After the craziness and lack of organization he experienced on Casino Royale (1967), Woody Allen resolved to start directing his own films. With Take the Money and Run (1969), Allen opted for an ambitious triple duty... as writer, director and star. Doing everything himself proved to be a winning formula for Allen, and forged a film making career for him that has now entered it's sixth decade. Often credited as being the first "Mockumentary", Allen's slapstick style in Take the Money and Run would serve to aid him in his subsequent early films. Made on a budget, the prison scenes were actually filmed at San Quentin, with real inmates serving as extras. Full of original antics, and moving at a frantic pace, Take the Money and Run was a fitting and admirable directorial debut.
The film follows Virgil Starkwell's (Woody Allen) life of crime, in a documentary style, from his awkward upbringing...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
through his many failed criminal ventures...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
to meeting his wife...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
to going to jail...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
and his many escape attempts (including an unfortunate rain storm that ruined his carved soap gun)...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
Hilarious slapstick comedy guides the production along through to it's uproarious end...
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| Take the Money and Run. 1969. Woody Allen |
