Woody Adjacent - Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones & John Berry - Claudine (1974)

Welcome back to the Woody Allen Retrospective Podcast for another episode of Woody Allen Adjacent—the first one of 2025!

 

First of all, thank you for rocking with us for another year. We GREATLY appreciate our lovely listeners, loyal subscribers, and thoughtful supporters!

 

For those who don’t know, in Woody Allen Adjacent, our podcast hosts work their way through films they like to compare and contrast with Woody Allen’s filmography and/or writing style.

 

Recently, Donald has charged the AI Assistant of the show to dig even deeper and generate a wider list of interesting Adjacent movies—some of which may feel a little ‘out of the norm,’ so to speak.

 

As we rotate our turns for Adjacent every month, we’re slowly working our way through a fascinating list of films. We’ve already covered quite a few at this point, some obvious, some not so.

 

For the AI’s turn this month, it has chosen Claudine (1974), a touching romantic dramedy starring Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones. Set in Harlem, Claudine offers a heartfelt yet sharp critique of the welfare system, family dynamics, and love in a time of financial struggle. While it arrived during the height of the Blaxploitation era, Claudine took a more grounded and human approach, telling a personal and deeply affecting story.

 

Incidentally, Claudine has a loose connection to Woody Allen via James Earl Jones, who later starred in The Comedians (1974), a film featuring Richard Burton, who worked with Woody Allen in Stardust Memories (1980)—a bit of trivia for those who like to make those six degrees of separation-style links!

 

So, join us for this deep dive into a film that may not be an obvious Woody Adjacent pick but certainly deserves its place in the discussion.

 

- Links Mentioned in This Episode -

 

THE MANIC EXPRESSION MOVIE TEASER TRAILER - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Dl4-FDzq8

 

Please check out the links below for the full cast, user reviews, ratings, and any additional information you may find interesting:

 

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_(film)

 

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071334/

 

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/claudine

 

A VERY Special Thanks to The Woody Allen Pages Website & The Woody Allen Subreddit for their continued support and info—check them out for the latest from the Woody Allen Fan Community!

 

https://www.woodyallenpages.com & https://www.reddit.com/r/woodyallen

 

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT on this or any other episode using our comment section video link here >>> https://bit.ly/warpcom

 

If you like the show, please consider buying us a coffee / giving us a tip via our Patreon campaign >>> https://www.patreon.com/woodyretro

 

Thanks for listening as always! We would also LOVE a review on iTunes or a 5-star rating via Spotify or whichever podcast platform you are listening on. Please find all our connected links below: https://linktr.ee/woodyretro