Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Forumrxes
Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
bkmontgomery-83862
This is my favorite Woody Allen film. Fill stop.Allen plays a terrible petty criminal. Not terrible as in a bad person, but terrible as in terrible at his... Uh, profession.
Describing the plot any further would be a waste of your time and mine, but there are so many great scenes and I do want to mention a couple to intime would-be viewers to sit down and watch the damn thing.
Take, for instance, when Allen's character fails to rob a bank because the bankteller couldn't read his handwriting on the note he passed her. What follows is a small gather of bank employees huddled together, trying to decrypt the note while Allen argues with them.In another scene, we find out hero imprisoned. He agrees to some jailhouse experiments in exchange for freedom. The doc injects him with a cure for whatever, then check on him sometime later. He was sitting there, with a huge beard, dressed in Rabbi's garments and explaining Passover to his fellow inmates. Finally, and chronologically firstly, we see Allen's character playing cello in a marching band. The band matches around as Allen run along to keep up with them, before playing the cello for a few seconds then repeating it all. As you can see, the humor in this movie draws on the absurd, and like great absurdist works, it's a pure joy from start to finish.
thejcowboy22
The first triple attempt for Woody Allen in Movies as Writer, directer and leading actor in his own mis-adventures about a clumsy, misguided two bit nebish of a crook Virgil Starkwell. This mockumentary focuses on the turbulent times of bank robber Virgil Starkwell.The deep rich vocals of Jackson Beck are provided during this entire movie as they are narrated in a solemn, stern plausible style. Conversely the comical in-depth interview by old friends. convicts and his parents complete with Groucho Marx masks as to not reveal their identities to the viewers.Virgil's diligent planning for the perfect bank holdup including a egotistical Euopean Director. But alas his poor wife played by Janet Margolin is not appreciated as Virgil whines, "I can't wear a beige shirt to a bank robbery!" Bumbling bank holdups and failed robbery attempts are the norm for this comedy. These hilarious scenes are shown despite the serious narration. Favorite moment is when the Starkwell's Virgil and his wife are doing math homework with their son, during a heated car chase from the law. Bullets are flying toward the Starkwell's car as Virgil fires back with pistil in hand,but sonny boy needs to get the math homework completed. In a cops and robbers style car chase multitasking is the normal for our blundering bespectacled rogue. Plenty of hilarious scenes throughout this early work of Woody Allen where crime in this case does PAY!
classicalsteve
A lot of movie-goers believe Christopher Guest's "This is Spinal Tap" directed by Rob Reiner was the first American "mockumentary". A "mockumentary" is a type of fictional film in the format of a non-fiction documentary format with fake interviews and sometimes a voice-over narrator. Most often they spoof some kind of overused subject. While "Spinal Tap" may have been the first "rockumentary", about 15 years previously, Woody Allen produced and released "Take the Money and Run". Much of what happens in Allen's offering is the model by which nearly all subsequent mockumentaries would follow, including many by Christopher Guest. And it still stands as possibly Allen's best pure comedic effort.In the 1950's and 1960's, a number of documentaries produced both for the small and large screens told the stories of criminals. (Guest would later make mockumentaries about music groups, hometown theatre, and dog shows.) "Take the Money and Run", written, directed and starring Woody Allen, spoofs documentaries about criminals for the first-ever mockumentary in the United States, complete with narrator and interviews. The first voice of the film is that of narrator Jackson Beck who made a career of doing voice-overs for such documentaries and television advertisements. The "story" involves hardened criminal Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen), his life and exploits over the years as a mediocre thief. As one character put it: "You know, he never made the 'ten most wanted' list. It's very unfair voting; it's who you know." Similar to "Monty Python's Flying Circus", all the characters, especially the narrator, play their parts dead-pan. In other words, they pretend what they're doing is serious, even though, in the end, it's quite silly. For example, when narrator Beck announces they will hear interviews of Starkwell's parents, he says in all seriousness they will wear disguises. Then we see the parents wearing plastic Grouch Marx noses and glasses. This is the kind of humour which permeates the entire film. In another famous scene, Starkwell is spending time in a maximum security facility where he must endure extra punishment for breaking the rules: he must spend time in solitary confinement with an insurance salesman."Take the Money and Run" at its essence is a series of interconnected comedy sketches, very similar to the feel of Monty Python. Nearly every bit is roll-over-the-floor hilarious. Often the scene begins somewhat "seriously" until Allen applies a zinger towards the end. Much of the later work of Christopher Guest owes much to Allen's original mockumentary. And apparently, one of Starkwell's criminal associates, Frankie Wolf, is still wanted by authorities for dancing with a mailman.
ElMaruecan82
"After fifteen minutes I wanted to marry her, and after half an hour I completely gave up the idea of stealing her purse."This is intelligently nonsensical and brilliantly absurd, in other words: it's 100% pure Woody Allen, here in his earliest display of a promising comical genius in the pivotal year of 1969. Through "Take the Money and Run", Woody reinvents humor by combining the heritage of the pioneers: Keaton and Chaplin's slapstick, the irreverent wisecracks of the Marx Brothers, the outrageousness of Mel Brooks and even the social commentary of stand-up comedy with a little something incarnated by that funny-looking geeky face that would become an icon of American comedy, and an inspiration for the new generation."Take the Money and Run" is both a tribute to the pioneers and an inspiration for the newcomers.The film strikes by a smart novelty: it is constructed like a TV mockumentary chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a criminal whose empathy-builders (or redeeming qualities) are his total ineptitude as a bank robber and jail escapist and a tender romance with the beautiful Louise, played by the late Janet Margolin. The film features many interviews of people who played a significant part in Virgil's life, most notably his shameful parents who wear Groucho Marx masks to remain anonymous, a running gag that pays like a tribute to the spirit that most nourished Allen's inspiration. So yes, it's about the geeky neurotic loser who is to Allen what the "Little Tramp", was to Chaplin: a defining character. And the prologue of the film works, a posteriori, like Allen's perfect introduction to Cinema, as an actor/director/writer (although he shares the latter honor with a guy named Mickey Rose).And if the direction seems to lack the confidence that would grow from one decade of cinematic experience, amusingly, it drives more than it undermines the quality of the film.The advantage of a debut is to have nothing to be compared with and a certain freedom of mistakes and Allen handles this like someone aware of where he's going at … not necessarily with this film, but with the whole comical material he uses. The film can even be subtitled "Everything You Wanted to Know About Woody Allen" as it features whatever will forge his touch in the future: the slapstick of the early 70's, the introspective character studies of the 70's/80's, the romances dealt with a tender poignancy, and a writing that would have made Groucho Marx extremely proud. I concede that by trying to be everything, the film feels like it doesn't have a way and might have damaged the appreciation of many critics, including Roger Ebert, who didn't think much of Allen's debut (although he never denied his comedic talent) but if I can mention the editing as the technical alibi that saved the film from being an objective mess, I don't think it really matters since every scene works by itself with the same effect as from a good sketch.On the surface, "Take the Money and Run" is like "Monty Python's Flying Circus" only telling a story with a clear narrative structure.Indeed, each scene works independently as a sketch: one involves the classic bank robbery where everyone points out spelling mistakes, a hilarious escape attempt with a gun made of a bar soap during an unfortunate rainy night, Allen getting ready for a date and trying to look handsome in front of his mirror (clumsily maneuvering his glasses), before a visually hysterical conclusion. And the romantic core driven by Virgil and Louise consolidates what would have felt like a simple assemblage of comic vignettes. Janet Margolin is by the way one of the highlights of the film, as it's impossible not to be mesmerized by her breath-taking beauty and thanks to her interaction and sweetness with Virgil, the film manages to touch our hearts. There are of course other elements that structure the film such as the running gag of people constantly breaking Allen's glasses, and the music, which remains for me one of the most memorable from a Woody Allen's film (along with "Love and Death" and "Hannah and her Sisters".So, on the surface, "Take the Money Run" is structured by as series of failures that elevates Virgil's status as an endearing loser, constantly bullied and yet getting the beautiful girl and making her so nervous she stutters.But on the content, the film speaks much larger statements about the birth of a new talent for American Cinema, defining Cinema as the ultimate nerd's escapism, at least one Virgil succeeded in.Notice how till the end, Virgil becomes more confident, getting ready to spend time in jail, Virgil talks to a journalist while preparing a gun of soap and discussing his hobbies then he suddenly interrupts the flow of his answer and asks if it's raining out, the image freezes and the music comes back, providing a weirdly thrilling sensation as if the film was Allen's message to Cinema, a hymn for all the nerds who try to escape their miserable condition through talent and perseverance. For Virgil, it's robbery, for Allen, it's comedy, and "Take the Money and Run" might not the be the funniest or the most successful film but it sure paved the way to "Bananas", "Love and Death" and less than a decade after, a Best Picture winner. And Virgil perfectly mirrors Allen's condition since Allen got himself beautiful women.Despite its modest aspect, the film is made with sincerity by a future comical genius who translated his flaws into a semi-autobiographical classic, to a point it's hard to comprehend the talent of Woody Allen without watching "Take the Money and Run" and I'm sure even Ebert would reconsider his view because it's precisely for all the films that came after, that "Take the Money and Run" should be judged with more enthusiasm.
