Despite its status in many circles as writer/director/star Woody Allen's comedic masterpiece, Annie Hall nonetheless will remain to many the film that "stole" the Best Picture Oscar away from the (retrospectively) far more influential Star Wars. At the time of their release in 1977, however, although Star Wars initiated a new era of upbeat science fiction films, Annie Hall was the culmination of America's nearly decade-long struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of political and sexual revolution of the 1960s. The film seemed to give voice to the frustrations of a generation regarding their inability to maintain romance. Surprised by the overwhelming acceptance of the picture, Allen himself commented, "I guess what everybody understood was the impossibility of sustaining relationships, because of entirely irrational elements…. Later in life, you don't really know what went wrong."

Annie Hall also represented the peak of America's...