This article by Marion Meade explores the history and inception of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall.  According to Meade, Annie Hall, which ranked number thirty-one on the American Film Institute’s 1998 list of the best 100 movies ever made, is a self-reflective film based on Woody Allen’s own life, “parading his insecurities, phobias and deep self-deprecation.”  Despite Woody Allen’s financial and cinematic success and his apparent optimism about growing older referenced in a New York Times article from 1975, Woody apparently experienced anhedonia.  Anhedonia is the psychoanalytic term for the inability to experience pleasure.  Coincidentally, Annie Hall was originally titled Anedonia until United Artists, the studio that was backing Allen’s film, forced him to change the title.  The film is a semi-autobiographical account of Allen’s life and, more specifically, his (mostly failed) relationships.
            The premise of the article is that despite the film’s wild and enduring success, the creation of the film was not as smooth as one might think.  In fact, as the title of the article suggests, the film was so problematic that it almost did not get made.  When Ralph Rosenblum, the film’s editor, initially started looking through Allen’s 100,000 feet of footage he stated that it was “‘an untitled and chaotic collection of bits and pieces that
seemed to defy continuity,’ and he held little hope for popular success.”  The biggest obstacle for Rosenblum and Allen was trying to find a linear plot that rescued the film from being a scattered stream of consciousness monologue.  Rosenblum was able to do this by focusing on Alvy Singer’s relationship with Annie Hall, or rather Woody Allen’s relationship with Diane Keaton.  Even though this new focus allowed the studio to change the title to Annie Hall, the film is truly about Alvy Singer and his struggle with himself and his relationships.  Another major obstacle in the promotion of this film was Allen’s aversion to Hollywood and the use of publicity and marketing to promote the film.  Even though Woody Allen was supported by a major studio, his style was much more in line with that of an independent filmmaker than a Hollywood filmmaker.  This article is extremely relevant to history of Annie Hall and has a high level of credibility due to Meade’s use of legitimate sources including editor Ralph Rosenblum, Woody Allen himself, UA executives Eric Pleskow and Gabe Sumner, and her use of direct quotes from the film as evidence to support her arguments.