--- title: "Manhattan" year: 1979 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/manhattan" fi1m_score: 78 critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 11 published: "2026-09-16T10:28:14.334880+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T10:28:14.734678+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Manhattan (1979) Directed by Woody Allen · 1h 36m · MPA R · Comedy, Drama, Romance **Fi1m score: 78** · Critics 85 from 11 reviews *In a sentence:* New York looks so good that we briefly forgive everyone for talking about themselves > Woody Allen’s New York comedy earns its warmth through Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway, with Gordon Willis’s black-and-white photography doing plenty of persuading. The jokes hold up better than the increasingly solemn romance. ## Synopsis New York provides the setting for Isaac Davis (Woody Allen), whose romantic life is entangled with a circle of talkative intellectuals. Mary Wilkie (Diane Keaton) has firm opinions about culture and little difficulty expressing them. Yale (Michael Murphy) and Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) belong to the same network of relationships, where attraction is complicated by dissatisfaction. Isaac wants to make sense of his love life, but the people around him have competing desires of their own. Conversations about taste accompany romantic complications among people accustomed to the city’s wealth and cultural life. ## Review *Manhattan* is a funny, carefully made romantic comedy whose growing seriousness asks more of its characters than the writing has provided. Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman give these New Yorkers plenty of opinions and considerable difficulty behaving decently towards one another. That is fertile ground for comedy, and much of the film works by letting clever people expose their own limitations. Some of their romantic disappointments, however, are less interesting than the film seems to think. Gordon Willis’s black-and-white widescreen photography makes it tempting to overlook that weakness. The city has a grandeur that the characters cannot quite live up to, and the darker images make their busy talk feel less secure. Some of the shadows are so dense that looking becomes an effort, though the difficulty suits people who are not especially clear about themselves. The varied city backdrops also give us something to attend to when the conversation becomes self-absorbed, which happens often enough. Mel Bourne’s production design feels comfortably matched to people accustomed to wealth and cultural conversation. Their surroundings make that comfort convincing, and their dissatisfaction consequently becomes a little harder to excuse. Susan E. Morse’s editing keeps the episodic narrative relaxed, allowing the comic exchanges room without making each encounter feel like a separate sketch. The buoyancy of George Gershwin’s music does much to make New York attractive, although its warmth can be rather generous towards the people occupying it. Diane Keaton gives Mary Wilkie a speed of speech that turns intellectual confidence into a comic liability. We laughed at Mary’s cultural posturing, because Keaton makes her sound so certain that being challenged scarcely seems possible. She keeps enough nervous energy in the performance to stop Mary becoming merely a collection of objectionable opinions. Allen, as Isaac Davis, is good company too, making self-absorption funny without quite allowing it to become repellent. Both performances benefit from the screenplay’s willingness to let intelligent people sound foolish. Mariel Hemingway, playing Tracy, gives the film some necessary warmth. There is something disarming about her directness after so much intellectual display, and Allen is wise to give that quality room. She makes Tracy’s feelings matter without seeming to argue for their importance, which is a considerable help in a film full of people ready to explain themselves. Her performance also exposes a weakness elsewhere: several of the other characters need more than fluent conversation to make their unhappiness matter. Michael Murphy’s Yale is less satisfactorily written, and the romantic complications involving him need more character behind them. Murphy fits the conversational ease of the ensemble, but a relaxed performance cannot supply motives the screenplay has left thin. As the film becomes more solemn, Allen and Brickman seem increasingly willing to accept disappointment as proof of emotional depth. We can understand why these people are unhappy without finding every unhappy relationship equally interesting, and the later stretch gives us fewer jokes to compensate. By the standards of romantic comedy, the willingness to let articulate people remain difficult is a virtue. The weakness is how readily the music and photography encourage us to indulge them when the writing has supplied reasons to hesitate. At 96 minutes, the film is compact enough that its pleasures survive the change of emphasis. It is worth an evening for Keaton, Hemingway and Willis; bring a little patience for the men explaining themselves. *Fi1m score 78, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are uniformly positive, with praise clustering around Gordon Willis’s black-and-white cinematography and the use of Gershwin’s music to give New York a strong romantic presence. Most critics also admire the sharp, funny screenplay and the ease of the ensemble, particularly Woody Allen, Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway. Hemingway draws repeated praise for the honesty of her performance, while several reviews find that the photography gives shape and coherence to the film’s episodic romantic complications. The differences concern the degree of enthusiasm rather than a fundamental split over the film’s merits. RogerEbert.com offers the clearest reservations, questioning the shift towards seriousness in the final third and finding the material involving Michael Murphy’s character underdeveloped. Even that review praises the central performances; across the reviews, enthusiasm for the acting and visual craft is more consistent than discussion of whether the drama fully works. ### Reviews we read (11) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (90/100, inferred): The review hails Manhattan as one of Woody Allen's most aesthetically gorgeous and personal films, a classic love-hate letter to New York. It singles out the sublime Gershwin score and Gordon Willis's monochrome cinematography for particular praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/manhattan-review/) - **Sight and Sound**, John Pym (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Allen's mature balance of humor and form in this New York romantic comedy, highlighting the sharp script, relaxed ensemble performances (especially Mariel Hemingway), and Gordon Willis's luminous black-and-white cinematography that unifies the episodic narrative. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/manhattan-review-woody-allen-finds-mature-harmony-humour-form) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Woody Allen’s 1979 middle-period masterpiece still compelling and addictively watchable nearly four decades on, with its big scenes and performances alongside low-key gems. He singles out the inspired use of Gershwin on the soundtrack and Mariel Hemingway’s honest, authentic performance as the standout element. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/11/manhattan-review-woody-allen) - **The Independent** (90/100, inferred): The review calls it possibly Woody Allen's greatest film, praising its superlatively funny screenplay, lustrous monochrome photography by Gordon Willis, and the George Gershwin score. It highlights stand-out performances, especially by Allen, Diane Keaton and Mariel Hemingway. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/manhattan-15-427477.html) - **The New Yorker**, Penelope Gilliatt (90/100, inferred): Gilliatt calls the film an intelligently hilarious fable about Manhattan as a city of smooth rides and riches, love and betrayal, praising its black-and-white look, Gershwin score, specific evocation of Jewish intellectualism, and Allen's comic majesty and devotedness to the city and its references. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1979/04/30/the-black-and-white-apple) - **Slant Magazine**, Jaime N. Christley (3.5/4): The critic praises the film's grayscale romantic melodrama and Gordon Willis's masterful black-and-white cinematography as a perfect match for its themes of marital and amorous discord. Willis's too-dark lensing and the city's varied backdrops provide subtle commentary on the emotionally arrested characters' romantic entanglements. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/manhattan/) - **Evening Standard** (85/100, inferred): The review declares Allen on top form as actor and director in this 1979 comedy, in many ways better than Annie Hall with more rounded characters. It praises the Gershwin music and Gordon Willis's black-and-white cinematography. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/obsessive-woody-at-his-peak-7391204.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (70/100, inferred): Ebert finds it a very good movie overall, with sublime Woody Allen performance, fresh Diane Keaton as a New York intellectual, and strong work from Mariel Hemingway, but criticizes the shift to seriousness in the final third, especially the ending scene with Hemingway and underdeveloped elements involving Michael Murphy's character. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/manhattan-1979) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The review describes Allen using New York as backdrop for neurotic urban over-achievers and their premature-ending relationships, while celebrating how the film captures the inner beauty of Manhattan in black and white; it singles out Diane Keaton's expert performance as the fast-talking pseudo-intellectual Mary. [Read](https://variety.com/1978/film/reviews/manhattan-1200424467/) - **Collider**, Scott Wampler (A-): Manhattan is among Allen’s best films and one of the most beautiful, with a timeless black-and-white look and an iconic Gershwin score that elevates the familiar romantic entanglements plot. Diane Keaton’s performance shows impressive range. [Read](https://collider.com/manhattan-blu-ray-review/) - **The Skinny**, Paul Greenwood (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Manhattan one of Allen's top three films and possibly his best, praising its naturalistic direction, quintessential screenplay of New York neurotics mixing one-liners with intellectual talk, and its most aesthetically pleasing black-and-white widescreen photography paired with a Gershwin score. They highlight the charming performances by Allen and Keaton in sophisticated romantic complications. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/opinion/rediscovered-classic-manhattan) ## Details - **Director:** Woody Allen - **Director:** Woody Allen - **Writer:** Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman - **Cinematography:** Gordon Willis - **Editor:** Susan E. Morse - **Production design:** Mel Bourne - **Costume design:** Albert Wolsky - **Producer:** Charles H. Joffe - **Cast:** Woody Allen as Isaac Davis; Diane Keaton as Mary Wilkie; Michael Murphy as Yale; Mariel Hemingway as Tracy; Meryl Streep as Jill; Anne Byrne as Emily; Karen Ludwig as Connie; Michael O'Donoghue as Dennis - **Runtime:** 1h 36m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 25 April 1979 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama, Romance - **Budget:** $9 million - **Box office:** $40 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5c93q3gU3w ## Where to watch in the US - The Roku Channel: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Pluto TV: free - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1980: Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated) - Bodil Award for Best American Film 1980: Bodil Award for Best American Film (won) ## If you liked this - *The Apartment* (1960), Fi1m 91: Another city comedy that takes selfish behaviour seriously without abandoning the jokes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-apartment.md) - *Girlfriends* (1978): A less comfortable New York, with friendship given proper attention alongside romance. - *The Green Ray* (1986): For awkward conversations and a lonely person who cannot accept easy company. - *In the Mood for Love* (2000), Fi1m 91: Another carefully photographed city romance, far more restrained about saying what hurts. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-mood-for-love.md) - *Frances Ha* (2012), Fi1m 82: Black-and-white New York again, with friendship and unpaid bills complicating the pleasures. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/frances-ha.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/manhattan