ThiefHott Too much of everything

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

dinospyder Wow. I wouldn't have believed 25 people actually watched this movie. From reading the reviews it seems like the finale was good. I didn't stay for it though. In fact I didn't stay much past the railway number. I saw what I could take of it on 8th St in the Village. I remember it being billed as Joanna - She's a Banana! No wonder that the "star" was run out of Britain after making this. Joanna stands out as the worst movie I ever saw in a theater, and that's by a long shot! I often think of it when I see a lousy movie. It serves as a baseline for comparison, so for that reason I'm glad I saw it. In 42 years, that's since 1968,I have not seen a worse movie. That's something to be thankful for.

markcab2005 Joanna was one of several films that had an impact on me then and have stuck with me since then, mainly because they informed me of places and lives of which I had never before been aware, being at that time, a typical American living in an America-centered universe.This is a corny, sappy telling of the story of a young girl looking for...something: life, adventure, herself? We're not really sure. But for some reason it has stuck in my memory mostly because it seemed to be an extension of the style of films coming from the UK in the middle and late 60's. Another kind of "British Invasion".Among these were: A Hard Day's night (1964), The Girl With Green Eyes (1964), and The Knack and How To Get it (1965), Blow Up (1966). They all seemed to have that quality of gritty cinema verite infiltrated with dreamlike, music filled montages; which became more silly and less gritty as the decade wore on. Examples; What Did You Do In the War Daddy? (1966), Casino Royale (1967), and Joanna (1968).Yet, for all the silliness and sappiness that Joanna had to offer, there were also wonderful moments in the film, Donald Sutherland supplying the most; but others too in amusing little bits of curious dialogue ("He has only one name, you know, like Montavani. Nothing Montavani, Montavani nothing"). And, if you were a teenager then, amusing sight gags such as the one when Joanna is asked what she'd like to eat (in the scene, she is topless, showing small breasts); cut to frying pan with two frying eggs, sunny-side up - ha ha.Overall, though not necessarily great film making, it is still an interesting and nostalgic period piece, that somehow left one with a sense of nostalgia even in 1968.

davanmani In looking at the criticism of the movie Joanna particularly Ms Waite walk through acting style and her voice. Doesn't anybody remember Goldie Hawn? As well as the Rod McKuen soundtrack, sounds like Marvin Hamlisch in the "Way We Were." Both annoying. Finally, the ending what about the movie "Blazing Saddles?" As for the movie, I thought the intellectual and love scenes were well done. To me, it looked like the director was honest in his portrayal of London in 1968 to the point of view of Joanna which the movie was about. I thought Calvin Lockhart stole the movie. Donald Sutherland did a great job. The German actor who played the art teacher was excellent. The interaction was excellent. Except what I mentioned above, the movie was good. I'm sorry about Ms. Waite being blackballed from home country of South Africa for doing this movie but I really she was blackballed by Hollywood as well but they wanted that image and found one from the show "Laugh In".

cestmoi It is silly the way we talk about movies. They are not meant for the ages but for slices of time. Once in a great great while one captures something eternal...8 1/2, Third Man, etcetera, but films are social chewing gum. Here is a fine example of an English director of the 1960s doing some turns that were fresh seeming and of the time...playing to the camera in the post dramatic sequence...don't tell me that wasn't and still would be a kick. And Sutherland's lisping soliloquy in the desert, my first awareness of the Canadian actor. A memorable film, one with some fans, many deprecators. But that's what makes horse races. Does sit hold up to critical analysis? Probably not, certainly not in the context of a lot that has followed. But lovely and fresh and exciting at the time, just like that first date with the sweet fresh girl who is now the woman with the scar from the auto accident. We change, the cinema changes. Films are not for the ages, after all, but acts of commerce sometimes tinged with art and freighted with our associations.