Another Hulu gem I grabbed before it expired and since the last time I watched it, I was a Tweener back in Springfield, IL, so the early Eighties on HBO probably. I wanted to see if the humor held up after 40-plus years.
In short, it does and it’s unfortunate because Latin America’s woes in Bananas remain given the problems in Nicaragua, Salvador, Brazil and Venezuela.
If you’ve never seen it, the premise revolves around Allen’s standard nebbish character falling in love with a woman who’s involved in numerous socio-political causes circa 1971. One being the US’s complacency with the dictatorship of San Marcos (a fictional place). When the movie opens, San Marcos’ elected president is gunned down on ABC’s Wide World of Sports with Howard Cosell adding color commentary (a satiric element obviously). Allen just gets involved in the hopes it will lead to a lasting relationship with the woman. Despite her suddenly dumping him, Allen goes forward with a “vacation” in San Marcos, that they planned while they were a couple.
While Allen is there, the dictator tries to murder him in order to frame the rebels. They fail but Allen gets kidnapped by the real rebels. Figuring he has no recourse, Allen becomes a full-fledged member in the rebel. Eventually, the rebels succeed in overthrowing the dictator to hilarious results.
Bananas isn’t for everyone. Allen does his Bob Hope-esque zingers, there are implausible situation jokes (namely after the revolution succeeds) and some things you have to make a double take on. I’ll spoil one as an example. There’s a scene when Allen is at a newsstand and for a brief moment, the camera takes on what he’s seeing, mainly a row of pornographic magazines. Amongst them is The National Review, a right-wing weekly started by William F. Buckley Jr. When I was 12-13, I didn’t get it. Today, I had to pause the movie to get the laughter out.
Hulu isn’t carrying Bananas any longer but should it return, I recommend watching it. Allen’s earlier movies were very funny and he paved the way for others to make equally silly and absurd stuff. Airplane readily comes to mind even if it cranks up the silliness factor. I would go out on a limb to argue how Starship Troopers and Robocop have some Allen DNA in their satiric nature.