When Woody Allen's fans refer to his "earlier, funnier" pictures, they often cite his directorial debut as a shining example. Co-written by Allen and Mickey Rose, this side-splitting takeoff of crime documentaries stars Allen as Virgil Starkwell, a sweetly inept career criminal. The film's most celebrated sequence involves Virgil's inability to write coherent holdup notes ("I have a gub"), but others include Virgil's losing battle with a recalcitrant coke machine and his misguided effort to emulate John Dillinger by carving a gun out of a bar of soap (his weapon disintegrates in a heavy rain). As was often the case in Allen's early films, not all the gags work, but for the most part, Take the Money and Run is a delight, enhanced by the on-target supporting performances of Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, and (uncredited) Louise Lasser, as well as the energetic musical score of Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Fans of Woody Allen's drier, more sophisticated later comedies may be surprised upon seeing his laugh-a-minute directorial debut, a goofy mock documentary about the career of a bumbling criminal (Allen). The humor is a precursor to such films as Airplane! in its determination to cram in as many jokes as possible, so that even if a few fall flat, the cumulative effect will have viewers laughing until they cry. Parts of the script are unnecessarily vaudevillian and rehash jokes that were already quite old by 1969, but the film as a whole is a fast-paced, genuinely hilarious comic gem. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Jan Merlin - Al; James Anderson - Chain Gang Warden; Grace Bauer - Farm House Lady; Henry Leff - Father Starkwell; Don Frazier - Psychiatrist; Jackson Beck - The Narrator; Howard Storm - Fred; Mark Gordon - Vince; Minnow Moskowitz - Joe Agneta; Nate Jacobson - The Judge; Mike O'Dowd - Michael Sullivan; Louise Lasser - Kay Lewis; Micil Murphy - Frank; Ethel Sokolow - Mother Starkwell
Credit
Fred Harpman - Art Director, Jack Grossberg - Associate Producer, Louis A. Stroller - First Assistant Director, Woody Allen - Director, James T. Heckert - Editor, Ron Kalish - Editor, Ralph Rosenblum - Editor, Sidney Glazier - Executive Producer, Edgar J. Scherick - Executive Producer, Marvin Hamlisch - Composer (Music Score), Stanley R. Dufford - Makeup, Fouad Said - Cinematographer, Lester Shorr - Cinematographer, Charles H. Joffe - Producer, Marvin March - Set Designer, A.D. Flowers - Special Effects, Bud Alper - Sound/Sound Designer, Woody Allen - Screenwriter, Mickey Rose - Screenwriter, Walter Hill - Second Assistant Director
Take the Money and Run is a 1969 comedy film co-written by, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. It is a mockumentary, chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a bungling petty thief. His entry into a life of crime at a young age, his crime spree, his first prison term and eventual escape, the birth and growth of his family, as well as his eventual capture at the hands of the FBI are some of the notable events depicted. Allen initially filmed a downbeat ending in which he was shot to death, courtesy of special effects from A.D. Flowers. Allen's editor, Ralph Rosenblum (whose first work with Allen this was), convinced him to go for a lighter ending.
This film was the first to be directed solely by Allen. (He had wanted Jerry Lewis to direct originally; when that didn't work out, Allen got the notion to direct it himself). Woody Allen's decision to become his own director was partially spurred on by the chaotic and uncontrolled filming of Casino Royale, in which he had appeared two years previously. This film marked the first time Woody Allen would perform the triple duties of writing, directing and acting in a film. The hysterical and almost slapstick style is similar to that of Allen's next several films, including Sleeper and Bananas.
Production
Allen discussed the concept of filming a mockumentary in an interview with Richard Schickel. "Take the Money and Run was a pseudo-documentary. The idea of doing a documentary, which I later finally perfected when I did Zelig was with me from the first day I started movies. I thought that was an ideal vehicle for doing comedy, because the documentary format was very serious, so you were immediately operating in an area where any little thing you did upset the seriousness and was thereby funny. And you could tell your story laugh by laugh by laugh... The object of the movie was for every inch of it to be a laugh."[citation needed]
The film was shot on location in San Francisco. One scene is set in Ernie's restaurant, whose striking red interior was immortalized in Hitchcock'sVertigo (1958). It was also filmed at San Quentin State Prison. One hundred San Quentin prisoners were paid a small fee to work on the film during the prison sequences. The regular cast and crew were stamped each day with a special ink that glowed under ultra-violet light so the guards could tell who was allowed to leave the prison grounds at the end of the day. Micil Murphy was one of the actors in the film, having returned to San Quentin for the role. He had become an actor after being paroled from that same prison three years earlier, in 1966, where he served five and a half years for armed robbery.
