10. Sleeper
"Allen was a compulsive gag writer; in Sleeper he paid homage to Keaton and co with slapstick and visual gags galore. A giant banana skin, a growing cake mix, a steamroller squashing the President's nose. It's full of fantastic ideas that have lived long in the memory (orgasmatron, robot servant and dog…) It's not much of a satire, but there's laughs a plenty." Alfie Hisself
9. Midnight in Paris
"A wonderfully imaginative plot, plenty of smart "inside" humor, actors who were successfully pushed far beyond their comfort zones, brilliant cinematography. Hugely entertaining." Frank Absher
8. Stardust Memories
"This much panned work is a tour de force. Hated by critics at the time of its release, it's nevertheless Woody Allen at the height of his powers – faux-Euro filmmaking at its best. Stardust Memories, like Celebrity from many years later, presents Woody Allen's view of the public's odd adoration of the famous. Oh, and that long shot of Charlotte Rampling near the end...genius." Tim
7. Love and Death
"One of the 'early, funny ones', it features the magnificent Diane Keaton in her greatest comedic performance, and shows how much fun Woody could have with Bergman and Dostoevsky before he began to feed on their sombre bits. Its first five minutes include some of the funniest material he ever wrote – and it's endlessly quotable." Wieland Schwanebeck
6. Take the Money and Run
"I first saw it at Nui Dat (South Vietnam) in 1970. The army projectionist played the reels out of order, but it didn't seem to matter – there's nothing like a war to turn the absurd into the everyday. I was an instant fan and bought a bootleg cassette of Allen's standup while on leave in Vung Tau. I have a DVD I burnt from a VHS I transferred from Betamax recorded off-air in the 80s. I still watch it and and laugh - I quote lines of dialogue as if it were Pete & Dud." Jim Stewart
5. Broadway Danny Rose
"A masterpiece – Allen and Mia Farrow never better together. The scene in the restaurant where Woody vacillates between losing his change from a 20 as he has to flee the pursuing mobsters or being caught has stayed in my memory for years." Raymond Williams
"I love the title character, his limitless belief in his clients, his goodness, his charity… What makes the film for me is the look on Danny's face when Nick tells him that he has found a new agent: Woody is never the greatest actor in his films, but this, for me, is his best acting moment." Kevin Finn
4. Hannah and Her Sisters
"Manhattan aside, it's Hannah and Her Sisters that most vividly captures a romantic New York to me. It's a New York that no longer exists, one that still has a bohemian, undeveloped, Top Shop-free SoHo, the musty glory of Pageant Books and Tower Records, and movie theatres where you could actually find a Marx Brothers film. Allen's trio of complicated sisters are his most vividly and lovingly written female characters: fallible, but not judged harshly for it – the casting was impeccable. And Allen has written, next to Alvy Singer, his best role for himself as well. Everything about this film feels painterly, wistful and wise, splashed in autumnal hues and capturing, in two hours, the last gasp of romantic, contemporary, artistically vibrant New York. It's also the last film that dodges the bitterness of his later work." Kara Manning
3. Crimes and Misdemeanours
"Woody jettisons the signature adolescent habits of most of his earlier stuff and gives us an honest indictment of the kind of privilege that commits murder with one hand and receives high honors with the other. A tense and morally sound film with genuine gravitas. Allen's script could be applied to Kissinger, Nixon, Obama and hundreds of others in power who are shielded by their respectability from facing up to their crimes. A quiet masterpiece. Makes most of his other works seem lightweight by comparison." Keith Harrison
2. Annie Hall
"Annie Hall hits a perfect balance between the anarchic early films and the more introspective works of the eighties, with serious themes but also loads of humour. Christopher Walken's 'driving visions', the 'what he's/she's really thinking' subtitles, Allen asking passers-by about their sex lives. The chemistry between the two leads has never been bettered and neither has Allen's performance as a lead actor, except perhaps in Manhattan. But Annie Hall trumps Manhattan because Diane Keaton - the best female Allen interpreter in her greatest role – is equal to Allen in terms of screen time and dialogue. She's the most completely realised of his female characters, from her ties-and-checks wardrobes to her off-beat remarks. In the rom-com genre, neither the character nor the film has ever been bettered." Neil Cockburn
1. Manhattan
"Of his many, many films, Manhattan stands out as a work that manages to be both a love letter to one of the great cities and a strikingly personal self-portrait. It's possible to be viewed as both a lightly humorous tragedy and a darkly tragic farce and comes the closest, out of all of Allen's films, to capturing the outspoken artist's true opinion of himself." Christopher Shepler
"Funny, smart and romantic, Manhattan has got pretty much everything I look for in a Woody Allen film, or any other kind of film for that matter. The black and white cinematography is heart-swellingly beautiful throughout, while Rhapsody In Blue and fireworks combine to create one of the great, iconic openings in movie history. Naturally, Allen viewed the film as a failure, making it feel all the more perfect." Mahinder Kingra
"The final scene. Two characters contemplate the end of their relationship against the musical backdrop of a solo violin. The orchestra swells and overwhelms the violin as we simultaneously see the city effortlessly absorb the characters and their relationship. Love in the metropolis has never been so beautifully expressed." Nigel Challenge
Further reading
The 10 best Woody Allen jokes - in pictures
Woody Allen: 'None of my films will be remembered'
Woody Allen on Blue Jasmine: 'You see tantrums in adults all the time'
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