The story of convicted bank robber Virgil Starkwell is told in a quasi-documentary style. Virgil's entire criminal career, from his earliest forays into shoplifting bubblegum machines as a young boy through various jails, prisons and even a chain gang, are shown. Voice-over narration by Jackson Beck gives us the details of Virgil's life in a serious Dragnet voice which adds immensely to the absurdity of the humor. We see Virgil's first meeting with his future wife Louise - “After fifteen minutes I wanted to marry her, and after half an hour I completely gave up the idea of stealing her purse." We are also shown interviews with those who knew Virgil best. His parents wear Groucho Marx disguises.

Like Chaplin's first appearance as the Tramp in Kid Auto Races at Venice Virgil Starkwell represents the onscreen birth of Woody Allen's neurotic New-York-Jew. Only Virgil is more anti-social, more aggressive and less intellectual than most of his later counterparts. Take Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers and Jimmy Cagney; mix together and stir. In other words a classic character. My favorite moment of his is when he dresses for his first date with Louise. The way he admires himself in the mirror is priceless.

The music by Marvin Hamlisch is good. Isn't that the song from Austin Powers in the scene where Virgil and fellow inmates escape from the chain gang? Woody carries most of the movie on his shoulders but there are a couple of memorable cameos. James Anderson (Bob Ewell from To Kill a Mockingbird) is perfectly cast as the Strother Martin inspired chain gang warden and Louise Lasser has one quick scene as a quirky girl who knew Virgil when he lived in the East Village.

The movie's not perfect. It has some jokes that haven't aged well like the guy in the gorilla suit when Virgil tries to holdup a pet store. And at times it feels more like a series of sketches than a feature length movie. But there are at least two truly inspired jokes. The first is the most famous scene in the movie where the robbery note Virgil gives to a bank teller keeps getting misread. “Does that say gun or gub?" The other one happens when Virgil agrees to take an experimental vaccine in order to be paroled and is temporarily turned into a rabbi.

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