Recently I was on a Billy Crystal kick, watching a bunch of his old classics, including When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, Running Scared, and Monsters Inc. I also watched a little gem called Forget Paris, which I had somehow missed over the years, though had seen the box art many times and knew I had to get to it. Box ticked. Thing is, while I was watching, I kept having this feeling that the premise was familiar, though I couldn’t remember where until it finally it hit me. Of course. Woody Allen and another romantic gem called Broadway Danny Rose. Let’s compare.
Forget Paris released in 1995 and has Crystal’s name all over it. Quite literally in fact if you read the credits. He co-wrote it. He produced it. He directed it. And he starred as the lead character. He is Mickey Gordon, an NBA referee who travels to France to bury his estranged father, he having fought in Word War II. A mishap keeps him waiting, so he is met by an airline assistant named Ellen Andrews (Debra Winger), who is not only American and helpful, she’s darned cute and so Mickey gets all smitten. They two connect and it’s not long before they fall in love. However, as you can guess, complications arise with work, relationships, travel, and a pesky sticky pigeon. Can their love survive or should Mickey just forget Paris?
Broadway Danny Rose released in 1984 and has Allen’s name all over it. Quite literally as well, he writing, directing, and starring. He plays the titular Danny Rose, a talent agent with a stock of low-end talent, unable to find the success he needs, his best clients always leaving him behind. However, when a nostalgia wave spikes, he takes advantage with his has-been crooner Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte), who suddenly finds himself in demand. Problem is, Nick is in love with Tina (Mia Farrow), who is not his doting wife (Sandy Richman), and can’t perform unless she’s in the audience. When Danny books a hot gig with Milton Berle in attendance, Nick won’t go out unless Danny acts as the beard and brings Tina to the show, who Danny then falls in love with as well. Too bad she’s trying to break up with a mob man who, when he sees Danny, has his brothers try and kill him (or rather his mother does. Life’s not easy in show biz.
Okay, so maybe on description, the two movies don’t quite sound all that similar, and you’re probably wondering how could Forget Paris remind me of Broadway Danny Rose. Well, it’s not so much the love story between the main characters, though they all have some humorous hurdles to overcome in making things work out. It’s actually in how each film presents their stories. Both are told in flashback, told by various people who have a part to say in recalling what happened.
Forget Paris begins in a restaurant where Andy (Joe Mantegna), a sports journalist, sits with his new fiancé Liz (Cynthia Stevenson), waiting on friends, including the expected arrival of Mickey and Ellen. Andy tells Liz the story of how Ellen and Mickey met, which soon is taken over by other friends who have their own take on the couple. It’s a chaotic string of events that has Liz falling deeper into the affair with mixed emotions, so much so that she ends up in tears more than once, which is sad for her but funny for us.
With Broadway Danny Rose (filmed entirely in black and white), it’s a New York City deli, and in the back are a group of veteran stage comedians, regaling in yarns of how times have changed. Soon, Danny’s name comes up and they begin to share “the greatest Danny Rose story” ever told, each listening and adding bits to the tale of how Danny met Tina, and everything in-between.
I’d say that while Forget Paris has a number of bigger laughs, including a few fun scenes on actual NBA courts with real NBA players and the aforementioned bird, Broadway Danny Rose is a better film, feeling a little more authentic and genuine. Allen, in those days especially, just knew how to play neurotic with surgical precision, and he makes Danny a very funny, very sympathetic character. Crystal is good too, but often with his films, he tends to be the same sort of jokey guy who charms with comebacks. That can work, most particularly with When Harry Met Sally, and while that film is a few degrees better, there’s a lot to like about Forget Paris, with Winger probably the best reason to tune in.
Either way, as a double feature, it’s a perfect combination, and I recommend you watch them in that order, Crystal first and then Allen. Good stuff, good laughs, and good times.