Woody Allen sends up criminals and gangster movies in his first comic masterpiece as writer, director and star. This is vintage Woody Allen and with his trademark visual gags and inspired one-liners, this hilarious comedy established him as a major force in filmmaking. Psychologically unfit for life as a child, Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen) begins a life of compulsive petty crime. Before reaching the age of 25 he has become an extremely inept criminal who is known to police by five aliases. For a while, however, his life seems to change when he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Louise (Janet Margolin). But it's not long before his compulsive ways return, and as he sets out to rob banks he fails in increasingly fascinating and hilarious ways.