Take the Money and Run "Before he is 25 years old he will be wanted by police in six states for assault, armed robbery and illegal possession of a wart." -Take the Money and Run Take the Money and Run would seem to the average viewer a series of skits and gags woven together to connect the story of Virgil Starkwell. The film starts with his petty theft childhood days leading up to his days as an adult spending most of his time in jail for bank robberies gone haywire. It's a parody of several films, mostly from the gangster genre of the 1930s. Take the Money and Run is shot in a cinema verite style while at the same time mocking it. The film introduces Virgil at about the age of eight or nine, spending most of his time on the street of the big city. Virgil attempts to copycat crimes of his criminal minded street friends, but just ends with his glasses being smashed. His first robbery attempt is stealing the money out of a gumball machine, which he only ends up getting his hand stuck in. Not a very promising start for young Virgil. Allen presents black and white stock footage that represents his grandfather and him at a baseball game in which his grandfather is hit in the head by a foul ball. After being hit in the head, the grandfather becomes convinced that he is Kaiser Wilhelm. Stock footage is shown of Wilhelm and other dignitaries and the voice over states: "Here are some rare photos of him with other patients in the sanitarium grounds." We also meet Virgil's parents in "talking head" segments disguised in Groucho masks, in which his father remarks, "He's a rotten gangster. I tried beating religion into him." In one of the funnier scenes early in the film, Virgil takes up the cello and attempts to play with the marching band while sitting in a folding chair. Later the cello is busted up by some street thugs, along with his glasses. Giving up on his musical interests, Virgil tells his friends he's going to become a "pool hustler." After this fails he attempts to rob a money truck with a cigarette lighter gun, which lands him his first jail sentence. All the above incidents lead up to the opening credits, giving the film a pseudo-documentary touch. The rest of the film is skit after skit of Virgil robbing banks and spending time in jail. Virgil falls in love and marries a girl, Louise (Janet Margolin), after he fools her into believing he is a cellist in the New York Philharmonic. "I knew I was in love. I was nauseous. After 1/2 hour, I gave up the idea of stealing her purse." Allen makes the series of gags and skits revolving around his crimes and prison succeed all the way through the film. In an attempt to rob a bank, the note demanding money given to the teller has many misspellings and so Virgil has to have it initialed by the bank president. "I'm pointing a gub at you." Virgil gets put in the slammer again, but he tells other inmates, "A prison has not been built that cannot hold me. I'll get out of this one even if I have to spend my whole life here." Virgil plans another break, and asks Louise to bake him a chocolate cake with a gun it and a dozen chocolate chip cookies with a bullet in each. Louise reminds Virgil that he's allergic to chocolate. Seeing he can't count on Louise, he and some other inmates plan an elaborate escape. The only problem comes when the other inmates call the break off, but Virgil is not told. Virgil escapes anyways, and takes a taxi that is waiting outside the gate. Realizing that the life of crime is getting him no where, Virgil decides
to sell encyclopedias (stacked in his arms) door to door and making a meager
living selling meagers. This of course does not have the financial rewards
Virgil strives for, so he goes back to the life of crime to support himself
and Louise. Louise tells Virgil his Christmas present is that she's pregnant.
Virgil asks Louise "How did it happen?" They later name the baby
Jonathan Ralph Starkwell, after Virgil's mother. To pull off the next big
heist, and insure success instead of humility, Virgil rounds up some top
notch criminals. Each has his history of problems with the law: At a secret meeting they see a film on Trout Fishing in Quebec, which Virgil tells them they will have to eat after viewing, due to it being evidence. "It will be buffet style. Help yourself to the potato salad, my wife is making coffee." To pull the heist off, they decide to disguise themselves as filmmakers making a movie on robbing a bank. They hire a director, who has a Fritz Lang look and attitude. As the "film" crew enters the bank, they discover another group of robbers is already robbing it. So the two groups take a poll with the bank employees on whom they feel should rob the bank. Virgil's crew loses and end up in a shoot out with cops while riding in a car being towed on a truck. This lands Virgil at a work camp, where the film then parodies I'm a Fugitive on A Chain Gang, The Defiant Ones and Cool Hand Luke. The men at the work camp are not allowed to faint without permission and only get one hot meal a day, a bowl of steam. In the final escape of the film, Virgil and five other men he is chained to escape through a swamp. After finally getting the chains off, Virgil robs an old high school friend who turns out to be in the FBI. Virgil's final prison sentence: 800 years in prison for 56 charges of armed robberies. The film strikes a note at being brilliant as the first film for Allen as director. Though very absurd and sloppy at times, Take the Money and Run is an exciting, fast-paced farce of the gangster film. The film is not very deep and never once can be taken seriously, but it is probably the best example featuring Woody showcasing his comedic talents early in film. There are some great lines in Take the Money and Run, and the set up of certain gags are certainly ones that Woody carried with him in his head years before making the film. One has to appreciate the comedy and film making talents of Woody Allen to recognize this film as a classic debut. Take the Money and Run is clearly comprised of several scenes from other films reworked to contain and produce a comedic element. Is this a direct result of from watching too many films as a child? Perhaps more it is a sign of insecurity, as is evident in his first few films in which he copies aspects others films most likely to ensure success in his. His parodies and situation farces work, but after close analysis come across as extremely immature. The films that contain large amounts of copycat images of other films are his early works. Thus proving that Woody was at first not confident in his work, and felt secure by putting scenes in his films that movie audiences were already familiar with. After making Annie Hall, Woody Allen will prove he is capable of much more that comedy and borrowing from other films. Allan Felix in Play it Again, Sam is extremely insecure,
and obviously represents the real Woody Allen. Virgil Starkwell is the wild
man, the relentless sociopath who has no fears. Virgil Starkwell is a copycat
criminal and Woody Allen was a copy-cat director in Take the Money and
Run. He brought to the screen his mocking interpretation of all the
gangster films he grew up watching. Perhaps, from the outside, this is what
makes the film funny. It can never at any moment be taken seriously. So
in effect Woody and Virgil Starkwell gain no respect, thus setting the mold
and laying the foundation for the "typical" Woody Allen character
in all of his films. Was it wrong for Woody Allen to make this his first
film as a director? Probably not having a choice in the matter, and seeing
as this film represents the brand of comedy he was already noted for, Woody
Allen made the right choice in making Take the Money and Run. It
is a timeless classic, and a dynamic debut by one of cinema's great directors. |
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