In case you missed it, private equity is having a gonzo year. Just last week, three major firms agreed to private-equity buyouts, including American auto icon Chrysler. On Monday Blackstone Group set its IPO price range at $21 to $31 a share, signaling that the...

California is considering moving up the date of its presidential primary again in hopes of gaining more clout in picking White House nominees, a little more than two years after abandoning a similar effort.State Sen. Ron Calderon said Friday he plans to introduce a bill...

As freshmen, they joined a program on the ropes and took it to the NIT. As sophomores, they made the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen. This year, they made it to the Final Four. For Georgetown's talented junior class, there remains one obvious goal should they...

Mitsutoshi Fukatsu has been with his wife for three decades, but their lives have grown apart. As a busy stationmaster in central Japan, he has usually come home only to eat, bathe and sleep.Now with retirement looming, the 56-year-old wants to get to know his...

We've seen countless comedies about incompetent crooks. In fact most screen comedians have used the format at some time or other; even the gags which turn up [in Take the Money and Run]—or many of them—aren't exactly new. But the measure of Woody Allen's talent is that he can impart an aura of novelty to even the most hackneyed situation. Take the Money and Run is a joy. It's wry and sardonic….

[Take the Money and Run] is a festival of [Woody Allen's] peculiar and prolific wit, a meld of ruthless satire, surrealism, and blatant absurdity…. The episodic nature of the movie is intrinsic and entirely suited to Allen's rapid-fire humor; the sight gags are numerous, unself-conscious, and are never allowed to perform as mere specula of the spoken jokes—an index of Allen's talent and promise as a director of comedy. Indeed, many of the most memorable scenes are purely v...