Sweet and Lowdown /

Sweet and Lowdown is 1999 film written and directed by Woody Allen which tells the story of a fictional arrogant, obnoxious, alcoholic jazz guitarist named Emmet Ray (played by Sean Penn) who regards himself as perhaps the best guitarist in the world, or second best, after his idol, Django Reinhardt. The film also stars Uma Thurman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Samantha Morton as Hattie, a lovable young mute woman. Allen appears briefly as himself, being interviewed about Ray's music. The film, loosely based on Federico Fellini's film La strada, was one of Allen's most well-received dramatic films. Hot off his 1969 directing debut Take the Money and Run, Allen signed a contract to direct a series of films with United Artists. Told to "write what you want to write," Allen wrote The Jazz Baby, a dramatic screenplay about a jazz musician set in the thirties. Allen said later that the United Artists executives were "stunned... because they had expected a comedy. [They] were very worried and told me, 'We realize that we signed a contract with you and you can do anything you want. But we want to tell you that we really don't like this.'" Allen went along with United Artists, writing and