Warming up for the Big Apple

Given that I am going to New York this year, I have been trying to capture the flavour of “the big apple” by watching a couple of Woody Allen movies. I sat through Annie Hall and Manhattan, two of his best films, apparently. These films were made in the mid-to-late 1970s, and were of their time, but Manhattan has a great score, is in atmospheric black & white and overall looks and feels good, but what actually happens. You don’t need to watch a Woody Allen film, in my short and immediate experience. It’s all about dialogue. Allen plays himself and is always the New York anxious Jewish comedian/playwright etc. He always sleeps with glamorous women and he always lacks self esteem. Did I enjoy these films? Yes, I guess I did, although I can’t help feeling they are under-rated. Nevertheless, they did give me a flavour of Manhattan and built up a little anticipation. I will have to play that George Gershwin CD- I have always loved Rhapsody in Blue.