Stars: Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Lonny Chapman, Jan Merlin, Louise Lasser

Director: Woody Allen

Summary: Comical tale of a frail, shy youngster with a massive I.Q. who turns to crime - unsuccessfully.

Woody Allen's directorial debut, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, is a hilarious mock documentary about the life and crimes of one Virgil Starkwell--a man who always ends up getting his glasses crushed. Familiar newsreel voice Jackson Beck narrates the tale of the hapless criminal and his ridiculous plans that repeatedly blow up in his face--sometimes literally. When Starkwell, played by Allen, falls in love with Louise (Janet Margolin), he tries to change, but he comes to realize that he is a born criminal--and a born loser. Allen fills his movie with sight gags galore, including his escaping from prison with a gun made out of soap--then getting caught in the rain, and his parents being interviewed wearing Groucho Marx disguises. Many bits from his stand-up routine also are scattered throughout the screenplay, cowritten with Mickey Rose. Numerous small touches and themes in this film would show up in Allen's later work, but here they are played exclusively for laughs--and the laughs come nonstop as Virgil puts together a gang and plans a big bank job that he believes will get his family back on their feet. Allen's wonderful documentary style would influence such later mockumentaries as THIS IS SPINAL TAP and THE RUTLES; it is relentless in its verbal and visual attack on the senses, a worthy debut for a filmmaker who would change the face of comedy in the coming decades.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on April 3, 2006 10:34 AM

Psychologically unfit for life as a child , Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen)
begins a life of compulsive petty crime . Before reaching the age of 25 , he has become an extremely inept criminal who is known to the police by five aliases . For a while , however , his life seems to change when he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Louise
( Janet Margolin ) . But it's not long before his compulsive ways return and he sets out to rob banks and fail in increasingly fascinating and hilarious ways . The funniest bit is when he makes a gun out of soap .

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Woody Allen's feature-film debut, Take the Money and Run, a mockumentary that combines sight gags, sketchlike scenes, and stand-up jokes at rat-a-tat speed, looks positively primitive compared to his mature work. Primitive, but awfully funny. Allen plays Virgil Starkwell, a music-loving nebbish who turns to a life of crime at an early age and, undaunted by his utter and complete failure to pull off a single successful robbery, continues his unbroken spree of bungled heists and prison breaks even after he marries and raises a family. Narrator Jackson Beck, whose stentorian voice of authority makes a perfect foil for Starkwell's absurd exploits, lobs one droll quip after another with deadpan seriousness. Though spotty, Allen tosses so many jokes into the mix that it hardly matters and when they hit they are often hilarious: the chain gang posing as cousins to their old-woman hostage ("We're very close", Virgil explains to a dim cop), arguing with a dotty movie director who is supposed to be their cover for a bank robbery, Virgil's escape attempt with a bar of soap. Allen spoofs decades of crime films, everything from I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gangto Bonnie and Clyde, but you don't have to know the movies to enjoy this goofy, sometimes clumsy, but quite clever comedy. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Biography, Production Notes, Scene Selection, Slideshow, Trade Marks, Trivia, Quotes
Year:	1968
Release Date:	May 7, 2001
Runtime:	82 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	P T D V D 1346
Label:	The Film Collection
Keywords:	Run, Comedy, Money, General, Take
Genre:	Comedy