3. Manhattan
Although Manhattan is a firm favourite of his films among fans and critics alike, when talking about his least favourite of his own films, Allen said of Manhattan-
" I hated that one. I even made Stardust Memories (1980) for United Artists just so Manhattan would stay on the shelf. And even after those efforts, I still can't believe even to this day how it became so commercially successful. I can't believe I got away with it."
He also offered to make a film for free to avoid Manhattan's release, even going as far as to say -
"I just thought to myself, 'At this point in my life, if this is the best I can do, they shouldn't give me money to make movies."
Allen got the idea for Manhattan originally from his love of George Gershwin's music and decided he wanted to make a black and white romantic film set in New York and has described it as "a mixture of what I was trying to do with Annie Hall and Interiors". The famous bridge scene was filmed on location at 5 am and the park bench that was used was brought in as there wasn't one at the site.