Opening

75% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
21% The Hangover Part III May 23
63% Epic May 24
96% Before Midnight May 24
86% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
82% Fill the Void May 24
20% A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

Top Box Office

87% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
50% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
99% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31

Bananas (1971)

tomatometer

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

audience

72

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 17,693

My Rating

Movie Info

One of Woody Allen's earlier, more slapstick-oriented efforts, Bananas tells the story of Fielding Mellish (Allen), a neurotic New Yorker who follows the object of his affections, Nancy (Louise Lasser), to the fictional Central American country of San Marcos, where she is involved in a revolution. Nancy wants nothing to do with Fielding, but he soon becomes a guest of the country's dictator (Carlos Montalban), before accidentally becoming the leader of San Marcos himself. Fielding is eventually

PG-13,

Classics, Comedy

Woody Allen, Mickey Rose

Jul 5, 2000

MGM Home Entertainment

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (4) | DVD (8)

It is a funny picture - not too consistently, and certainly not too coherently, but when it hits, it hits.

March 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bananas is chockfull of sight gags, one-liners and swiftly executed unnecessary excursions into vulgarity whose humor for the most part can't make up for content.

September 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Wonderfully incoherent.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Allen's view of the world is fraught with everything except pathos, and it's a view I happen to find very funny.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Rapid-fire gags and some inspired one-liners qualify this as an early classic from Allen.

May 10, 2013 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

One of the early, funny films that a more mature Allen would dismiss later in his career, but nevertheless worth seeing again and again.

May 10, 2013 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Although some of the humor falls flat in this early Allen comedy, his satire of revolutions and revolutionaries is perpetually topical; subsequent events in Central America have only enhanced the film's appeal.

May 10, 2013 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A study of the Cuban Revolution by way of Freedonia

September 5, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

Inspired by the Marx Brothers comedies (specifically Duck Soup), Woody Allen made a leap forward as filmmaker in his second feature, a zany satire composed of riotous sketches and incoherent but funny one-liners.

March 30, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

An attempt to capture the same zaniness the Marx Brothers had in Duck Soup.

July 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

I still love Woody's masked parents.

October 25, 2004

Yes, Allen has made better movies -- lots of them -- but I'm not sure he ever made anything funnier.

October 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A severely overrated Allen project. This campy string of unfunny gags does not hold up.

August 2, 2002
Arizona Daily Star

One of Woody's earliest, silliest, and funniest flicks.

July 26, 2002
eFilmCritic.com

Audience Reviews for Bananas

woody's second feature as a director is very clever, very funny. i laughed a lot, and as usual the dialogue was witty and entertaining. i felt that the film lost a lot of steam by the end, which says a lot considering the movie is already very short, but it is entertaining and really uses its ideas well, especially the opening assassination sequence.
December 6, 2007
sanjurosamurai
danny d

Super Reviewer

A surrealist political comedy, Woody Allen's Bananas is entertaining and gonna make you laugh a lot. Fresh.
July 3, 2012
Lucas Martins

Super Reviewer

    1. Fielding Mellish: I'm doing a sociological study on perversion. I'm up to advanced child molesting.
    – Submitted by Allen R (8 months ago)

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for Bananas yet.

Latest News on Bananas

October 11, 2005:
Filmmaker to Wear Multiple Hats on Prehistoric "Erectus"
Filmmaker Adam Rifkin will write, direct, and star in the caveman comedy "Homo Erectus,"...

Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile