# Why is Woody Allen still making movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894 "2003-07-25T15:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/41 "2023-09-05T18:05:34Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I don’t know which languages Jarmusch speaks, but it’s improbable he knows Italian, French and Finnish. In **Down by Law** (1986, directed by Jim Jarmusch), Roberto Benigni has an important scene in which he implores his friends (played by Tom Waits and John Lurie) at length in Italian. No subtitles when I saw it in upon release; it may be subtitled now. Not long ago, I posted here about the film [Alpha](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently/699906/7247), which is set in prehistoric times and features a fictional language. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/42 "2023-09-05T21:36:19Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > His films have always been hit or miss for me, nearly at random. I would love it if he went back to doing stand up at small nightclubs. Well, _if_ his timing and humor were as good as back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/43 "2023-09-05T22:21:56Z")
Hey, you like what you like. 🫡 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/44 "2023-09-05T22:53:55Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > [Woody’s one of the directors stirring debate at the Venice Film Festival alongside Roman Polanski and Luc Besson.](https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230905-venice-film-festival-the-controversial-directors-stirring-debate) There’s that international support and love people have mentioned. Some might say that there’s a large space between the accusations against and crimes of Polanski/Besson and Allen and I’d agree. But they’re still three of a kind. I would dispute the argument that they’re three of a kind on the basis that Allen is almost certainly innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/45 "2023-09-05T23:12:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I would dispute the argument that they’re three of a kind on the basis that Allen is almost certainly innocent. Why do you think so? ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/46 "2023-09-05T23:31:54Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Why do you think so? Oh! Let me answer that one. Because I can prove a negative, in fact it is my specialty. (Less facetiously, by now everyone has joined either Team Ronan (he did it) or Team Moses (he didn’t). Or else you don’t care.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/47 "2023-09-05T23:52:44Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > I would dispute the argument that they’re three of a kind on the basis that Allen is almost certainly innocent. > > Why do you think so? Because the evidence is really strong that Mia Farrow falsely accused Allen. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/48 "2023-09-06T00:05:14Z")
I shan’t hijack any more so I’ll just say “I see.” ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/49 "2023-09-07T22:23:05Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Got to admire his energy. At 90, or whatever he is now, I’d be sitting in a chaise longue at poolside sipping a Pina Colada. He is 87 but yeah his productivity at this age is remarkable. In fact it’s striking how several of the great directors of the 1970s are going strong in the 2020s. Scorcese has a much acclaimed film in 2023 and Spielberg made two well-received films in 2021 and 2022. Even Coppola has a big film out next year. Lucas is the only one who has basically retired. It would be as if an acclaimed filmmaker from the golden age of the 1940s continued making good films in the 1990s; I can’t think of a single example. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/50 "2023-09-08T01:30:06Z")
The best example of a director who kept making films until a very late age is the Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira: > **[Manoel de Oliveira](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manoel_de_Oliveira)** > > Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira GCSE GCIH (Portuguese: \[mɐnuˈɛl doliˈvɐjɾɐ\]; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about World War I. In 1931, he completed his first film Douro, Faina Fluvial, a documentary about his home city Porto made in the city-symphony genre. He made his feature film debut in 1942 with Aniki-Bóbó and continued to make... He made some documentaries and shorts early in his career, but he didn’t make his second feature film until he was 64. It was only at that point that he really began making steadily feature films. His last film came out in the year he died at the age of 106. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/51 "2023-09-08T06:13:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Of course, in the case of Winona Ryder and Robert Downey, they’ll work not for cash but for credit toward community service… This comment sure didn’t age well. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/52 "2023-09-08T18:02:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because the evidence is really strong that Mia Farrow falsely accused Allen. Since someone brought it up, I believe Woody really did molest Dylan, **but** , I also believe that Mia and her crew have never been invested in helping Dylan recover from it. I don’t think Mia made a false accusation; I do believe she’s been using Dylan, and what happened to her, as a weapon ever since she found out. “See how messed up she is?! See what he did to her?!” She’s kept it alive when the actual victim might have long since moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/53 "2023-09-08T23:50:27Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Since someone brought it up, I believe Woody really did molest Dylan Going off track, but as long as the topic is being discussed, here’s some of the evidence that Farrow falsely accused Allen. 1. There have never been any other accusations made against Allen. Somebody who has a psychological problem that leads them to molest young children is usually going to make several attempts. 2. If Allen was a child molester, he was incredibly stupid one to try to commit a crime in a house full of potential witnesses. 3. When Farrow first accused Allen, she offered to settle the issue unofficially. It was Allen who insisted on calling in the authorities. 4. The police, a physician, and CPS all investigated and none of them found any evidence to support the allegation. 5. When the authorities were interviewing the child, Farrow was present. It was seen that Farrow was coaching her daughter on what to say. 6. Farrow offered money to one of servants who was in the house in exchange for her giving false testimony against Allen. 7. Most of Farrow’s own children have said she made up the allegations and have sided with Allen. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/54 "2023-09-09T00:08:57Z")
Yeah, what @Little_Nemo said. I think Woody Allen is most likely a pretty gross human being, but that doesn’t make him guilty of pedophilia. Mia Farrow is a vengeful loon, Woody is kinda scummy, and poor, poor Dylan was (in a manner that has been well documented by psychologists dealing with other cases) brainwashed. What I don’t understand is the behavior of Ronan Farrow (who except for this one topic I have incredible respect and admiration for) with respect to his insistence that he is Woody’s child. Oh c’mon. He is OBVIOUSLY Frank Sinatra’s kid. The only thing I can think of to explain his behavior is that he is protecting his mother, since (AFAIK, I don’t really track all this celebrity trash in detail) she has always said Ronan is Woody’s kid, and to deny that would point to his mother being both a liar and an adulteress. You’d think he’d be glad to acknowledge that he doesn’t share DNA with Woody, given how much Ronan hates him. ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/55 "2023-09-09T00:12:29Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I think Woody Allen is most likely a pretty gross human being On what do you base that opinion? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/56 "2023-09-09T00:26:55Z")
> [@Latimera](#): > > On what do you base that opinion? I’m not CairoCarol, but I agree with her: - In the 1970s, when he was in his 40s, Allen appears to have been in relationships with at least two teenaged girls (Stacey Nevin and Babi Christina Engelhardt) - And, of course, he began his relationship with Soon-Yi (his longtime partner’s adopted daughter) when she was roughly 20, and he was 55. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/57 "2023-09-09T00:32:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, of course, he began his relationship with Soon-Yi (his longtime partner’s adopted daughter) when she was roughly 20, and he was 55. Farrow began her relationship with Sinatra when she was 20 and he was 50. They lasted around four years. Woody and Soon Yi have been together for decades. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/58 "2023-09-09T00:52:28Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Farrow began her relationship with Sinatra when she was 20 and he was 50. They lasted around four years. And married 41-year-old Andre Previn when she was 25. Previn’s wife wrote a song about having her husband stolen by a 24-yr-old “young girl”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/59 "2023-09-09T00:55:34Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Farrow began her relationship with Sinatra when she was 20 and he was 50. They lasted around four years. Woody and Soon Yi have been together for decades. And this somehow makes Allen less creepy? All it does is establish that Sinatra was _also_ creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894/60 "2023-09-09T00:56:32Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - In the 1970s, when he was in his 40s, Allen appears to have been in relationships with at least two teenaged girls (Stacey Nevin and Babi Christina Engelhardt) > - And, of course, he began his relationship with Soon-Yi (his longtime partner’s adopted daughter) when she was roughly 20, and he was 55. Woody Allen apparently dated those girls when they were teens and he was 40 or 41. OK. you don’t approve. But how does that make him “a pretty gross human being” or “kinda scummy”? Do you feel that any guy that dates a much younger woman is gross and scummy? And he and Soon-Yi have been married since 1997. Is that gross and scummy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-woody-allen-still-making-movies/190894.md?page=4)