Woody Allen- The Man and His Movies.
Normally I like to stay neutral when I do a Poll to not sway people but since people have already been swayed in the totally WRONG direction, I am just going to state some facts based on the 6 or 8 books I have read on him, Mia Farrow, and all the facts involved. I feel it necessary to clear a few things up for those not in the know, like those that didn't know the WHOLE story back when we discussed Roman Polanski: http://cinematixyz.livejournal.com/2013/05/22/
Rather than go into the travesty that Mia Farrow has inflicted on this genius and his reputation, I will just name a few Myths and Facts to open some minds:
MYTH- Mia Farrow is a Hollywood Darling, adopting tons of needy children and was Hollywood Royalty without anything to blemish her loving and mothering character.
FACT- Mia Farrow was indeed the daughter of two Hollywood big-wigs and was a spoiled brat. She got used to getting everything she desired and was in movies and T.V. by her teens. At 19 she ruined Frank Sinatra's relationship by seducing the Forty something year old singer. After less than a year, he said "She was pretty but a flaky, stupid, and a ditzy dame and he could not change her diapers anymore". They Divorced... Just in time for her to befriend Dorothy and Andre' Previn, a very happily married couple. She a singer/songwriter and he the conductor of the philharmonic and composer. Although early in their friendship w/ Mia, Dorothy and Andre' made fun of Mia's flaky ignorance and childishness. But Mia was used to getting what she wanted and what Mia wanted.... Next thing you know, She is Mia Farrow Previn and Dorthy Previn has a hit with "Beware of Young Girls" who when recently asked if she though Mia knew it was about her. Dory laughed. "Of course that little narcissist knows, she probably has a gold plated copy of the song I wrote of how she broke up my happy marriage hanging on her wall!!". (Song can be heard here with Dory singing it recently and throwing in little goodies and intimate tidbit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JskHB-QRHu4, here is the version when it came out, after Mia stole her husband, who was more than twice her age- http://youtu.be/vmi7eeCNVvo, and also a contemporary short film containing the tune- http://youtu.be/aZQQA8Ce7Yo )
MYTH- Mia Farrow is an Amazing Mother who adopts all these needy children.
Fact- Mia Farrow is just an Octomom with money. She did a lot of it for P.R., in the 70s, when she had like no career (which until Woody Allen came in the picture....she had been washed up for ages) and even though her ALREADY regretful husband (you know, Andre' Previn, the second one she stole in five years) didn't want kids, she kept adopting more and more and more and adding his name to them. Was Soon-Yi's last name Farrow? Allen? No, it was PREVIN. Half of those kids that are now adults have admitted they were photo ops, they had Nannies, she wasn't a hand's on mom....until a reporter was coming, that she'd call them all "home" from boarding school.
MYTH- Woody Allen Married His Underage Daughter.
FACT- Soon-Yi PREVIN was at boarding school while Woody resurrected Mia's all but dead career and he only saw HER children a few times a year when the Nannies would bring them on a field trip to the set. Even her friends said she had a Mother Teresa Complex...she wanted to look the part without doing the work. Soon-Yi never thought of him as her father, Daddy, step-father. Woody and Mia were NEVER EVEN ENGAGED, not to mention married and they NEVER EVEN LIVED TOGETHER. She was so needy and clingy (according to both camps) that when Woody kept saying "No, I can't work with a house full of kids and this and that, I need my Space and Privacy to write" that Mia made him get her apartment ACROSS CENTRAL PARK from his, on the facing side, buy them matching telescopes because saying goodnight on the phone wasn't enough, she wanted him to wave her goodnight through the telescope she had zoomed into his apartment window. THAT'S as close as they ever got to living together.
MYTH- He took his stepdaughter's virginity and she was a little girl.
FACT- Soon-Yi didn't even become someone he noticed UNTIL she was an adult and in college. She would come to the set (always in New York of course) between classes at her university and they would talk about them and she was very smart, into philosophy, Art, Music, History, all of these interesting things that the vapid Mia knew or cared nothing about. He found talking to on again, off again (mostly by that point, just his leading actress)'s ADULT ADOPTED DAUGHTER (that she adopted with ANOTHER MAN, the aforementioned Mr. Previn, her friend's husband) was much more interesting and intellectually challenging then dealing with Mia's 20 calls a day about basically nothing.
MYTH- She found out they were starting an affair by snooping in his apartment and finding boudoir photos and took it to the police and he was arrested for statutory rape.
FACT- She did snoop and take those photographs to the police...she didn't have a key, she talked the maid into letting her in (which is illegal) and the Police didn't do ANYTHING because in one of the pictures, you could CLEARLY see Soon-Yi Previn's COLLEGE jacket.
MYTH- Woody Also molested another one of Ms. Farrow's adopted daughters when she was 7.
FACT- These allegations did not come out until literally a week after the police told Mia "too bad, so sad, there is no incest and Soon-Yi is an adult". The 7 year old's allegations were taken seriously at first and investigated by SEVERAL different private, state, social workers, doctors, and other companies. They ALL came to the conclusion that the little girl didn't understand the difference between reality and fantasy and STRONG evidence had uncovered that the child had been coached, rehearsed, and coerced by her mother MIA FARROW, like they were 'reading lines from a movie'. ((Hell Hath No Fury)). An inside New York police officer who refused to let his name be printed since he was still on the force, admitted that the story magically went away because they informed Ms. Farrow that if she continued to pursue this, they would have to charge HER with the coaching of a child in a felony case.
This is actually only about 1/4 of what I know from the EXTENSIVE reading I have done into both sides. If I told you EVERYTHING, then you would be slanted. This is just enough to swing the pendulum back to neutral after more than two decades of Woody Allen slander. And since the public loves the bad and dirty stories best and retractions make the back page... I felt you needed to know a few of these things.
Poll Woody Allen Films You Enjoyed ((Directed, Wrote and usually acted in only))
Forgive me friends, I had BOTH these Polls in One Post, But I forgot... LJ doesn't let me do Two Separate Polls in the same Post. I should have recalled that and done it all in one. We will have to do the Second Poll in the following Post. Apologies =(
Zu