Purple Rose of Cairo - 1985

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Starring: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello

"As your lawyer, I advise you to get control of it fast. A character from one of your productions on the loose? Who knows what he's capable of? Robbery? Murder? I see lawsuits. " A waitress (Farrow) during the Depression has only one escape from her financial situation and abusive husband (Aiello): the movies. So when one of the characters (Daniels) steps out of the movie because of his growing infatuation with her, what choice does she have but to go off with him?

Woody Allen achieved great things with this:

• great period piece
• a movie-within-a-movie with merits of its own
• surprisingly believable screentime with Daniels playing an actor and his character side-by-side
• a film without himself in it (or any facsimile thereof)

I'd put this up there with Annie Hall, Manhattan, and his other great works.