Comparison · 3 shared techniques

Take the Money and Run vs Bananas

Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971) share 3 techniques. Here is how each film uses them.

Take the Money and Run (1969) poster

Take the Money and Run

Woody Allen · 1969

Bananas (1971) poster

Bananas

Woody Allen · 1971

Shared

Same technique, two films

Documentary Realism as Satire

Filming absurd material in documentary style, with handheld camera, natural light and newsreel-like staging. The serious look makes the content funnier and exposes how staged political events are.

Take the Money and Run

Jackson Beck narrates Virgil's life in the flat voice of a serious documentary. Near the end, Virgil appears in an interview. The sober style makes the gags funnier, because nothing on screen admits it is a joke.

Bananas

Howard Cosell narrates the assassination of the president of San Marcos like a live sports broadcast. The serious reporting style turns political violence into a game, which is the joke. Cosell filmed his part in Puerto Rico and improvised his commentary.

Deadpan Absurdism

Showing extreme, violent or surreal events while the characters react as if nothing unusual is happening. That mismatch is funny and unsettling at the same time.

Take the Money and Run

Bank staff argue over whether Virgil's holdup note says 'gub' or 'gun'. Everyone treats it as a serious office question while a robbery is in progress. The police arrive before they settle it.

Bananas

The trial fills the court with absurd witnesses, and the room treats each one as a normal part of the case. The straight face makes the nonsense funnier.

Callback Editing

Bringing back an earlier image, line, location or piece of staging later in the film, often with the situation reversed. You enjoy recognizing it, and the comparison adds meaning.

Take the Money and Run

The ending returns to the soap. Virgil, sentenced to 800 years, is seen in an interview carving soap and asking whether it is raining. The callback shows he never learned anything.

Bananas

Cosell returns at the end to narrate Fielding and Nancy's wedding night in the same sports tone he used for the assassination. The repeat turns both events into the same kind of game, and the wedding night is over faster than Nancy expected.

Different

Where they split

Only in Take the Money and Run