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Casting – Comedy | Juliet Taylor | Won |
Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Dianne Wiest | Won |
Best Original Screenplay | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated | |
Best Art Direction | Santo Loquasto and Susan Bode | Nominated | |
Best Costume Design | Jeffrey Kurland | Nominated | |
Best Cast Ensemble | Nominated | ||
Honorable Mentions (The Next Ten Best Picture Contenders) | Woody Allen | Won | |
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards[11] | Best Supporting Actress | Tracey Ullman | 3rd Place |
Dianne Wiest | 2nd Place | ||
British Academy Film Awards[12] | Best Screenplay – Original | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated |
British Comedy Awards[13] | Best Comedy Film | Won | |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[14] | Best Supporting Actor | Chazz Palminteri | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress | Dianne Wiest | Won | |
Chlotrudis Awards | Best Movie | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Dianne Wiest | Won | |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
Faro Island Film Festival | Best Film | Woody Allen | Won |
Golden Globe Awards[15] | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Dianne Wiest | Won |
Guldbagge Awards | Best Foreign Film | Woody Allen | Nominated |
Independent Spirit Awards[16] | Best Feature | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Male | Chazz Palminteri | Won | |
Best Supporting Female | Dianne Wiest | Won | |
Best Screenplay | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated | |
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards[17] | Best Supporting Actress | Dianne Wiest | Won |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards[18] | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
National Board of Review Awards[19] | Top Ten Films | 4th Place | |
National Society of Film Critics Awards[20] | Best Supporting Actress | Dianne Wiest | Won |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards[21] | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
Sant Jordi Awards | Best Foreign Actor | Chazz Palminteri (also for A Bronx Tale and The Usual Suspects) | Won |
Screen Actors Guild Awards[22] | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role | Chazz Palminteri | Nominated |
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Dianne Wiest | Won | |
Society of Texas Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards[23] | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
Writers Guild of America Awards[24] | Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath | Nominated |
Allen adapted the film as a stage Jukebox musical, titled Bullets Over Broadway the Musical. The musical is directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, produced by Julian Schlossberg and Allen's younger sister Letty Aronson, with a score from the American songbook using songs from the 1920s and 1930s.[43] The new musical premiered on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on April 10, 2014.[44] A staged reading was held in June 2013.[45] The cast features Zach Braff as David Shayne, Brooks Ashmanskas, Betsy Wolfe, Lenny Wolpe, and Vincent Pastore.[46] Marin Mazzie stars as Helen Sinclair,[47] and Karen Ziemba appears as "Eden Brent."[48] Musical supervisor Glen Kelly has adapted and written additional lyrics for songs including "Tain't Nobody's Bus'ness," "Running Wild," "Let's Misbehave" and "I Found A New Baby".[44] The musical closed on August 24, 2014, after 156 performances and 33 previews.[49]
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