TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN - DVD review

This is the Woody Allen that a lot of people later said "why can't he be more like." This is Woody Allen's very first feature film as writer, director, and star. "Take the Money and Run" isn't so much a movie with a plot as it is a movie with an endless stream of gags. The plot is just a thin excuse on which to hang Allen's nonstop visual and verbal antics. Enough of it works to make the film worthwhile.

The story is told in mock documentary style, an effective device that would later be put to use in satires like "This Is Spinal Tap." The off-screen narrator, Jackson Beck, speaks in a precise, clipped baritone voice, lending an air of grave authority to the proceedings as he leads us through a series of flashbacks and interviews related to the life of Virgil Starkwell, America's most dangerous and most-wanted criminal. As Starkwell, Woody Allen is, of course, playing Woody Allen. From his earliest days in standup comedy, Allen exploited his small stature and need for glasses to create the ultimate nerd, the social geek, the perpetually inept loser. He would later draw upon his Jewish heritage and his New York City background as further inspirations for humor, but here he is mainly the "poor soul."

Starkwell's life of crime begins early when as a child he joins a gumball ring and gets caught with his hand stuck in the machine. Later, in his teens, he is the only gang member whose switchblade falls apart when he tries to open it. His parents are so ashamed of him they won't be interviewed without disguises, bulbous rubber noses and mustaches. Nevertheless, crime wasn't always on Virgil's mind. He really wanted to be a cellist. Unfortunately, his school had only a marching band, and we see how difficult it is trying to keep up with a marching band while sitting in a chair and playing the cello!

The first bright spot in Virgil's life comes when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful young laundress, Louise (Janet Margolin). He tells her he plays cello in the Philharmonic, and she falls for it even though he has trouble recognizing the name Mozart. In probably the film's funniest scene, Virgil botches a bank robbery when he misspells the stickup note. "What's this word here?" asks the teller. "That's 'gun,'" Virgil replies. Oh, no, it can't be, the teller responds; it looks like "gub." The teller confers with a fellow employee, and they send Virgil to the bank manager for his OK on the note before they'll give him any money. The manager can't read the note, either, and calls over his secretary. Before long, cashiers, bank guards, and customers are all arguing with Virgil about guns and gubs. He winds up in prison, and his plans to marry Louise are put on hold. On visiting days she brings him hard-boiled eggs, layer cakes with guns in them, and chocolate chip cookies with bullets baked inside. She remains patient and devoted until he manages a daring escape and they can wed.

There's a whole sequence involving a woman who recognizes Virgil and tries to blackmail him, forcing Virgil into a series of attempts to murder her. Naturally, they all backfire, as does another aborted attempt to rob a bank. He rounds up a gang that will pretend to be a film crew making a movie in and around the bank. Marcel Hillaire is hilarious as Fritz, a crook who used to be a real director and has an ambition to be one again. Things go wrong when two gangs show up to rob the bank at the same time, and again Virgil ends up in prison. This time it's a Southern chain gang, giving Woody a chance to parody Paul Newman's "Cool Hand Luke," a popular film of a year or so before. James Anderson (Bob Ewell in "To Kill a Mockingbird") plays the chain-gang warden in a part made famous by Strother Martin in Newman's film.

"Take the Money and Run" is a funny film from start to finish, and if one gag doesn't work, just wait a second or two and something else is bound to strike your fancy. The film does not have the polished look that Allen would later develop, nor does it rely heavily on the psychological insights Allen would eventually engage in. It's all pretty straightforward fun and games this outing. And look for Louise Lasser in a small role toward the end.

Video:
Anchor Bay Entertainment do little to promote the film other than to give us two copies of it, widescreen and full-frame, on opposite sides of the DVD. Since the widescreen edition is not very wide, 1.51:1, and since it's a matted version of the full-frame, anyway, the two choices are not much to decide between. The colors are bright and vivid enough, but the image is not always as cleanly delineated as it might be. There is little grain but some very slight blur.

Audio:
The audio is Dolby Digital monaural, which is to say regular mono. In any case, it serves its purpose, as most of the film's soundtrack is made up of dialogue. Voices can be somewhat hollow or nasal, however, and both the frequency and dynamic range are fairly limited.

Extras:
Nothing much more to talk about. As far as extras are concerned, there is only a scene selections menu with twenty chapter stops. No language or subtitle choices, no trailer, no cast or crew information. This was admittedly a low-budget film, and the folks at Anchor Bay are apparently treating as such.

Parting Thoughts:
But low budget or not, "Take the Money and Run" is a successful comedy. It established Wood Allen as a movie star in his own right, and he's never looked back. His fans will be delighted to have this landmark film on DVD, even without extras.