Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/790371
18 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2017 by Peter Tonguette I n the countless comedies he has written, directed and starred in during his 50-year career, Woody Allen comes across as a chatterbox. His on-screen persona is forever opining, grousing or whining about one thing or another. When editing a film, however, Allen adopts a decidedly different demeanor. In 1976, Wendy Greene Bricmont, ACE, discovered for herself just what a calm, orderly atmosphere is maintained in the cutting rooms of Woody Allen. After serving as an assistant editor to Allen's longtime editor Ralph Rosenblum, ACE, on several non- Allen films, including Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976), Bricmont was invited to work on the duo's latest and most challenging undertaking, Annie Hall. Although Bricmont was hired as an assistant editor, she moved up to editor during post-production and ultimately shared the editing credit on the film with Rosenblum; he received an opening credit, she an end credit. Unlike the clear-cut farces that preceded it, such as Sleeper (1973) or Love and Death (1975), the film dissected the relationship of writer Alvy Singer (Allen) and singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) through a blend of scenes both comic and dramatic. The final brew was often funny but sometimes sad. In the interview book Woody Allen on Woody Allen, the director described his early efforts as consisting of a "series of jokes." He added, "But it was not until later, when I did Annie Hall, that I became more ambitious and started to use the cinema a little bit." After its debut 40 years ago in March 1977, Annie Hall was honored with Academy Awards in four categories: Best Picture, Best Director for Allen, Best Actress for Keaton and Best Original Screenplay for Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman. In 1998, the film's stature was confirmed when the American Film Institute chose it as one of the 100 best films made in the United States. Bricmont remembers the experience of editing Annie Hall as being relaxed — even serene. The setting in which the film was cut could best be described as Wendy Greene Bricmont on 'Annie Hall' MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM Wendy Greene Bricmont. Top: Annie Hall. Photo by Brian Hamill United Artists/ Photofest