Annie Hall

This joke, used to great effect in the opening lines of the film "Annie Hall," is emblematic of the pharmaceutical industry in the early and mid-1990s. The answer, it seemed a decade ago, to weak pipelines and waning efficiency (R D investment vs. sales) was to make more, because new medicines were just waiting to be "discovered." Thus, the faster a company could synthesize and screen new candidate molecules, the faster that company would find them (and keep competitors from finding them first). 

Not only can he not hold his liquor, Allen s no good at any kind of intoxicant. In Sleeper, which is set a few hundred years in the future, the drag that people pass around is a mechanical orb which gets you high when you touch it. Allen becomes intoxicated and refuses to share the orb with anyone. In Annie Hall, Allen reports that the last time he smoked a joint he tried to take his pants off over Ms head. Also in that film, some friends offer Mm cocaine, reporting that it costs 2,000 an ounce. Allen sneezes, dispersing the coke. 

Unlike in James Bond films, women do not follow Woody Allen with their eyes. The front of manliness falls quickly. In Sleeper, in the woods at night, after he says that Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton) has notMng to be scared of when he s with her, he quickly adds, startled, What was that noise He has to seduce women, with self-deprecating humor and insult. Later, when he meets the woman who will be his first wife (m Annie Hall) he says to her quickly, You re New York Jewish left wing liberal intellectual who went to West Brandeis University and socialist summer camps... Stop me before I make a complete imbecile of myself She replies, No that was wonderful, I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype, and their relationsMp begins. 

Once in bed, often the women either need to smoke grass or take Valium to relax, or Allen is blocked sexually. In Annie Hall, he can t have... 

The issue of appearance is central to Allen s work. Allen s trademark hair is imruly, badly cut, frizzy, and red. Here is another vestige of the wildman. Allen s shlubbiness is as deliberately contrived and as carefully tailored as Bond s tuxedos. For exanple, fashion designer Ralph Lauren created the clothes in Annie Hall. However, when Woody Allen wears a tuxedo, he is not the elegant desirable bachelor around town, he is a manservant/waiter robot in Sleeper. Instead of Janies Bond 007, he is Janus 414 in whiteface. 

Allen is continually indicating his critical distance from the ideals of beauty that Bond simply takes for granted. In Annie Hall, Allen asks a hyper-attractive couple he sees on the street if they re happy how come they are. The man looks as cool as Bond, with his shaded sun glasses, and his open shirt. He says, I am very shallow and en ty and I have nothing to say. She adds, I m the same way. ... 

Or maybe you re a nice guy who wants to help out a haberdashery-loving gal who loves dressing up like Annie Hall but is clumsy with knots. 

Rosa, Solange, Annie Leatt, and Katharine Hall. 2005. Does the Means Justijy the Endl Targeting the Child Support Grant. Cape Town University of Cape Town, Childrens Institute. 

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