Bullets Over Broadway (1994) on Netflix
In 1928 New York, playwright David Shayne needs a backer for his play. Gangster Nick Valenti will fund it if his girlfriend Olive Neal is given a part.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.4/1043,508 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Trailer
Plot summary
David Shayne is an idealistic young playwright from Pittsburgh, newly arrived on Broadway and desperate to finance his play God of Our Fathers. Producer Julian Marx finds him a backer, the gangster Nick Valenti, on one condition: Valenti's girlfriend Olive Neal must be given a part. Olive can neither act nor pass for the psychiatrist she is meant to play. David gives the lead to Helen Sinclair, a faded, alcoholic star, and casts Warner Purcell, a British actor who is dieting, opposite her. Rehearsals slide into confusion when Olive turns up with Cheech, a mob bodyguard who stays to watch. David also neglects his longtime girlfriend Ellen.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Allen for Best Director, Allen and McGrath for Best Original Screenplay, Palminteri for Best Supporting Actor and both Tilly and Wiest for Best Supporting Actress; Wiest won, the second time Allen directed her to an Academy Award.
- Allen adapted the film as a stage jukebox musical directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, which premiered on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on April 10, 2014, with Zach Braff as David Shayne and Marin Mazzie as Helen Sinclair.
- The film featured the last screen appearance of Benay Venuta, whom Allen cast in a cameo role as a well-wishing wealthy theater patron; she died of lung cancer in September 1995.
- The film's title may have been an homage to a lengthy sketch of the same title from the 1950s television show Caesar's Hour; one of Allen's first jobs in television was writing for Sid Caesar specials.
