Description:"Woody Allen is hilarious" (NY Daily News) in his brilliant first outing as director, writer and star in this satire about the most inept bank robber ever laughed at by the FBI.
Woody Allen casts himself as a desperate criminal one step ahead ... Full Descriptionof the law in this riotous comedy full of slapstick silline"Woody Allen is hilarious" (NY Daily News) in his brilliant first outing as director, writer and star in this satire about the most inept bank robber ever laughed at by the FBI.
Woody Allen casts himself as a desperate criminal one step ahead ... Full Descriptionof the law in this riotous comedy full of slapstick silliness. Allen's directorial debut is a terribly funny mockumentary about a crook who tries and tries to pull off heists and robberies but never to any avail because of his incredible incompetence and stupidity, which leads to his downfall every time, including using a fake gun made of soap--and getting caught in the rain.
Although it followed his WHAT'S UP TIGER LILY (which was mostly just a humorous redubbing of a Japanese spy film), TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN was truly Woody Allen's directorial debut. After spending years writing gags for television comedies and as a stand-up comedian, Allen began to appear in films in the mid-1960s. He developed some frustration with the way his writing was being used and decided to make films himself, with the result being TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. Allen plays Virgil Starkwell, the world's most inept thief, as an early version of the nebbish, neurotic persona he would later perfect. The film combines two formal styles; in part it is played as a documentary about Virgil's life and his turn to crime, with a voice-over narration and interviews, but many of the scenes are shot like a standard fiction-comedy feature. Although in light of Allen's later work the film may appear a bit crude, many of the elements of his filmmaking and comic style are evident in it. In common with his other early works (such as BANANAS and SLEEPER) the plotting is very loose, as the narrative exists mostly as a skeleton on which to hang a series of gags and jokes. The influence of fellow Jewish comedians the Marx Brothers is fully evident in that structuring principle (Allen even goes as far as to have a scene where Virgil's parents disguise themselves in interview with false Groucho glasses), as well as in the combination of verbal quips with slapstick visual gags (such as Allen attempting to play the cello in a marching band). Although TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN seems a bit simplistic, it still retains its comedic effect and offers an early view of Woody Allen's later filmmaking style.
"BANK TELLER #1: Does this look like “gub” or “gun”?
BANK TELLER #2: Gun. See? But what’s “abt” mean?
VIRGIL STARKWELL: It’s “act”. A-C-T. Act natural. Please put fifty thousand dollars into this bag and act natural.
BANK TELLER #1: Oh, I see. This is a holdup?"
Toby White added this to a list 5 months, 3 weeks ago
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