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What is the plot of Take the Money and Run?
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Woody Allen
American director Woody Allen attending a press conference for Café Society before the opening of the 69th Cannes film festival, 2016.
Take the Money and Run (1969) is a mockumentary that follows the life of Virgil Starkwell, an inept criminal played by Woody Allen.1
The film depicts Virgil’s persistent, blundering attempts at petty crime, which frequently result in his incarceration. His life takes a turn when he meets and falls in love with a woman named Louise while on parole—ironically, she is the target of a purse-snatching attempt he had planned. The narrative serves as a vehicle for various slapstick gags and parodies of crime films, including a famous sequence where Virgil attempts to escape prison using a bar of soap carved into the shape of a gun, only for the plan to fail when it begins to rain.1