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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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After fifteen minutes he wanted to marry her--and after half an hour he completely gave up the idea of stealing her purse
Take The Money And Run is the first movie Woody Allen ever wrote, directed and starred in all at once. Even early on in his film career, Woody Allen shows genius and promise to grow much, much further than most artists ever go. The film's plot moves along at a good pace and the acting increases the quality of the movie--and the jokes.
The film, as you may well know, is a spoof of documentaries called a "mockumentary." The film purports to show the life and times of a petty criminal named Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen). We see him being bullied by his childhood peers on the streets and his failure at playing the cello signals his failure to become a successful criminal.
The film is essentially one gag after another in rapid fire. We see Virgil fail at bank robbery after bank robbery; perhaps the funniest is when Virgil and his buddies try to rob a bank when another gang wants to rob the same bank on the same day. We also see Virgil fall in love with beautiful Louise (Janet Margolin). Janet plays Louise with a great deal of realism and her matter-of fact attitude toward Virgil's bank robbing is comical as well.
In order to make Take The Money And Run feel even more like a documentary, we get "interviews" with Virgil's parents (who wear Groucho Marx glasses to disguise themselves) and teachers and acquaintances who knew Virgil. The acting is excellent.
The DVD doesn't offer too many extras but the movie is so well done that I will give this a five star rating anyway.
Take The Money And Run is sure to give you a laugh--in fact, you'll be laughing all the way. The "mockumentary" style of the film enhances its comedic effect. I highly recommend this film for people who enjoy comedy films and fans of Woody Allen.
Rating: -
Young Genius in Full Flower
When the history of 20th century comedy is written, someone will tell the story of the geniuses who emerged from the working class neighborhoods of New York's outer boroughs: Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Neil Simon will make the list, along with Mel Brooks, and Woody Allen. There are others, of course. Together they make up one of the most remarkable flowerings of comic talent in American history. Woody's talent sprang from him fully formed. His basic gift is in full evidence in this early picture. It is debatable that he has improved with age, although it is worth noting that his exposure, like Harold Pinter's, to elegant, bourgeois life permanently altered the objects of his comic study. Mia Farrow introduced him to the good life, to aristocratic penthouse life, and there was no turning back. Still, his genius can be seen in his ability to adjust and move on. Later Woody is every bit as good as his early work, but not necessarily better, unless you happen to like posh talk and that very special boredom of the urban bourgeoisie. This early picture, though lacking in elegant settings and posh-talk, is vintage; here we having that wonderful skewering of pieties that one remembers from the Marx Brothers. Woody is wonderful at exposing pretensions, great and small. Here he plays a small-time hoodlum, a kind of Sylvester Stallone, played as a clumsy oaf, a loser, and nebbishy klutz, with eyes for the gals. Groucho, where are you? The film is a work of genius. It is a jewel.
Rating: -
Full Screen is Better
Excellent, witty, vintage Woody Allen, and I am so pleased it is released in full screen. Widescreen versions add nothing to films, and people who feel that they do are pompous cinema snobs. Rather than look at two black lines on my 42" flat screen HDTV, I like the films up close and personal. I would much rather see people's faces and the little details of a scene than the booring, blurred panorama. For the vast majority of films, it is the faces and expressions of the protagonists that are of interest, not the apes and monkeys in the background.
Rating: -
A classic that is just a bit worn after nearly 40 years, but quite funny
Watching this movie almost 40 years after it came out cannot capture how irreverent it felt in 1969. The world has become so much cruder and the language so much more coarse that this feels much like a family film today. It is funny, yes, but some of it feels dated. Comedy is often tied to its time and doesn't travel to a later time so well. Yet, much of the movie remains terrific and classic. There are many lines that have become part of the language ("it is if you're doing it right", for example). Just go up to anyone who knows the film and say "abt natural" or "I have a gub" and they will likely begin to chuckle. And, of course, there is the soap and shoe polish gun in the rain.
It is also nice to see Janet Margolin in one of her best roles as the female lead, Louise, Virgil's eternally loyal girlfriend. She was taken far too young by ovarian cancer, but this role is a great one to remember her by.
For those who haven't seen the movie, Woody Allen plays Virgil Starkwell, a really down and out kid, what is a nerd called if they are also stupid? That's Virgil. He loves playing the cello, but without the least spark of talent. He tries to play the cello in a marching band. He turns to crime with even less ability than he has for the cello. Of course, like all stupid people, he gets himself into worse trouble because he actually thinks he knows what he is doing. However, he is also aware that nothing works out for him, but thinks it is basically bad breaks even though he understands he has no abilities whatsoever. That mix of self-awareness and yet being completely unaware is the source of much of the humor. It really does work and is quite funny.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Rating: 
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CLASSIC EARLY WOODY! ONE OF THE BEST! WHY FULL SCREEN ???
This is one of the funniest Woody Allen films. I don't know why it was released in full screen and that is why I deduct one star. One of Woody's less complex comedies, but still one of my favorites. The DVD transfer looks good, but a widescreen version should have been included.
