# Take the Money and Run
*Take the Money and Run* is a 1969 American comedy film directed by [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen), in which an incompetent would-be bank robber named Virgil Starkwell is profiled in a spoof documentary complete with interviews, narration, and archival-style footage. It was Allen's first film as a director, and it is widely credited as an early landmark of the mockumentary form.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 18 August 1969, opening at the 68th Street Playhouse in New York; 85 minutes, color[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) |
| Credits | Written by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose; directed by Allen; produced by Charles H. Joffe; cinematography by Lester Shorr[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) |
| Cast | Woody Allen (Virgil Starkwell), Janet Margolin (Louise), Marcel Hillaire (Fritz), Jacquelyn Hyde (Miss Blair)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials) |
| Production | Shot in and around San Francisco, 17 June to late August 1968, with jail scenes at San Quentin State Prison[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) |
| Budget and gross | Final cost $1.45 million; US box office $6,080,000[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/) |
| Reception | 91% Tomatometer (23 reviews) and 80% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 67 on Metacritic[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/take-the-money-and-run/critic-reviews/) |
| Score | Original music by Marvin Hamlisch, then a newcomer to film scoring[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials) |
## Spoilers
### Story and form
The film follows Virgil Starkwell from a crime-obsessed childhood in a New Jersey slum through a string of failed robberies, prison terms, escapes, and eventual parole. The narrator reports that before he turned 25 Virgil was wanted by police in six states for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart. Along the way he wins the loyalty of Louise, a laundress who stands by him despite his criminal career.[6](https://www.tenislosalcazares.com/fgi/cine/tomaeldineroingles.pdf) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials)
The picture is presented as a documentary about its subject. A March of Time-style newsreel narrator recounts Virgil's life, and talking-head interviews with people who know him, including his parents, a parole officer, and a prison psychiatrist, punctuate the story.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/take-the-money-and-run-1969) Many cast members were non-professionals, chosen because they would seem more authentic than character actors in the documentary approach Allen had in mind.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run) Recurring gags include a pistol carved from a bar of soap, an escape attempt while chained to five other prisoners, and a prison shirt-folding machine.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/take-the-money-and-run-1969)
## Production
*Take the Money and Run* was Allen's motion picture directorial debut, although he had previously written and associate-produced *What's Up Tiger Lily?* (1966), a redubbed Japanese spy film he had overseen.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) The project was first announced in 1965 as part of a three-picture deal with producer Charles K. Feldman, with [Peter Ustinov](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-ustinov) envisioned as the star; after that arrangement lapsed, Allen signed in April 1968 with Palomar Pictures International, a newly formed ABC subsidiary that gave him final cut and complete creative control.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
**Location shooting.** San Francisco was chosen after New York or Florida locations were found to add $500,000 to the budget; the city doubled for New Jersey, Ohio, Baltimore, and Georgia, with more than 100 locations filmed in the city or within an hour's drive.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run) [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 17 June 1968. Jailhouse scenes were shot at San Quentin State Prison, where cast and crew received invisible ink stamps on their hands and were warned that if taken hostage the gates would not be opened for their release. Allen was so excited about shooting at San Quentin that he cut his nose shaving that morning; the mishap is visible in the prison scene.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
Allen encouraged improvisation, often shooting as many as three impromptu gags per scene, and printed most of his many takes out of inexperience. The original cinematographer, Fouad Said, inventor of the Cinemobile location vehicle, was replaced a few weeks into production, but the equipment let the unit shoot up to six locations a day, three times the Hollywood norm, and the picture came in nearly half a million dollars under budget and a week ahead of schedule.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
## The rescue edit
The production's decisive phase came after shooting. Allen's first assembly was disastrous: he had ended the film with Virgil dying in a hail of gunfire, an homage to *Bonnie and Clyde* (1967), followed by a funeral gag in which his wife hears him whisper "Get me out" from below ground. A rough cut screened for soldiers from a USO club, run without explanation of its gaps, left the audience stone-faced.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
The producers turned to editor Ralph Rosenblum, who had cut [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks)'s *The Producers* (1968). Rosenblum asked to see the cut material and found Allen had removed many of his funniest bits; he rearranged the loosely structured film, split the parents' interviews into recurring cutaway segments, and had Allen write new narration to bridge the pieces. He also replaced the gloomy music Allen had laid under scenes with upbeat material, and composer [Marvin Hamlisch](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvin-hamlisch), a former rehearsal pianist new to film, supplied a score in a range of styles. Rosenblum's suggestion to use New Orleans jazz on the soundtrack became a staple of Allen's later projects.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run)
## Release and reception
Palomar executives were unenthusiastic about the finished film; one reportedly asked ten minutes in, "Is the whole thing going to be like this?" Producer Charles H. Joffe persuaded them to open it at the small 68th Street Playhouse in New York on 18 August 1969, and it spread to 15 cities and performed well.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/) The film grossed $6,080,000 in the United States, and [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists) responded by offering Allen a multi-picture deal with creative control.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/)
Critical response was largely positive but not uniform. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "a feature-length, two-reel comedy, something very special and eccentric and funny."[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/take-the-money-and-run/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert, writing in October 1969, gave the film two stars, judging that Allen had not yet translated his stand-up style into movie terms and that the editing should have been more ruthless, while conceding that the shirt-folding machine and chain-gang escape scenes were hilarious.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/take-the-money-and-run-1969) Variety found the documentary satire overextended.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/take-the-money-and-run/critic-reviews/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 91% Tomatometer from 23 reviews and an 80% audience score.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run)
## Legacy
[Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) credits the film with marking the beginning of what is now known as the mockumentary, the pseudo-documentary style later developed by filmmakers such as [Christopher Guest](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-guest) (*Waiting for Guffman*, 1996) and [Albert Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/albert-brooks) (*Real Life*, 1979).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials) Scholars of mock-documentary list it among the first examples of the form, alongside *David Holzman's Diary* (1967).[9](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=4b74627440175c57df0f7f4dd68f347f2a38d296&repid=rep1&type=pdf) The Boston Globe describes Allen as an early pioneer of the genre with the film.[10](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/20/arts/marcel-theater-camp-mockumentaries-that-turn-it-up-11/) For Allen himself it began a run of purely comedic pictures, the "early, funny ones," and established the creative freedom he retained for the rest of his career; he said the Palomar contract set the precedent that no studio interfered with his films afterward.[3](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
The title was reused for a 2025 documentary about the Danish artist Jens Haaning, who took more than half a million kroner from a museum for an artwork made of banknotes and submitted two empty frames instead, then lost a lawsuit over the money.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run_2025)
## References
1. [Take the Money and Run (1969), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19922-TAKE-THE-MONEY-AND-RUN)
2. [Take the Money and Run – The Essentials, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158015/take-the-money-and-run-the-essentials)
3. [Take The Money And Run, The Woody Allen Pages](https://www.woodyallenpages.com/films/take-the-money-and-run/)
4. [Take the Money and Run, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run)
5. [Take the Money and Run critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/take-the-money-and-run/critic-reviews/)
6. [Take the Money and Run (1969), transcript](https://www.tenislosalcazares.com/fgi/cine/tomaeldineroingles.pdf)
7. [Take the Money and Run movie review (1969), Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/take-the-money-and-run-1969)
8. [Behind the Camera (Take the Money and Run), Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/158017/behind-the-camera-take-the-money-and-run)
9. [Mock-Documentary: Questioning the Factual](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=4b74627440175c57df0f7f4dd68f347f2a38d296&repid=rep1&type=pdf)
10. [Mockumentaries that turn it up to 11, The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/20/arts/marcel-theater-camp-mockumentaries-that-turn-it-up-11/)
11. [Take the Money and Run (2025), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_the_money_and_run_2025)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1960s films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license