Bananas (1971)

One of his early funny ones. Woody Allen is a college drop out who works as a products tester (the kind of job that makes for a ready supply of gags and comic moments), who in an effort to win back the love of his political activist girlfriend, travels to the small (fictional) Latin American nation of San Marcos, joins the resistance, and unintentional ends up the head of state. Allen is well suited to this kind of comedy, one that is firmly routed in the old Marx Brothers/Bob Hope ethos. It's a string of gags attached to a minimal plot, it doesn't ask much of you, and is consistently amusing if not hysterical. It also helps that its short. Notable for a rather funny Howard Cosell cameo, and the appearance of a young, unbilled Sylvester Stallone as a subway thug. More accessible then much of the directors work, not as funny as Love and Death. Still, verdict: Good