{ "id": "ep97q9sytv", "slug": "broadway-danny-rose", "title": "Broadway Danny Rose", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": 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"geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Comedy-dramas of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedy-dramas of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Broadway Danny Rose is Woody Allen's 1984 black-and-white comedy about a hapless New York talent agent, starring Allen, Mia Farrow, and Nick Apollo Forte, told in flashback at the Carnegie Deli and nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.", "snippet": "Broadway Danny Rose is Woody Allen's 1984 black-and-white comedy about a hapless New York talent agent, starring Allen, Mia Farrow, and Nick Apollo Forte, told in flashback at the Carnegie Deli and nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "markdown": "# Broadway Danny Rose\n\n**Broadway Danny Rose** is a 1984 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen), starring Allen as a hapless New York theatrical agent alongside [Mia Farrow](https://www.edgepedia.org/mia-farrow) and Nick Apollo Forte.[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/) The story of Danny Rose is told in flashback, as an anecdote shared among a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli.[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/) It was Allen's third film for [Orion Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/orion-pictures) and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) • [3](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fc0%2Fc08fa05f-de10-4f51-af99-896d4dba9847.pdf)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Los Angeles and New York openings on 27 January 1984; distributed by Orion Pictures; MPAA rating PG[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) |\n| Runtime and format | 84 minutes, black and white, 35mm Panavision, mono sound[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) |\n| Key crew | Producer Robert Greenhut, executive producer Charles H. Joffe, cinematographer Gordon Willis, editor Susan E. Morse, production designer Mel Bourne[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) |\n| Cast | Woody Allen (Danny Rose), Mia Farrow (Tina Vitale), Nick Apollo Forte (Lou Canova), with Milton Berle and Howard Cosell as themselves[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose) |\n| Production | Shot 20 September to 17 December 1982 in New York, with pickup shooting in August 1983 at Silvercup Studios, Long Island[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) |\n| Box office | $10,600,497 in the United States[5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/) |\n| Recognition | Academy Award nomination, Best Original Screenplay; 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (29 reviews); Metascore 82 on Metacritic[3](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fc0%2Fc08fa05f-de10-4f51-af99-896d4dba9847.pdf) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_danny_rose) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/broadway-danny-rose/critic-reviews/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nDanny Rose (Woody Allen) runs a one-man talent agency whose roster is made up of unorthodox, unsuccessful entertainers: a blind xylophone player, a one-legged tap dancer, a one-armed juggler, balloon folders, and a virtuoso of the water glasses. Whenever one of his acts does succeed, the client leaves him for better representation.[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE)\n\nHis most bankable client is Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte), a washed-up, heavyset Italian-American singer whose ego is huge, whose drinking is a problem, and whose sole claim to fame is a 1950s hit song.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) The nostalgia craze lets Danny book Lou on cruise ships and local television, and when the comedian [Milton Berle](https://www.edgepedia.org/milton-berle) says he is looking for talent for a nostalgia-themed television special and a Las Vegas opening act, Danny persuades Berle to attend Lou's performance at the Waldorf.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE)\n\nLou, who is married, is having an affair with Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow), who had previously dated a gangster. At Lou's insistence, Danny acts as a \"beard,\" masquerading as Tina's escort to divert attention from the affair. Tina's jealous ex-boyfriend believes the relationship is real and orders a hit on Danny, who finds himself in danger of losing both his client and his life.[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/) After escaping, Danny and Tina reach the Waldorf to find Lou drunk; Danny sobers him with a concoction he has developed over the years, and Lou gives a command performance, then fires Danny for a more prestigious manager.[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/)\n\nThe frame story closes on [Thanksgiving](https://www.edgepedia.org/thanksgiving): Tina, feeling guilty for not standing up for Danny, seeks him out as he serves frozen turkey dinners to his remaining clients, and the two appear to make up. The comedians at the deli praise Danny, noting that Broadway's highest honor was eventually bestowed on him: a sandwich named after him at the [Carnegie Deli](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-deli).[1](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe working title was Fall Project--Untitled as late as 11 August 1982; by mid-September the project carried its final name, which trade papers noted was unusual for Allen, who had a \"penchant for not titling a movie till it's completed.\"[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) ran from 20 September to 17 December 1982 in New York City, with a portion shot on location at a New Jersey garbage dump; pickup shooting occurred in early August 1983 on a closed set at Silvercup Studios in [Long Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-island).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) Much of Danny's story was shot in New Jersey, at Englewood, Edgewater, and Weehawken.[8](https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Broadway-Danny-Rose.php)\n\n**The Carnegie Deli.** The deli where the comedians trade stories, at 854 Seventh Avenue near West 54th Street, is the film's central location. Because the deli closes for only two and a half hours a day, the production bought out the space and filmed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., using the real wait staff while the deli kept taking phone orders. The deli's real owner, Leo Steiner, a retired comic who had retained his [Screen Actors Guild](https://www.edgepedia.org/screen-actors-guild) card, plays the owner. The deli later named sandwiches after the film and Allen.[5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/)\n\n**Casting.** The comedians at the deli table are real comics playing themselves, with one exception: Allen's own manager, Jack Rollins, who is said to be the inspiration for the Danny character.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose) [Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro), Danny Aiello, and [Sylvester Stallone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sylvester-stallone) were considered for Lou Canova, but casting director Juliet Taylor chose Nick Apollo Forte after coming across one of his self-produced albums; the Connecticut-based singer had never seen a Woody Allen film and made no other picture.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose) Casting assistant Ellen Lewis, who worked on the search for the variety acts, recalled finding Forte's album at Colony Records with producer Gail Sicilia.[9](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/8808)\n\n**Farrow's role.** Allen had long wanted a part in which Farrow would play \"a brassy woman,\" and combined this with his idea for a story about a manager who nurtures his clients only to be abandoned by them at their first success.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) In a blonde bouffant, with padding under her clothes and dark glasses, Farrow is nearly unrecognizable; Allen called acting the whole picture without using her eyes \"a very, very brave thing for her to do.\"[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose) It was her third appearance in an Allen production, out of thirteen in total, in a romantic relationship with Allen that dated to 1980.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE)\n\n## Style and influences\n\nAllen shot in black and white because, as he put it, he wanted to make a 1950s Italian movie in the vein of [Vittorio De Sica](https://www.edgepedia.org/vittorio-de-sica), director of *Bicycle Thieves* (1948); cinematographer Gordon Willis, shooting his seventh film with Allen, agreed immediately. The film carries other Italian touches, including street-level characters, a downbeat-tinged ending, and Italian songs.[5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/) Allen had wanted to set the story in the 1940s, but so many locations had been modernized that he moved it to the late 1960s, the period he himself had experienced of show-business people gathering at restaurants and clubs after their shows.[5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/)\n\nThe film is a tribute to the cabaret comedy scene that nurtured the young Allen, who began performing as a standup comedian in [Greenwich Village](https://www.edgepedia.org/greenwich-village) nightclubs in the late 1950s after starting as a comedy writer. Rollins said that \"Woody knew this world as well as I did, because he was as much a part of it as I was.\"[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) Allen has said that of his films, Broadway Danny Rose best captured New York as he saw it, not the romantic Manhattan of 1979 but the real streets, with garbage and graffiti on the walls.[5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/)\n\n## Music and litigation\n\nThe soundtrack is dominated by the ethnic songs of Nick Apollo Forte, who wrote the Italian novelty tune \"Agita\" and is heard singing it at least four times in the film.[10](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s4472rose.html) Wandra Merrell and [Ray Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ray-allen) sued Woody Allen, Orion, and Vestron Video, claiming \"Agita\" borrowed 49 of 52 notes from a verse of their song \"Pepino, the Italian Mouse,\" and sought profits from the film and $50 million in damages.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film opened in Los Angeles and New York on 27 January 1984 and earned $10,600,497 at the United States box office.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE) • [5](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/) Critics responded warmly: Rotten Tomatoes records a 100% Tomatometer from 29 reviews, and Metacritic a Metascore of 82, described as \"universal acclaim.\"[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_danny_rose) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/broadway-danny-rose/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 of 4 stars, writing that Allen used the basic ingredients of [Damon Runyon](https://www.edgepedia.org/damon-runyon)'s Broadway, \"the pathetic acts looking for a job, the guys who get a break and forget their old friends, the agents with hearts of gold,\" and concluding \"It all works.\"[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/broadway-danny-rose/critic-reviews/) The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.[3](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fc0%2Fc08fa05f-de10-4f51-af99-896d4dba9847.pdf) Turner Classic Movies notes that although it was not as big a hit as *Crimes and Misdemeanors* (1989), which covers similar moral ground of guilt and responsibility, it remains one of Allen's most admired movies.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Broadway Danny Rose – Synopsis and Cast, WoodyAllen.com](https://woodyallen.com/broadway-danny-rose/)\n2. [Broadway Danny Rose, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/67022-BROADWAY-DANNYROSE)\n3. [Woody Allen filmography press kit (Broadway Danny Rose — 1984, Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.filmtrackonline.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fc0%2Fc08fa05f-de10-4f51-af99-896d4dba9847.pdf)\n4. [Broadway Danny Rose, Turner Classic Movies article by Rob Nixon (2007)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/153606/broadway-danny-rose)\n5. [Broadway Danny Rose, The Woody Allen Pages](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/broadway-Danny-rose/)\n6. [Broadway Danny Rose, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_danny_rose)\n7. [Broadway Danny Rose critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/broadway-danny-rose/critic-reviews/)\n8. [Broadway Danny Rose, Film Locations](https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Broadway-Danny-Rose.php)\n9. [Broadway Danny Rose, MoMA event page](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/8808)\n10. [DVD Savant Blu-ray Review: Broadway Danny Rose, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s4472rose.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Broadway Danny Rose\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Broadway Danny Rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Broadway Danny Rose\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/broadway-danny-rose. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Broadway Danny Rose is Woody Allen's 1984 black-and-white comedy about a hapless New York talent agent, starring Allen, Mia Farrow, and Nick Apollo Forte, told in flashback at the Carnegie Deli and nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar." }