- Actors: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom, Stephanie Roth Haberle
- Directors: Woody Allen
- Writers: Woody Allen
- Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Vid Canada
- Release Date: Oct 29 1997
- Run Time: 104 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 6305075328
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#90,722 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #67 in DVD > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Woody Allen
- #73 in DVD > Comedy > Comedy Directors > Woody Allen
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Product Description
From Amazon.com
Some critics and filmgoers have hailed this 1989 comedy-drama as Woody Allen's best film, and while that's certainly open for debate, a good case can be made that it's the most ambitious and morally complex of Allen's films. It's the kind of movie that provokes heated philosophical debate about the role of God in our lives, the nature of guilt, and the circumstances that would allow a seemingly good, law-abiding family man and successful professional (Martin Landau) to commit a murder with no risk of being caught. Could you live with yourself under those conditions? Allen explores this complicated issue in the context of an extramarital affair that Landau's mistress (Anjelica Huston) threatens to expose, while developing a second story about a documentary filmmaker (Allen) who reluctantly makes a film about his brother-in-law (Alan Alda), a TV sitcom producer whose vanity is seemingly unlimited. From serious crimes to misdemeanors of personal behavior, Allen ties these stories together to create a provocative and unsettling study of divergent moralities and the price we're willing to pay to preserve our personal comfort and happiness. It's a sobering film, but a fascinating and funny one as well, unfolding like a thriller in which the question is not whodunit but rather, would you do it if you knew you could get away with it? --Jeff Shannon
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant film about the nature of guilt and judgement,
By
This review is from: Crimes and Misdemeanors (Widescreen) (DVD)
Deeply moving, deeply though-provoking, brilliantly acted and occasionally very funny. A disturbing, dark film about human nature that still manages to leave room for a glimmer of hope within it's chilling bleakness.Martin Landau is amazing, but all of the cast make significant contributions. One of the few films I can watch over and over, with no loss of its power. Every time I watch it I end up pondering my own sense of morality, my questions about whether there is truly justice in the world, and the extent to which good people do bad things. And yet, along with all those heavy ideas, this is also entertaining, witty, and occasionally very tense story-telling of the first order. For me it's second only to 'Annie Hall' amongst Allen's huge body of work, and stands as one of the few truly great films of the 1980s.
5.0 out of 5 stars
How round is your circle?,
By Vote Sizing Steve (Cartagena, Colombia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Crimes and Misdemeanors (Widescreen) (DVD)
There's no need to force conclusions from this fantastic movie about either the nature of god or the nature of man - that would be like rejecting the circle that I draw because you can find parts which aren't perfectly round. We all know what a circle is, and we all know the difference between right and wrong. Rather than go on and on forever trying to explain it, if you can sit through this movie and not find Judah's actions distasteful, then no god or good is going to have any impact on you ... "I've gone out the window."
4.0 out of 5 stars
Crime but no time,
By A Customer
This review is from: Crimes & Misdemeanors (VHS Tape)
I think what Allen meant to call this film was "Felonies and Misdemeanors" since a misdemeanor is a crime and the title a little redundant. That aside I think it's his best film, hands down. He managed to pull together his comic and tragic instincts into what is an entertaining and occasionally harrowing declaration of atheism. Not a philosophy everyone agrees with but he doesn't soft-pedal it. The staging of the murder that parallels Allen's romantic misadventures with a TV producer gives Martin Landau the role of a lifetime as a well-meaning physician who profits from an evil act. Great performances all around, especially Jerry Ohrbach as Landau's hoody brother and Allan Alda as a TV impressario who divests Woody of Mia Farrow (something the director probably wishes had happened in real life).
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