Manhattan Murder Mystery movie storyline. Larry and Carol are fairly normal New Yorkers who have sent their son off to college. They meet an elderly couple down the hall and later in the week find that the wife has suddenly died. Carol becomes suspicious of Paul who seems to be too cheerful and too ready to move on. She begins her investigation. Larry insists she is becoming too fixated on their neighbor as all of the irregularities seem to have simple non-homicidal explanations. Ted, a recently divorced friend helps her investigation and Larry begins to become jealous of their relationship and agrees to help her.
Manhattan Murder Mystery is a 1993 American comedy murder mystery film directed by Woody Allen, co-written by Allen and Marshall Brickman, and starring Allen, Diane Keaton, Anjelica Huston and Alan Alda. The film centers on a married couple’s investigation of the death of their neighbor’s wife.
The film began as an early draft of Annie Hall, which Allen co-wrote with Brickman. Eventually, the script evolved and principal photography took place in 1992, in the titular city. Released in August 1993 to positive reviews, Keaton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. It marked Zach Braff’s film debut.
The screenplay for Manhattan Murder Mystery started out as an early draft of Annie Hall, but Woody Allen did not feel that it was substantial enough, and he decided to go in a different direction. He had put off making the film for years because he felt it was too lightweight, “like an airplane book read”. Allen decided to revisit the material in the early 1990s. He contacted Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote Annie Hall, and they developed the story further.
The role of Carol was originally written for Mia Farrow, but the part was recast when she and Allen ended their relationship and became embroiled in a custody battle over their three children. Allegations in the media claimed that changes were made to the film in what was “definitely a reaction” to Allen’s relationship problems, including the casting of Anjelica Huston as “a much younger first time novelist” with whom Allen’s character became romantically involved (Huston was 41 during production).
In the fall of 1992, Allen called Diane Keaton and asked her to fill in for Farrow, and she immediately accepted. When asked if he had re-written the script to fit Keaton’s talents, Allen said, “No, I couldn’t do that. In a regular script I would have done that upon hiring Diane Keaton. But I couldn’t [here] because it’s a murder mystery, and it’s very tightly plotted, so it’s very hard to make big changes… I had written [the part] more to what Mia likes to do. Mia likes to do funny things, but she’s not as broad a comedian as Diane is. So Diane made this part funnier than I wrote it.”
Making the film was a form of escape for Allen because the “past year was so exhausting that I wanted to just indulge myself in something I could relax and enjoy”. He also found it very therapeutic working with Keaton again. After getting over her initial panic in her first scene with Alan Alda, Keaton and Allen slipped back into their old rhythm.
After she had trouble with that scene, Allen decided to re-shoot it. In the meantime, she worked with her acting coach and did other scenes that went well. According to Allen, Keaton changed the dynamic of the film because he “always look(s) sober and normal compared to Keaton. I turn into the straight man”. Huston said that the set was “oddly free of anxiety, introspection and pain”, and this was due to Keaton’s presence.
The film was shot in the fall of 1992 on the streets of Greenwich Village, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side. Allen had cinematographer Carlo Di Palma rely on hand-held cameras, “swiveling restlessly from one room to another, or zooming in abruptly for a close look.”
Larry and Carol Lipton’s apartment is at 200 East 78th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenue[4] and between two groups of New York City Designated Landmarks, east of one group of rowhouses and west of another group. Allen staged a climactic shoot-out in a roomful of mirrors that, according to Allen, referenced a similar shoot-out in Orson Welles’ film The Lady from Shanghai.
Manhattan Murder Mystery movie trailer.
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Adler, Lynn Cohen, Ron Rifkin, Joy Behar, William Addy, Anjelica Huston, Alan Alda, Marge Redmond, Sylvia Kauders
Screenplay by: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Production Design by: Santo Loquasto
Cinematography by: Carlo Di Palma
Film Editing by: Susan E. Morse
Costume Design by: Jeffrey Kurland
Set Decoration by: Susan Bode
Art Direction by: Speed Hopkins
MPAA Rating: PG for mild language, and for elements of violence in a comic murder mystery.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: August 18, 1993
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