Diane Keaton

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 12:10pm

If you could choose only one of Diane Keaton's movies that you felt was her best work, which would it be?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 12:24pm

Other than Annie Hall, of course, because Annie Hall is in an exalted class of its own.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 12:28pm

Her Bessie in Marvin's Room is one of the most beautiful screen performances of all time.
Her bathtub scene in the superb Shoot the Moon should be required viewing.
Of so many great comic performances, my favorite is Love and Death.




Falling for Keaton Updated On: 9/13/13 at 12:28 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 12:41pm

In Shoot the Moon, she's brilliant in every room of the house.


"It's already packed" Updated On: 9/13/13 at 12:41 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 12:53pm

She's marvelous in SHOOT THE MOON -- that scene in the bathtub alone.

And she's great in REDS. I always hear her voice saying, "Revolution?? In this country? When, Jack?!"

I'm not a fan of her work in CRIMES OF THE HEART -- she lays it on a bit thick there.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 1:28pm

Since Annie Hall is off the table, I'll go with Sleeper and Love & Death.

I felt bad how somewhat perfunctory Kay Corleone was written in The Godfather saga. She has good moments, no doubt, but I felt like Talia Shire had much more to do in the arc of the Corleone circle whereas the Kay character was always outsider. The movies are brilliant but thank goodness Keaton had Woody Allen movies in the 70s that shot her to star.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 1:33pm

One of the most glorious moments in American cinema --
Married To A Swiss Cheese

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 1:53pm

My favorite actress. I think her three best dramatic roles are, in order: Reds, Marvin's Room, Shoot the Moon.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 2:43pm

REDS, no question for me. In fact, I just saw it again a few days ago. I think it's her best work (among many terrific screen performances).

I also have a totally geeky soft spot for "Baby Boom." It's not a great film and it's not remotely "high art," but I just love going on that silly rom-com journey with her. I'm fully entertained and involved every time I see it.

So it's a definite "favorite" even if I wouldn't call it her "best."

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 2:48pm

I also have this weird thing about "Annie Hall."

At the time, I totally got why she was so praised and won the Oscar, etc. It really was "Diane Keaton" arriving at her very best screen persona.

My "problem" (if you want to call it that) is that she's played variations of "Annie" so many times since then, and her indelible persona from that film has carried over into other work. So now, when I go back and watch Annie Hall, I'm sort of underwhelmed. She's not doing anything so special anymore, because she's done that character, to various degrees, many times since then.

But at the time, when the film was released, it was a "first," with everything coming together for her, and it was very, very special.

Updated On: 9/13/13 at 02:48 PM

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 2:58pm

I'm with you on "Baby Boom". One of those fun comedies that stops the remote for me and I have to watch the rest of the film.

I'd pick "Marvin's Room" or "Reds" as her best performances, but her timing in "Love and Death" is flawless.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 3:22pm

With Annie Hall the movie sort of as it went on went from being more of Woody Allen's own neurosis, the movie's original working title Anhedonia, to becoming more about her. It is well-detailed by his editors that what the script had and what the final cut was is pretty drastic. Allen saw something there but yes, it is just as much her biography in the movie as it is his. I think the original script had a murder subplot with more screwball hijinks.

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 3:32pm

Loved her in The Godfather as well as all of the others mentioned.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 3:40pm

I think I get what you're saying, best, about ANNIE HALL.

To me, it's pretty clear that the entire film is a love letter to Diane Keaton as a woman, actress, lover, friend, and all-around funny person from Woody. It's hard to call what she does in that movie a performance, but it certainly is and it certainly is indelible/iconic/incredible/whatever you want to call it. It's just that the role, the movie, and the way the movie wants the audience to perceive Annie is so filtered through Woody's view of Diane that it feels way more personal to who she is. It is, I'd say, by definition her 'wheelhouse' as it were as an actress; ANNIE HALL is everything she's capable of. And I mean that in the highest compliment, not as a slight. It contains every color in her palette.

Updated On: 9/13/13 at 03:40 PM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 4:18pm

Looking For Mr Goodbar

[suestorm]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 4:46pm

it seems to me she was once a great actress, but maybe beacause she hasnt been offered any good roles, the last 10 years or so she keeps playing that overbearing mother character from Family Stone/Somethings Got to Give/Mammas Boy

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 5:11pm

Love "Baby Boom". And Diane in it. Good call best12. Sad to say I don't buy her in "Reds," much, much less in "Crimes of the Heart"

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 5:26pm

I should add that I didn't like the film version of "Marvin's Room," but for the simple reason that I saw a brilliant production of it at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles (twice) that put both Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep to shame. They didn't even scratch the surface of what was possible with those two characters. And because of that, because I had seen what was possible, it was an enormous letdown.

The ladies I saw on stage? Mary Steenbergen and Jean Smart.

EDIT: for link ...


Variety's rave review of the production I saw.

Updated On: 9/13/13 at 05:26 PM

[Buddy's blues]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 5:56pm

Looking for Mr Goodbar

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 6:54pm

Another pitch for SHOOT THE MOON. She and Albert Finney are such totally different actors, but they play off each other like magic.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 7:40pm

Well, I loved "Baby Boon" and "Something's Gotta Give".

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/13/13 at 11:56pm

Roscoe, that clip borrows a lot from Beckett! Wow, I am directing a series of Beckett short plays and was amazed how that clip reminded me of segments of PLAY!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 8:16pm

I loved Something's Gotta Give and Baby Boom, too Mom. And I also loved her in Father of the Bride. I've never seen Shoot the Moon, but I'm thinking after reading this thread that I need to.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/14/13 at 9:32pm

Loving all the "Baby Boom" love here. It really is a guilty pleasure of mine. I've seen it many times.

[Patronus]

Posted: 9/15/13 at 11:23am

I also have to put a vote in for Baby Boom. Totally a guilty pleasure.

I might have had a Baby Boom/Mr. Mom double feature not too long ago.