Take the Money and Run

1969 Woody Allen movie. A comedy faux documentary of the not-such-a-criminal-mastermind Virgil Starkweather, this was the first of Allen's work in which he wrote, directed and starred. Jackson Beck narrates the tale of young Virgil, following him from his boyhood where he played cello in a marching band to his eventual incarceration after a poorly planned bank robbery (bank robbers should always try to avoid double-booking banks). Along the way, Virgil meets and marries a beautiful laundress - paying for dates with change stolen from vending machines - played by Janet Margolin.

This movie is perhaps the high mark of Allen's early comedic work, before he began his quixotic crusade to become America's Ingmar Bergman with more depressing films such as Interiors, Shadows and Fog and Husbands and Wives. It complements nicely his other comedic outings from this time such as Sleeper and Bananas.

"Take the Money and Run" is a song by the Steve Miller Band, released in 1976, and telling the story of a young couple (Billy Joe and Bobby Sue), struck by the boredom of marijuana and television, who decide to embark on a career of burglary to amuse themselves. They (accidentally?) shoot a man while in the act of robbing his home in El Paso, and escape, presumably to Mexico, despite the efforts of Detective Billy Mack. They take the money from the robbery and live life as fugitives, perhaps to this day.

The song is notable for several things. First, despite being a story of homicide and life as a fugitive, the song is an upbeat song, both in the music and lyrical delivery. Secondly, the song has some rather ridiculous rhymes ("El Paso/hassle" and "Texas/facts is/taxes"). Both of these add up to the song being a light hearted song, and a classic rock staple, despite what could be taken as grim subject matter.

I also just realized while writing this that the song has close parallels with another song about a young American couple, Jack and Diane by John Cougar Mellencamp, starting with their similar opening lines:
Take The Money and Run: "This is the story of Bobby Joe and Billy Sue, two young lovers with nothing better to do"
Jack and Diane: "This is the story of Jack and Diane, two American kids doing the best they can".
Strangely enough, while the story begins with the same problem (boredom), the two couples choose different ways of dealing with it. Billy Joe and Bobby Sue shoot a man for his money and escape to Mexico. Jack and Diane decide to confine themselves to a drab life in smalltown Indiana. Billy Joe and Bobby Sue's story is meant to be a feel good singalong, while Jack and Diane's attempts to "do the best they can" leaves the listener nothing but depressed.