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Take the Money and Run (film): Difference between revisions

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Take the Money and Run (film) (view source)

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{{quote|''[[Backstory|On December 1, 1935, Mrs. Williams Starkwell,]] [[Humble Beginnings|the wife of a New Jersey handyman,]] [[Where It All Began|gives birth to her first and only child.]] [[Babies Make Everything Better|It is a boy, and they name it]] [[Non -Indicative Name|Virgil.]] [[Deliberately Cute Child|He is an exceptionally cute baby, with a sweet disposition.]] [[From Nobody to Nightmare|Before he is 25 years old, he will be wanted by police in six states,]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart.]]''|The opening narration}}
 
''Take the Money and Run'' (1969) is a [[Mockumentary]] co-written by [[Woody Allen]] and Mickey Rose, and marked Allen's full-fledged directorial debut<ref>Allen had directed ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'', a [[Gag Dub]] of a Japanese spy flick, in 1967</ref>. It chronicles the life of [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Ineffectual Sympathetic]] [[Villain Protagonist]] [[Stupid Crooks|Virgil Starkwell]] and his wife Louise. Through exclusive interviews with his family, friends and teachers, we learn more about Virgil’s [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood|past]], [[Parental Neglect|upbringing]], and his love of [[Damn It Feels Good to Be A Gangster|crime]] and [[Dreadful Musician|the cello.]]
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=== ''Take the Money and Run'' provides examples of: ===
* [[Appliance Defenestration]]: Virgil's cello is thrown out a window, presumably by someone fed up with [[Dreadful Musician|his horrible skill with the instrument]].
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: Several criminal characters are given rap sheets that follow this pattern. At the very beginning, the narrator says that Virgil is wanted for "robbery, attempted murder, and illegal possession of a wart". Later, as Virgil assembles a gang to rob a bank, the narrator reveals what each of them has served time for--one was "bank robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, and getting naked in front of his in-laws"; another was just "dancing with a mailman"; the third was "arson, robbery, assault with intent to kill, and marrying a horse".
* [[Blatant Lies]]: Virgil tells Louise he’s in the Philharmonic when he first hits on her. [[Lampshade Hanging|Virgil later notes that she probably saw right through his ruse because he didn’t know who Mozart was]].
* [[The Comically Serious]]: The narrator.
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* [[Informed Judaism]]: Virgil’s father seems to think so about his son; he says he tried to “beat God into him” but it didn’t work.
* [[Like an Old Married Couple]]: Virgil’s parents are constantly bickering throughout their interview. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] because they’re, [[Captain Obvious|you know]], [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|an old married couple.]]
* [[The Not -So -Harmless Punishment]]: Played with. A pretty nasty punishment turns out to be even ''more'' harmful. As the narrator states, "Food on a chain gang is scarce and not very nourishing. The men get one hot meal a day... a bowl of steam." This is shortly followed by the [[Inverted Trope|inverse of the trope]], a man who didn't give a good day's work is hauled into another room, and the warden takes Virgil over to show him "what he's got to look forward to". We see the the shadow of what appears to be the man tied to the ceiling being whipped by another guard (and sounds of whipping and the prisoner wincing seem to confirm this), but after Virgil and the warden walk through the door, we find out that the guard is whipping the prisoner's shadow, instead.
* [[Parental Neglect]]: Virgil was raised by his grandfather because his parents were never around for him. At least, until said grandfather got a [[Tap On the Head]].
* [[Paper -Thin Disguise]]: Virgil’s parents refuse to show their faces on camera when interviewed, but hide their identities with ''Groucho Marx glasses''.
* [[Punishment Box]]: Virgil is locked in one of these at one point... with an insurance salesman.
* [[Running Gag]]: Virgil getting his glasses stomped on. It slowly [[Serial Escalation|escalates]] throughout the film, starting with some kid gangster, then a garbage man, then adult gangster, and finally '''''[[Up to Eleven|a judge]]''''' getting in on the action.
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