Take the Money and Run

Take the Money and Run (1969) is the Woody Allen crime comedy you can watch online on iFILM. It was his first real shot behind the camera: he directed it, co-wrote the script, and played the lead. Virgil Starkwell dreams of becoming a famous bank robber. The problem is that he is hopeless at it.

The whole thing is shot like a phony documentary. A narrator soberly walks you through Virgil's "career" while one botched job follows another. There is the holdup note nobody can read. The prison break with a pistol carved out of soap. Between heists, Virgil meets a laundress named Louise (Janet Margolin) in a park and falls hard for her, then plans one big score to impress her. It does not go to plan.

Eighty-five minutes of gags, sight jokes, and deadpan voiceover, this is where Allen's signature style began. It is often credited as one of the earliest mockumentary spoofs and still turns up in comedy textbooks. Stream Take the Money and Run (1969) online on iFILM.