Brilliantly written, Michael. You bring forth what for me was an overlooked aspect of Allen's movies---that of the progressive themes in them.

I must admit that in watching his movies I am now influenced negatively by the accusations against him but that wouldn't stop me from watching "Blue Jasmine".

Do you have any thoughts on the societal impact of the progressive views in Allen's work compared to other bodies of work and individual films?  

I appreciate Maiello's appreciation for non-black-and-white, messy human relationships, as well as Allen's liberalism that seems to pull the best of Jewish and New York and 50's/60's roots without hardly anyone in his movies getting whacked.  Even the great Sergio Leone couldn't resist making a fabulous sentimental movie about New York Jews blasting the hell out of each other and rival gangs - but could he have debated Diane Keaton for 2 hours without cerebral hemorrhaging? Could anyone but Woody?

So Maiello's other great point seeps through - rather than genitals on 2 legs, Woody gives screen time to actresses exploring character, to showing a bit of human condition from several angles. There's no point in fast-forwarding through Woody's films looking for the sex scene(s), as it's not there - and not missed. It's a definition of "adult entertainment" that's lost on most movie makers. But it's also breathtaking to go to a movie that's filled with literary and philosophical references more than Tarantino ripping off Straw Dogs or Bruce playing The Duke. Or to thank that my teen years were more influenced by Love And Death and Bananas than Porky's or Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - the ugly situation that resulted from the death of directors' movies in 1980, or all except a handful like Allen and Altman.

As for judging the great scandal, well this one's easy - Polanski pleaded guilty in acknowledging most of his victim's version*, while Cosby has 30 women agreeing on a very similar story over decades. Woody Allen has a broken home with he said-she said, including a kid that refuses to talk to his mother and another that refuses to talk to her dad. Who's to judge but the Gods (not the biblical Talmudic ones - the fickle hypocritical Mount Olympus/Greek chorus always bickering among themselves). Even in Woody Allen's real life, he finds a neurotic balance - not the one you wanted, but the one that gets the most ironic laugh, one that will make his shrink happy. Woody could have been Robin Williams, but sadly he wasn't funny enough to be that suicidal, so he kept on trying for a few more decades. Oh wait, I think I messed that up somehow. As Gilda Radner and Kurt Cobain would say, "Never mind".

*Just finished thumbing through "5 Easy Decades" on Nicholson, and it's a good glimpse into Polanski, Nicholson, Beatty and all the other Hollywood exempts from the law in their own bubble - popped by the DA's office increasing interest in their more-and-more open drugs and sexual romps. Nicholson weathers it and his bout with growing old, rather well for the public eye, but less admirable with the closeup on him. Disarming the situation with flippant humor, never serious, he comes across as more of a conflicted Orson Welles character than "Happy Jack" or "Here's Johnny". Possibly it was fortunate for Polanski to flee to Europe, where he missed out on the self-congratulatory phase and instead got to deal with repentance and a more fitting East European theme of a walking eternal prison, The Bound Man. Maybe Woody could make a funny movie about that.

Nice piece, Michael! And hey ... You'll only have to stay in hiding until Ronan Farrow's career keeps him too busy and successful to look for you.

That may be a while. Try the jerk chicken!