Where to watch Zelig online

Storyline

Fictional documentary about the life of human chameleon Leonard Zelig, a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like whoever is around him. Clever editing places Zelig in real newsreel footage of Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, and others.

Released

1983-07-15
Revenue

$11,798,616
Budget

n/a
Runtime

1hr 19m
Genre

Comedy
Status

Released
Language

English, Deutsch
7.6
Production

Orion Pictures

Crew

Woody Allen

Director

Woody Allen

Writer

Robert Greenhut

Producer

Keywords:

great depression celebrity mockumentary chameleon psychiatrist found footage newsreel footage electroconvulsive therapy 1920s 1930s historical images mocking historical events

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Cast

Woody Allen

Leonard Zelig

Mia Farrow

Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher

Patrick Horgan

The Narrator (voice)

John Buckwalter

Dr. Sindell

Marvin Chatinover

Glandular Diagnosis Doctor

Stanley Swerdlow

Mexican Food Doctor

Paul Nevens

Dr. Birsky

Howard Erskine

Hypodermic Doctor

Richard Whiting

Other Doctor

Ralph Bell

Other Doctor

Will Hussung

Other Doctor

Gale Hansen

Freshman #1

Michael Jeter

Freshman #2

Peter McRobbie

Workers Rally Speaker

Richard Litt

Charles Koslow

Mary Louise Wilson

Sister Ruth

Alice Beardsley

Telephone Operator

Paula Trueman

Woman on Telephone

Garrett M. Brown

Actor Zelig

Marianne Tatum

Actress Fletcher

Charles Denny

Actor Doctor

Michael Kell

Actor Koslow

John Rothman

Paul Deghuee

Deborah Rush

Lita Fox

Stanley Simmonds

Lita's Lawyer

Robert Berger

Zelig's Lawyer

Jeanine Jackson

Helen Gray

John Doumanian

Greek Waiter

Willy Holt

Rally Chancellor

Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag - Contemporary Interviews

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow - Contemporary Interviews

Irving Howe

Irving Howe - Contemporary Interviews

Marshall Cole Sr.

Calvin Turner - Contemporary Interviews

Ellen Garrison

Older Dr. Fletcher - Contemporary Interviews

Jack Cannon

Mike Geibell - Contemporary Interviews

Theodore R. Smits

Ted Bierbauer - Contemporary Interviews

Sherman Loud

Older Paul Deghuee - Contemporary Interviews

Elizabeth Rothschild

Older Sister Meryl Fletcher - Contemporary Interviews

Kuno Sponholz

Oswald Pohl - Contemporary Interviews

Ed Herlihy

Pathe News Announcer (voice)

Dwight Weist

Hearst Metrotone Announcer (voice)

George Hamlin

Experimental Drugs Doctor

Robert Iglesia

Man in Barber Chair

Eli Resnick

Man in Park

Edward McPhillips

Scotsman

Sol Lomita

Martin Geist

Ed Lane

Man on Telephone

Sharon Ferrol-Young

Miss Baker

Dimitri Vassilopoulos

Martinez

Stephanie Farrow

Sister Meryl

Francis Beggins

City Hall Speaker

Jean Trowbridge

Dr. Fletcher's Mother

Ken Chapin

On-Camera Interviewer

Gerald Klein

Hearst Guest

Vincent Jerman-Jerosa

Hearst Guest

Erma Campbell

Zelig's Wife

Anton Marco

Wrist Victim

Louise Deitch

House-Painting Victim

Bernice Dowis

Vilification Woman

Bernie Herold

Carter Dean

Elizabeth Kaitan

German Girl (uncredited)

Arthur Anderson

Other Doctor (uncredited)

Bubba Dean Rambo

Charleston Dancer (uncredited)

Kim Johnston Ulrich

Beauty Contestant (uncredited)

Michael Blevins

Lizard Dancer (uncredited)

Jon Hayden

Reporter (uncredited)

Mae Questel

Helen Kane (voice) (uncredited)

Ruth Leon Weiman

Mother of a Graduate (uncredited)

Tug Wilson

Police Officer (uncredited)

Videos and Photos

Movie Reviews

Reviews for Zelig

A Review by ltcomdata 6

Written by ltcomdata on 2014-02-26

A charming mockumentary about a fictional 1920s personality filmed as if cobbled together from old black-and-white footage.... read more

A Review by tmdb28039023 6

Written by tmdb28039023 on 2022-09-03

Leonard Zelig is a "human chameleon," but Zelig the film doesn't stop at mimicry. Indeed, this fictional documentary written, directed, and ... read more

Leonard Zelig is a "human chameleon," but Zelig the film doesn't stop at mimicry. Indeed, this fictional documentary written, directed, and starring Woody Allen differentiates between imitation and parody the same way Hitchcock differentiated between action and suspense. For example, the protagonist's parents used to punish him by locking him in a dark closet. If that were it, the film would simply be copying an aspect of Ingmar Bergman's childhood; Allen's genius lies in adding that when Zelig's parents are really mad, they "get into the closet with him." Zelig's targets go beyond the filmmaker's family, and include the press (“in those days, you'd do anything to sell papers. To get a story, you'd jazz it up, exaggerate, even maybe play with the truth a little bit. But here was a story. It was a natural. You just told the truth and it sold papers. It never happened before"), politicians ("He was selling the same piece of property to a lot of the same people, and... Matter of fact, a congressman from Delaware bought it twice"), psychologists (“I worked with Freud in Vienna. Yes, we broke over the concept of penis envy. Freud felt that it should be limited to women”), and philosophers (“His performance endears him as well to many leading French intellectuals, who see in him a symbol for everything” ). Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film revolves around Leonard Zelig (Allen), an indistinct man who has the ability to alter his appearance and behavior to fit those of the people around him; e.g., “When two Frenchmen enter, Zelig assumes their characteristics and speaks reasonable French. In the company of a Chinese person, he begins to develop oriental traits;” etc etc. This desire and ability to blend in ironically makes him an outcast; “Zelig's very existence is a non-existence. Devoid of personality, his human qualities long since lost in the confusion of life, he sits alone, silently staring into space, a figure, a non-person... The one who only wanted to fit in, to belong, to go unnoticed by his enemies and being loved, neither fits nor belongs, is supervised by enemies, and remains abandoned”. His protean nature also gives him access to a number of famous people and historical events. In this sense, Zelig is ahead of Forrest Gump, not only in that it precedes it, but also in that it surpasses it. Zelig is disruptive in more ways than one; while Forrest finally fades into the background as a new, Zelig anarchically places his protagonist, much to his own dismay, front and center of the action; in the Vatican he creates commotion by interrupting a ritual that had not been celebrated in “63 years” (while “His Holiness Pope Pius XI tries to swat the intruder with a sacred decree”), and in Germany the greatest irony of all: his "desired immersion in the mass and anonymity" lead the Jew Zelig to join the Sturmabteilung — the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party — ruining Hitler’s speech at a Nazi rally ("We couldn't believe our eyes. Hitler's speech was ruined. He wanted to make a good joke about Poland, but just then, Zelig interfered and Hitler was extremely upset").