- published: 01 Oct 2014
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Zelig is a 1983 American film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow. Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma who, out of his desire to fit in and be liked, takes on the characteristics of strong personalities around him. The film, presented as a documentary, recounts Zelig's intense period of celebrity in the 1920s and includes analysis from present day intellectuals.
The film was photographed and narrated in the style of 1920s black-and-white newsreels, which are interwoven with archival footage from the era and re-enactments of real historical events. Color segments from the present day interview real and fictional personages, including Saul Bellow and Susan Sontag.
Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film focuses on Leonard Zelig, a nondescript man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him. He is first observed at a party by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who notes that Zelig related to the affluent guests in a thick, refined accent and shared their republican sympathies, but while in the kitchen with the servants adopted a ruder tone and seemed to be more of a democrat. He soon gains international fame as a "human chameleon".
Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.
Keywords: 1920s, 1930s, airplane-theft, american-indian, baseball, bathing-beauty, black-&-white-to-color, bronx-new-york-city, bullfighting, chameleon
[Leonard Zelig is apologizing on radio to all the people he misrepresented himself to]::Leonard Zelig: My deepest apology goes to the Trochman family in Detroit. I...I never delivered a baby before in my life, and I... I just thought that ice tongs was the way to do it.
Leonard Zelig: I have an interesting case. I'm treating two sets of Siamese twins with split personalities. I'm getting paid by eight people.
Leonard Zelig: I love baseball. You know, it doesn't have to mean anything. It's just very beautiful to watch.
Leonard Zelig: [while under hypnosis] Oh... the pancakes!
[Zelig thinks he's a psychiatrist.]::Leonard Zelig: I worked with Freud in Vienna. We broke over the concept of penis envy. Freud felt that it should be limited to women.
The Narrator: The Ku Klux Klan, who saw Zelig as a Jew, that could turn himself into a Negro and an Indian, saw him as a triple threat.
Leonard Zelig: But I've never flown before in my life, and it shows exactly what you can do, if you're a total psychotic!
The Narrator: That Zelig could be responsible for the behavior of each of the personalities he assumed means dozens of lawsuits. He is sued for bigamy, adultery, automobile accidents, plagiarism, household damages, negligence, property damages, and performing unnecessary dental extractions.
Zelig's Wife: He married me up at the First Church of Harlem. He told me he was the brother of Duke Ellington.
Wrist Victim: He was the guy who smashed my car up. It was brand new. Then he backed-up over my mother's wrist. She's elderly... and uses her wrist a lot.
Actors: Takehito Koyasu (actor), Nobuhiko Okamoto (actor), Hiro Shimono (actor), Suzuko Mimori (actress), Koki Uchiyama (actor), Atsushi Ono (actor), Takashi Sakurai (editor), Yukiko Monden (actress),
Plot: The story re-imagines the real-life "console wars" as a fantasy tale - the Segua Kingdom is locked in an age-old war with the Ninterudo Empire for dominance of the land of Consume. Segua now finds itself on the defensive, but an unlikely hero has risen in the form of Gear, a boy who brags about his breakneck speed. Gear helps turn the tide of the war.
Genres: Action, Animation, Fantasy,Actors: Michael Armstrong (producer), Michael Armstrong (writer), Michael Armstrong (director), Chris Silagyi (actor), Lorren Studley (actor), David Sugich (actor), Tony Verdugo (actor), Scott Weintraub (actor), Dirk Brandts (actor), Terence Eagan (miscellaneous crew), Brad Clements (actor), Eric Lehman (actor), Ken Moore (actor),
Plot: A plane carrying WWII American soldiers crashes in the Baroque A Nova desert. They are quickly captured by a group of stranded German soldiers. Together the men begin a trek to escape the desert without killing each other first.
Keywords: airplane-accident, anti-war, desert, flashback, independent-film, madness, prisoner-of-war, resistance, world-war-twoActors: Fritz Feld (actor), Earle Foxe (actor), Henry B. Walthall (actor), Blue Washington (actor), Beulah Marie Dix (writer), George B. Seitz (director), William Fox (miscellaneous crew), Bertram Millhauser (miscellaneous crew), Sheldon Lewis (actor), Ivan Linow (actor), Katherine Hilliker (editor), Katherine Hilliker (writer), Josephine Dunn (actress), Albert Hay Malotte (composer), Dorothy Jordan (actress),
Genres: Drama,