When Willie Sutton’s Theory Of Capitalism Ruled The Roost- Woody Allen’s “Take The Money And Run”- A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Woody Allen’s Take The Money And Run.

DVD Review

Take The Money And Run, Woody Allen, 1969

This is an early film of comedian /actor/director Woody Allen starring himself in the lead as Virgil Starkwell, a bungling wannabe bank robber whose hijinks land him in prisons, in bed with a lovely girl and the halls of academia as an expert on crime. In this film we can see the outlines of Woody’s seemingly endless love affair with early black and white crime and film noir classics. There is a little more use of sight gags here than in his later films but through it all Woody is still the funny bumbling New York Jewish kid that a long series of films will explore in greater detail. The use of an old time newsreel announcer to describe and set the framework of the film and detail the action is an interesting twist. Not the best Woody Allen film but a good look at the niche that he created for himself in American urban comedy/ social commentary cinema.