Take The Money And Run

• Cert:
• Cat.no: PTDVD 1346
• Running time: 82 minutes
• Year: 1969
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 12 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.1 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Widescreen: 1.66:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: No
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Woody Allen Info, Production Notes, Slideshow

Director:

Woody Allen

(Annie Hall, Celebrity, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Deconstructing Harry, Everyone Says I Love You, Husbands and Wives, Manhattan, Mighty Aphrodite, Shadows and Fog, Small Time Crooks, Sweet and Lowdown, Take The Money And Run)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Woody Allen

Music :

Cast :

Virgil Starkwell: Woody Allen
Louise: Janet Margolin
Fritz: Marcel Hillaire
Miss Blair: Jacquelyn Hyde
The Narrator: Jackson Beck

Take The Money And Runwas Woody Allen‘s first movie as writer, director AND star.Show part docusoap-style and told in flashback with scores of one-liners,it’s also one of his best as he takes the lead role of Virgil Starkwell, acrap thief.

There are so many classic scenes such as when he’s young and playing in astreet band, except his choice of instrument is a cello; the evening whenhe’s getting ready to go out for his first date with new beau Louise(Janet Margolin) and first leaves his apartment whilst forgettingan essential item; his parents’ disguises; the running joke about othersbreaking his glasses and his attempted early bank robbery where they can’tdecipher his stick-up note.

Virgil gets locked up for ten years and makes an escape attempt, despite thefact that everyone else in the gang has called it off, leading to this beingjust the start of his problems including being blackmailed by office colleagueMiss Blair (Jacquelyn Hyde).

If you’ve never ever seen, or liked, a Woody Allen movie before, you musttry out this one.

Louise: “We’re going to have a baby… a baby for Christmas”
Virgil (non-plussed): “All I wanted was a tie.”

The print on this DVD is a non-anamorphic one in a 1.66:1 widescreen ratiowhich I zoomed in to fill my widescreen TV as I’m sure others will, althoughthat makes it lose resolution. There’s a number of print flecks to be seenand it could do with a remastering, but that looks unlikely at this price.The average bitrate is 5.71Mb/s briefly peaking over 7Mb/s.

The film was shot in mono but my Sony STR-DB930 amplifier shows “Dolby Digital2.1” and there’s some sound leaking into the rears but it sounds a bitdisconcerting sometimes and I’m wondering if it’s a mistake as you rarelyget films in that format.

The extras consist of several pages of Woody Allen Info includinga brief biography, trivia and quotable quotes, four pages of ProductionNotes and a two-minute Slideshow where pictures are played to asoundtrack of one-liners from the film. However, all of these are somethingthat you’ll look at once and that’s about it.

There’s only 12 chapters and no subtitles and only the main menu has somebrief animation and sound. However, if you also liked the movie then youcan’t complain too much at the £12.99 price tag.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL