History Film / Manhattan

%%* NervousWreck: Ike, in a way typical for Allen's protagonists.

%%* RomanticComedy: Of Allenish variety.

%%* [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]]: Quite a lot, especially in the first conversation between Ike and Mary.

%%* SliceOfLife

%%* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Most of the main cast.

%%* WritersBlock: The movie begins with a mild case of that.

--> "Oh, I would have thought then in your case it would be a Great Dane."

* RealPersonCameo: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_Abzug Bella Abzug]] appears in the film at a real-life fundraiser.

The plot revolves around a couple of intellectual, semi-bohemian friends living in Manhattan, every one of whom has his own problems, intertwining with those of the others. Isaac "Ike" Davis (Allen) is a [[AuthorAvatar neurotic, self-ironic]], impulsive, middle-aged aspiring writer, whose wife Jill (Creator/MerylStreep), the mother of his son Willie, divorced him after discovering that [[IncompatibleOrientation she's in fact a lesbian]] and now is writing an autobiographical novel about their former relationship. Tracy (AcademyAward nominated Mariel Hemingway), his 17-year-old lover, has to deal with her growing love towards Ike and the age difference between her and the majority of Ike's friends. Ike's friend Yale (Michael Murphy) dreams of becoming a writer, even though his wife Emily (Anne Byrne) strongly suggests that it's time to settle down and have kids; his life changes even more when he meets Mary (Keaton), an extroverted, erudite journalist. Mary quickly becomes infatuated, but it is hard for her to say whether the object of her feelings is Ike or Yale. Also in the mix are Mary's ex-boyfriend Jeremiah (Creator/WallaceShawn) and Jill's new partner Connie (Karen Ludwig). First, HilarityEnsues, then, as usual in Allen's works, things become more complicated.

The plot revolves around a couple of intellectual, semi-bohemian friends living in Manhattan, every one of whom has his own problems, intertwining with those of the others. Isaac "Ike" Davis (Allen) is a [[AuthorAvatar neurotic, self-ironic]], impulsive, middle-aged aspiring writer, whose wife Jill (Creator/MerylStreep), the mother of his son Willie, divorced him after discovering that [[IncompatibleOrientation she's in fact a lesbian]] and now is writing an autobiographical novel about their former relationship. Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), his 17-year-old lover, has to deal with her growing love towards Ike and the age difference between her and the majority of Ike's friends. Ike's friend Yale (Michael Murphy) dreams of becoming a writer, even though his wife Emily (Anne Byrne) strongly suggests that it's time to settle down and have kids; his life changes even more when he meets Mary (Keaton), an extroverted, erudite journalist. Mary quickly becomes infatuated, but it is hard for her to say whether the object of her feelings is Ike or Yale. Also in the mix are Mary's ex-boyfriend Jeremiah (Creator/WallaceShawn) and Jill's new partner Connie (Karen Ludwig). First, HilarityEnsues, then, as usual in Allen's works, things become more complicated.

* RaceForYourLove: Isaac runs/jobs across Manhattan to try and speak to Tracy before she leaves for Europe.

* BookEnds: The film begins with a shot of the sunrise over Manhattan, and ends with the sunset.

In many respects it resembles ''Film/AnnieHall'': not only because a female protagonist is played in both films by Diane Keaton but also because it shows that the most important problems associated with relationships simply cannot be solved once and for ever - all this in a typical Allenian sweet-and-sour, self-ironic mood. However, in ''Manhattan'' the distinction between primary and secondary characters is much more fluent, so the movie is more about the particular situations than persons. One of the important subjects explored is maturity and its relation to the conflict between emotions and reason; however, this being a Woody Allen movie, it is mainly about love, human imperfection and the difficulties which stem from them.

* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: Ike (Archie) has to chose between Tracy and Mary. At first, Tracy seems to be the Veronica. She is only 17 and Ike thinks that she is just a kid and that she will dump him as soon as she meets a boy of his age. Mary seems to be a safer choice, because she is older. Actually, just after starting a relationship with Ike, Mary meets again Yale in secret and soon she dumps Ike to get back with Yale. Ike realizes that Tracy really loved him, so he try to convince her to resume their relationship. Mary tells her that she does not have had a new boyfriend in the meanwhile, that she has to go to London for 6 months, but that she will remain faithful to him, so they can resume their relationship when she comes back.

* BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: Ike (Archie) has to chose between Tracy and Mary. At first, Tracy seems to be the Veronica. She is only 17 and Ike thinks that she is just a kid and that she will dump him as soon as she meets a boy of his age. Mary seems to be a safer choice, because she is older. Actually, just after starting a relationship with Ike, Mary meets again Yale in secret and soon she dumps Ike to get back with Yale. Ike realizes that Tracy really loved him, so he try to convince her to resume their relationship. Mary tells her that she does not have had a new boyfriend in the meanwhile, that she has to go to London for 6 months, but that she will remain faithful to him, so they can resume their relationshio when she comes back.

* BettyAndVeronica: Yale (Archie) has to choose between his wife Emily (Betty), who is reliable and would like to have children with her, and Mary (Veronica), his secret lover, who is self-contradictory: Mary tells him that she deserves better than a married man like him, but when he proposes to break up with Emily, she answers that she does not want him to divorce because of her.

%%* YourCheatingHeart: Yale towards Emily.

%%* BettyAndVeronica: Tracy and Mary for Ike.

%%* LoveDodecahedron: Very much.

* MayDecemberRomance: Ike and Tracy.

%%* MostWritersAreWriters: And Ike is no exception.

%%* TeacherStudentRomance: Mary and Jeremiah.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Do not uncomment them without expanding them to explain how they apply. A character's name on its own is not context. Give examples of how that character exemplifies the trope.

* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse, Ike trying to run over Jill's lesbian lover with his car, as well as Jill's eventually tell-all book.

* RegionalStereotype: According to Mary, no one from Philadelphia is an atheist or cheats on their spouse.

%%* RegionalStereotype: According to Mary, no one from Philadelphia is an atheist or cheats on their spouse.

Noted as one of the first films to be released on home video in the {{Letterbox}} aspect ratio, paving the way for widescreen video releases, primarily on {{Laserdisc}}. The letterbox format was actually requested by Allen himself, wanting to preserve as much of Gordon Willis' cinematography as possible.

%%* KavorkaMan: Both Ike and Yale, apparently.