Take The Money And Run Details

Take The Money And Run

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.

Starring	Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Lonny Chapman, Jan Merlin, Louise Lasser
Director	Woody Allen
Studio	FREMANTLE HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 22 mins
Certificate
Genres	Comedy
Language	English
Released	DVD: 07 May 2001 Production year: 1968
Format	DVD