Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Broadway Danny Rose Blu-ray Movie Review

If he can make it there, it would be a minor miracle.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2014

What does an agent do? Even those of us who have worked in some niche professions that require “representation” sometimes ask that very question, especially when we see a chunk of every paycheck going to pay someone else for so- called “professional services”. While Woody Allen’s 1984 farce Broadway Danny Rose purports to be about a theatrical agent, few who have actually dealt with this ilk would probably recognize the nurturing, hands on, if neurotic and tic filled, individual that Allen portrays as the titular Danny Rose. Like most Allen heroes, Danny is a basically decent chap who is nonetheless seemingly consigned to being a hapless sad sack, representing C-list (if even that) talent like a woman who “plays” wine glasses or a couple who make balloon animals. Early in the film Danny laments seeing acts he has fostered go big time, at which point they drop his representation like a veritable hot potato, and so the foundation is already laid for what is probably going to occur when Danny starts representing a one hit wonder from the 1950s named Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte). Though he’s married, Canova has been cavorting with a petulant but attractive woman named Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow), and when Danny lines up what could be Lou’s biggest break in years (maybe decades), Lou insists that Tina be there for an all important audition. That sets up the central conceit of Broadway Danny Rose, where Danny finds himself ensconced with some very nasty mobster types due to Tina's involvement with a mafioso ex-boyfriend. Danny is an archetypal example of what might be charitably referred to in Yiddish as a shlemiel, i.e., a guy who’s almost genetically incapable of being effective in any meaningful way. Oddly, though, Danny is also (to use another Yiddish term) a mensch, a sweet natured Everyman who really does have the best of intentions, never more evident than when he attempts to help any of his clients. It’s this unusual dialectic that gives the character of Danny Rose, and indeed Broadway Danny Rose itself, much of its inherent charm.

The entire story of Broadway Danny Rose is told as an anecdote shared among comedians as they have a gabfest around a diner table one day, and it’s evident that all of them have a soft spot for Danny, even as they realize he may not have been the most formidable talent agent of all time. (These elder statesmen of comedy are played by real life Borscht Belt regulars like Corbett Monica and Sandy Baron.) In one of the first stories one of these guys tells, we get Danny himself reeling off a litany of acts he manages, including a one legged tap dancer, a blind xylophone player and a guy who has birds who play the piano by pecking at it. Obviously, Danny is one step away from representing that most famous anecdotal act of all time, The Aristocrats.

The main anecdote, however, concerns Danny’s dealings with Lou Canova, and specifically with one integral period of Canova’s career when a chance meeting between Danny and Milton Berle on a Manhattan street corner potentially paves the way for a major career renaissance for the erstwhile fifties heartthrob (that would be Canova, not Berle). Canova isn’t quite as twitchy as Danny is, but he’s just as neurotic in his own way, beset by both insecurities and delusions of grandeur (he can “tell” that women in the audience are virtually undressing him with their eyes), both of which play into his somewhat bifurcated response to this “big break”. Lou is absolutely insistent that his surreptitious girlfriend Tina be at his audition for Berle, though he wants Danny to act as a “beard”, pretending to be Tina’s boyfriend so as not to draw attention to Lou (especially since he’s married and has kids). Unfortunately for Danny, his act is only all too believable, especially for Tina’s mobster ex-boyfriend Johnny Rispoli (Edwin Bordo).

Tina is upset because Lou has been “cheating” on her (with his wife), and so is reluctant to support her lover, and in fact has been engaging in some rather heated arguments with Lou. This of course makes Danny’s job of getting Tina to Lou’s concert challenging to begin with, a challenge that is only escalated when a bunch of mobsters start chasing the pair. While this often surprisingly sweet natured film has the requisite quota of Allen one liners, some of the funniest gags are actually more physical comedy bits, including an admittedly juvenile but still hilarious sequence when a mobster traps Danny and Tina in a warehouse full of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats, which are of course filled with helium. Some errant gunfire sets off a flood of the gas with predictable but still very funny results.

There are several surprises in Allen’s Oscar nominated screenplay, including a relative dearth of snark and an equal non- reliance on too familiar clichés of strange bedfellows begin thrust together and slowly but inexorably falling in love. However, the biggest surprise of this film is undoubtedly Mia Farrow, in one of the most unusual, and best realized, performances of her career. Farrow has been repeatedly mentioned as being the victim of an “Oscar robbery” for her stunning work in Rosemary's Baby (a snub some attribute to her temerity in choosing to work on the film rather than stay with then-husband Frank Sinatra), but she probably deserves equal if obviously ironic recognition for not gaining a nomination for this film. She’s brash, loud, inelegant and does an at least capably “Joisey” accent, in what must be miles and miles from her patrician Irish Catholic upbringing. Nick Apollo Forte, whose only feature film credit this turned out to be, is also fantastic as Lou, and he even contributes two of Lou’s “original” songs, including Lou’s supposed big hit, the suitably neurotic “Agita”. Forte makes Lou a big, lovable and only slightly despicable teddy bear.

Broadway Danny Rose Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Broadway Danny Rose is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. I have to wonder if this may be an older master, for while contrast is quite strong and the image suitably organic, there are some minor niggling problems that might bother more persnickety videophiles. There's minor but still quite noticeable flicker throughout the presentation at times, oddly more so in the brightly lit sequences than the dark ones. Grain, while most certainly present, is also somewhat variable, changing from merely heavy to downright chunky at times (at least a couple of these instances can be attributed to Allen's use of stock footage, which may have been sourced from smaller formats). Blacks are suitably dark and gray scale is decently modulated, but a lot of Broadway Danny Rose looks rather dark, though frequent Allen collaborator cinematographer Gordon Willis often liked to push the envelope in this regard. Fine detail is commendable in close-ups, revealing the natty textures of several of the costumes and the almost plastic quality of Tina's huge blonde wig.

Broadway Danny Rose Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Broadway Danny Rose's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is a bit narrow sounding, but is nicely full bodied most of the time. There were a couple of instances during Lou's musical numbers when I thought I heard some very minor distortion in the midrange, but after toggling between the soundtrack and the isolated effects and music track, I'm somewhat ambivalent that it may just be weirdly mixed crowd noises intruding on the musical elements. One way or the other, dialogue is always clean and clear (even when the actors are speaking in their "chipmunk" voices).

Broadway Danny Rose Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (480p; 1:07)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Isolated Music and Effects Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. Perhaps surprisingly, this does include the sung elements, something these tracks don't always do. It's worth noting that this was one of several Allen films graced by the presence of the inimitable Dick Hyman as music supervisor. Hyman never really got his due as either an absolutely fantastic pianist or just as importantly as a master orchestrator. He did a ton of arranging and playing for Enoch Light in the 1960s, and if you've never heard the often exquisite Command and Project 3 recordings of Light from this era, many if not most of them arranged by Hyman (and featuring his great keyboard work), I personally highly recommend them. Light of course became famous in the annals of recording not just for his "extreme" stereo separation but perhaps more importantly (especially for film fans) for his use of 35mm film as his recording medium, something that makes his albums sound incredibly rich and full bodied.

Broadway Danny Rose Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Broadway Danny Rose is certainly one of the better films from this era of Allen's filmography. It's routinely laugh out loud funny, but there's also a notable sense of schmaltz (in a good way) that informs this sweet and ultimately endearing outing. While all the performances have the typical Allen patina, Farrow is a real revelation in a role that one would not immediately intuit she was capable of playing so well. Despite some minor fluctuations in video and audio quality, Broadway Danny Rose comes Highly recommended.