SYNOPSIS: Virgil Starkwell, the only child of a New Jersey couple, is a sweet-natured, nerdy young boy who grows up to become a notorious criminal, famous for his botched attempts at robbery and his absurd prison escapes. Yet, despite his reputation, he wins the love and loyalty of a pretty young laundress who stands by him despite her anxiety over his criminal activities.

If for no other reason, Take the Money and Run (1969) is important as Woody Allen's first official directorial effort (What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) doesn't really qualify since it was a Japanese spy thriller that Allen simply redubbed with new dialogue); the film marked the arrival of a major new talent on the cinema scene, bringing Allen's distinctive humor from his stand-up routines and his writing for television and print into a new medium for him. Primitive as it may be compared to his later works, the film contains much of the characteristic preoccupations, stylistic innovations, and satirical targets he would develop to perfection in his subsequent movies.

It's all here from the start in an embryonic stage: the satires on success, fame, and psychoanalysis; the angst of modern life; the explorations into and comments upon film style and structure; the frustrated romance between the intellectual nebbish Jew and the beautiful "shiksa goddess" of his dreams; and direct asides to the audience. Allen would play out these themes and techniques with increasing complexity in all his films over the years, and knowing what we do of his life and work since then, it's fascinating and refreshing to see their beginnings, even in a context that many critics noted for a certain sloppiness and occasional lack of coherence.

Take the Money and Run also marks the beginning of what is now commonly known as the "mockumentary," the pseudo-documentary style that has become increasingly popular through the years, particularly in the films of Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman [1996]) and Albert Brooks (Real Life [1979]). With this approach, and considerable help from such artists as composer Marvin Hamlisch and editorial consultant Ralph Rosenblum, Allen was able to string together isolated verbal and visual gags and plot elements spanning years into a whole that brought out the combination of humor and underlying pathos to best effect, given the restraints of budget and his own inexperience with film. It may not be Citizen Kane (1941), but like Orson Welles's audacious debut, Allen was involved in every aspect of the production. He not only wrote, directed and starred in Take the Money and Run but also oversaw the post-production of it himself. It also marks the beginning of Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins's long partnership as film producers and one of the first scores of Oscar®-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch. In all these respects, Take the Money and Run is a landmark, both for the filmmaker and for contemporary American cinema.

Director: Woody Allen
Producers: Sidney Glazier, Jack Rollins (uncredited) and Charles H. Joffe
Screenplay: Woody Allen and Mickey Rose
Cinematography: Lester Shorr
Editing: James T. Heckert, Paul Jordan and Ron Kalish, Ralph Rosenblum (editorial consultant)
Art Direction: Fred Harpman
Original Music: Marvin Hamlisch
Cast: Woody Allen (Virgil Starkwell), Janet Margolin (Louise), Jacquelyn Hyde (Miss Blair), Henry Leff (Mr. Starkwell), Ethel Sokolow (Mrs. Starkwell).
C-85m.

by Rob Nixon