***When Willie Sutton’s Theory Of Capitalism Ruled The Roost- Woody Allen’s “Take The Money And Run”- A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Woody Allen’s Take The Money And Run.

DVD Review

Take The Money And Run, Woody Allen, 1969

This is an early film of comedian /actor/director Woody Allen starring himself in the lead as Virgil Starkwell, a bungling wannabe bank robber whose hijinks land him in prisons, in bed with a lovely girl and the halls of academia as an expert on crime. In this film we can see the outlines of Woody’s seemingly endless love affair with early black and white crime and film noir classics. There is a little more use of sight gags here than in his later films but through it all Woody is still the funny bumbling New York Jewish kid that a long series of films will explore in greater detail. The use of an old time newsreel announcer to describe and set the framework of the film and detail the action is an interesting twist. Not the best Woody Allen film but a good look at the niche that he created for himself in American urban comedy/ social commentary cinema.

***Out In Woody Allen’s Be-Bop New York City- “Manhattan”-A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Woody Allen’s Manhattan.

DVD Review

Manhattan, Woody Allen, Mariel Hemingway, 1979


In his own off-hand, low-key way Woody Allen, the quintessential New Yorker, has created a nice spoof/send up/valentine to his beloved city. If one were to name the person who represented the essence of middle/high brow New York in the 1970’s and 80’s the name Woody Allen would top most lists. The theme, as usual in an Allen film, is about the endlessly tangled interpersonal relationships among and between the upwardly mobile, or at least wannabe upward mobile, intellectual set in 1970’s New York. An added twist, given later developments in Allen’s personal life, is his tangled romance with a teenaged Waspish type (played by Hemingway), a type that he is seemingly fatally attracted to. Some of the wit may seem dated as it relates to 1970’s New York; some of Allen’s physical mannerisms seem very familiar and for those who have seen his later work the theme has been done better but here is Allen in his city. This is one of the reasons why New York, and no other, is the cultural capital of America. Beat him if you can.