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 Gang to 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 [show more]
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Woody Allen's debut as writer-director is a crime movie spoof told in semi-documentary style. Compulsive thief Virgil Starkwell (Allen) lands himself in prison after attempting to hijack an armoured car. A failed breakout with a gun fashioned from soap brings the threat of an increased sentence unless he agrees to take part in a dangerous medical experiment. Paroled as a result of his co-operation, he resolves to turn his back on crime and pursue true love with laundress Louise (Janet Margolin). But whilst there are bank jobs to be bodged, Starkwell remains a danger to society and himself.
Comical tale of a frail shy youngster with a massive IQ who turns to crime - unsuccessfully
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