Take the Money and Run is like the fantasy life of a borscht belt comedian-from schlemiel to hard case in one rapid rubbery, ah, robbery. Allen's directorial debut puts into place his blundering boychik who can't make time, so he does the crime. Virgil Starkwell (Allen), who never saw a bank he couldn't get arrested in, survives prison and escape, all for lithe Louise (Janet Margolin), too pretty to pickpocket. Parodying a fifties crime film with its documentary tone-remember Virgil's parents with their Groucho disguises-this felonious feature was shot around San Francisco with Q as its pressure-cooker prison. A film this funny should be illegal.