# Bananas
**Bananas** is a 1971 American comedy directed by [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen), who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mickey Rose and stars as Fielding Mellish, a hapless New York product tester who travels to the fictional Latin American republic of San Marcos and ends up leading its revolution.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/) It was Allen's second film as director, after *Take the Money and Run* (1969), and it was released in the United States on 28 April 1971.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | United States, 28 April 1971; 82 minutes; rated GP on release, later PG-13[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bananas) |
| Director and writers | Woody Allen, directing and co-writing with Mickey Rose[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) |
| Lead cast | Woody Allen as Fielding Mellish, Louise Lasser as Nancy, Carlos Montalbán as General Emilio M. Vargas[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) |
| Budget | $1.7 million; the first of a three-picture deal Allen had with United Artists[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) |
| Working title | *El Weirdo*[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) |
| Reception | 83% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 35 reviews; ranked No. 69 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Laughs" list[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bananas) • [3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens with a parody of a sports broadcast: sportscasters Don Dunphy and [Howard Cosell](https://www.edgepedia.org/howard-cosell), playing themselves and largely improvising their commentary, report on television that the president of the island republic of San Marcos has been assassinated and replaced by the dictator General Emilio M. Vargas (Carlos Montalbán).[5](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/17439) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/)
In New York City, Fielding Mellish works as a product researcher at General Equipment, testing items such as electrically warmed toilet seats, coffins with piped-in music, and the "Execusizer," a gym built into the desks of busy corporate executives.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/) He begins dating Nancy ([Louise Lasser](https://www.edgepedia.org/louise-lasser)), a politically active college student who first knocks on his door to ask him to sign a petition urging the United States to support the revolutionaries fighting the new dictator in San Marcos.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/) Nancy breaks off the affair, judging Fielding immature and lacking in leadership.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/)
Heartbroken, Fielding travels to San Marcos, where the dictator Vargas tries to kill him and pin the crime on the guerrillas led by Esposito (Jacobo Morales). The revolutionaries rescue him, and he becomes one of their leaders in their successful revolution.[6](https://woodyallen.com/bananas/) When the rebel leader goes insane, Fielding finds himself president of San Marcos and goes to the United States to seek foreign aid.[6](https://woodyallen.com/bananas/) There he meets Nancy again, who now falls for him because he is a political leader.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/) American authorities, disturbed by his political tendencies, arrest him; after a surreal trial he is released, marries Nancy, and the two consummate their union in front of Howard Cosell and a television audience.[6](https://woodyallen.com/bananas/)
## Production
**Origins.** The script was based in part on *Don Quixote, U.S.A.*, a 1966 novel by [Robert Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-powell) set in a fictional republic called San Marco; Allen had begun working on an adaptation with Mickey Rose before *Take the Money and Run*, originally for the actor [Robert Morse](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-morse).[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/) Allen's first idea for [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists) was a non-comedy called *The Jazz Baby*, which the studio found too much; he offered a comedy instead, and reworked *The Jazz Baby* 28 years later into *Sweet and Lowdown* (1999).[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/) The working title of the film was *El Weirdo*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) Allen told *Rolling Stone* that although people called it a political film, "I don't really believe much in politics... It's always got to be a funny movie first."[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/)
**Filming.** According to the *Variety* review, the film was shot on location in Puerto Rico and in New York City; a riot scene involving 2,000 students was filmed at Queens Community College.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) A July 1970 *Los Angeles Herald Examiner* article stated that *Bananas* cost $1.7 million and was the first of a three-picture deal Allen had with United Artists.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) Jack Grossberg produced, Andrew M. Costikyan was the cinematographer, and Ed Wittstein was the production designer.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) [Marvin Hamlisch](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvin-hamlisch) composed the score, which includes pastiche jazz tunes, a parody of a [James Bond](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-bond)-style theme, an excerpt from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture during Fielding's encounter with a female rebel, and brief excerpts from [Victor Herbert](https://www.edgepedia.org/victor-herbert)'s operetta *Naughty Marietta* during a torture scene.[7](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/bananas/cast/2000345265/) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS)
**Casting.** Louise Lasser, who played Nancy, was Allen's wife from 1966 to 1970.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS) [Sylvester Stallone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sylvester-stallone) has one of his earliest roles as a subway thug.[5](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/17439) Modern sources add [Danny DeVito](https://www.edgepedia.org/danny-devito) and [Mary Jo Catlett](https://www.edgepedia.org/mary-jo-catlett) to the cast, though DeVito was not discernible in the print viewed by the AFI.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS)
**Changed ending.** The film originally ended with Fielding giving a revolutionary speech at Columbia University and emerging from an explosion in blackface, until co-editor Ralph Rosenblum persuaded Allen to change it.[8](https://www.netflixmovies.com/bananas-1971) In both the opening and closing credits, all letters are lowercase; the opening credits flicker the letters of the names in time to the song "Quiero la noche," punctuated by gunshot sounds and black dots representing bullet holes in the frames.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS)
## Reception and legacy
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 83% Tomatometer from 35 reviews and a 74% audience score from more than 10,000 ratings.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bananas) The critic J. Hoberman, writing in *Tablet*, called it "an inventive piece of filmmaking, full of cinephilic references and most evocative of the period during which it was made."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bananas) Michael Sragow, reviewing a 2013 revival in *The New Yorker*, wrote that the title refers to the chief cash crop of San Marcos and also signals "the first time Woody Allen went irresistibly bananas as a director and star," calling the farce a capture of the late sixties and early seventies, with sexual liberation, quasi-paranoid political awareness, and a collegiate culture that turned names like Kierkegaard into conversational gambits.[9](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/bananas)
The [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute) ranked the film at No. 69 on its "100 Years...100 Laughs" list of the top 100 American comedies.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/) The film is available on home video and streaming; as of late 2026 it streams free with ads on [The Roku Channel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-roku-channel), YouTube, and Tubi, and can be rented or bought on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango.[10](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/bananas)
## Title
Allen has said the title comes from the fact that there are no bananas in the film; it has also been suggested as a play on the [Marx Brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/marx-brothers) film *The Cocoanuts* (1929), and "bananas," of course, means crazy.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/)
## References
1. [Bananas (1971), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54031-BANANAS)
2. [Bananas (1971) – Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/plotsummary/)
3. [Bananas, The Woody Allen Pages](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/bananas/)
4. [Bananas, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bananas)
5. [Watch Bananas, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/17439)
6. [Bananas, woodyallen.com](https://woodyallen.com/bananas/)
7. [Bananas – Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/bananas/cast/2000345265/)
8. [Bananas (1971), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/bananas-1971)
9. [Bananas, The New Yorker (Michael Sragow, 2013)](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/bananas)
10. [Bananas streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/bananas)
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*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 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license