Diane Keaton

She was not a femme fatale.

The first time I saw Diane Keaton was on Broadway, in "Play It Again, Sam." My mother was a culture vulture, if there was a play worth seeing, she'd go, and for certain productions she insisted we go too, like with "Play It Again, Sam."

Woody Allen was still a cult item. He had one movie, "Take the Money and Run," which I saw at the Fine Arts in Westport, and the most memorable scene was when he used a gun carved out of soap to escape from jail and then it rained and the gun turned into suds and...

You can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhX3d5fjxOg

Woody was a known quantity, assuming you were into comedy. He was a youngster with a standup routine who migrated into films, back when films were the highest visual art form, before they descended into mass market tripe with blockbusters made for all, oftentimes featuring superheroes, and then Tony Soprano single-handedly stole the mantel from the multiplex.

Now eventually they made a movie out of "Play It Again, Sam," but when I saw it on stage it was fresh. As for Bogie... Do kids even know who Bogie is/was? Can they quote "Casablanca"? I remember seeing "The African Queen" in college, and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre"... "We don't need no stinkin' badges!"

We were the first generation whose lives were completely documented via moving pictures. These movies were touchstones, you could go back and relive your youth, still can. But now with a plethora of visual entertainment the past is truly history, unless you're' a film student you're not watching the flicks of yore, when they were less about flash and more about life.

In "Play It Again, Sam," Woody falls in love with his best friend's wife, Keaton and... WHO WOULDN'T?

That was the thing about Keaton, she was relatable. You didn't put her on a pedestal, you felt you could talk to her, she'd understand you, if you could just get close, she was everything you wanted.

Sure, Diane was attractive, but she was neither dull nor removed. She was alive and animated, she was a dream. Not the dream of the magazines, but of those boys like Woody Allen who had not been the life of their high school, but wanted something...more.

Of course you can talk about Keaton's role in the "Godfather" movies. She was good, but never the focus.

Arguably, her personal tour-de-force was "Baby Boom," wherein she triumphed as an entrepreneur, after giving up the fast lane live, moving to Vermont and starting over selling gourmet baby food. You rooted for her, in a way quite different from how you rooted for Goldie Hawn in "Private Benjamin." Keaton was not a ditz, she was aware. But learned she did not know everything and she grew personally and...

Really, it all comes down to "Annie Hall."

Funny how Woody Allen is a pariah today. Then again, he always marched to the beat of his own drummer, he refused to attend the Oscars when he won, deservedly.

But... It was not like today, you did not know that much about a film before you saw it. I went on my birthday and can still tell you where I sat in the theatre, I was riveted, I was wowed, kind of like seeing "Hamilton"...can this continue to be this good? And it was!

So Diane as Annie Hall is unique in identity, both inside and outside, a pure original. She had no desire to look like everybody else, and therefore she stood out. In this film and in life.

And there are lines from this movie I repeat all the time, even to my shrink last week, you remember when Allen as Alvy complains about not having enough sex and Diane says they're doing it all the time?

And the scene with the cockroach... As formidable as a woman may seem, she still has weaknesses.

And then there was the moment of intimacy and laughs out on the island, with the escaped lobster.

Diane was what every regular boy wanted. Someone you could relate to, who understood you, who was not concerned about image.

Not that she ultimately lived her personal life that way, after all she got involved with Warren Beatty and... She lived more in your mind than in your real life.

So...

Diane Keaton was a movie star, an anti-movie star, and we loved her for it. She was on the last cusp of movie stardom, not only playing on the big screen but one step removed from regular life, she did not show up online warts and all.

So you can point to the roles, but even more when you hear the name Diane Keaton it immediately engenders a feeling inside. Of warmth, humanity and understanding. She was one of us...albeit one step removed, one BIG step removed.

So, when Diane Keaton dies...part of you dies too. Your hopes. Your desires. We were all looking for our own Diane Keaton, and if the original is gone and we're as old as we are...

Where does that leave us?


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