The Heist Movie

27 November 2008

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Over the years the heist movie had given cinema go-ers some of the most memorable big screen moments, characters and face offs and still remains as popular today as it ever was.

And it seems that Hollywood hasn't got bored with the formula of break into an almost impossible to open vault and steal something that doesn't belong to you with the release of Flawless this week.

Not only does the heist movie return to the big screen with this picture but Michael Caine comes home to this genre of movie as the brains behind the whole operation.

So here at FemaleFirst we looked at some of the most memorable heist movies.

The Italian Job

'You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,' no list of top quality heist movies would be complete without a mention of the genre's most famous film 1969's The Italian Job and Charlie Crocker.

Before being murdered by the Mafia, criminal genius Robert Beckerman (Rossano Brazzi) masterminds a plan to steal $4 million worth of gold bullion from an armoured car in Turin, Italy. The ambitious heist is taken over by Beckerman's friend and smalltime crook Charlie Croker (Michael Caine), who organizes a motley group of thieves bankrolled by jailed kingpin Mr. Bridger (Noel Coward).

To pull off the plan, the gang must tie up traffic in the centre of the city to divert attention from the robbery, block police pursuit, and ultimately make off with their booty undetected.

The Italian Job would become the pinnacle of this genre of movie and would influence filmmakers for generation. 2001's sequel starring Mark Wahlberg was an homage to the original but took the story in a different direction. On the whole it was well received and performed well at the box office.

Reservoir Dogs

Mastermind Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) assembles a crew of top-notch criminals to pull off a jewellery store heist. As the film opens it becomes immediately clear that the plan backfired, forcing the survivors, who have gathered at an abandoned warehouse, to figure out if one of them is, in fact, a police informer.

The crew. Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), an aged veteran; Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), a wounded newcomer; Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), a psychopathic parolee; Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), a bickering weasel; and Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), Joe's son, begin to unravel as the pressure becomes too much for them to handle. When Joe arrives, the truth becomes clear in a vicious Mexican standoff.

Reservoir Dogs was the directorial debut of maverick director Quentin Tarantino breaking all of the narrative conventions of this genre of film the film became a benchmark for nineties filmmaking and Tarantino's star soared.

Bonnie and Clyde

Based on the true-life exploits of notorious Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) is bored with life and wants a change. She gets her chance when she meets a charming young drifter by the name of Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty).

Clyde has dreams of a life of crime that will free him from the hardships of the Depression. The two fall in love and begin a crime spree that extends from Oklahoma to Texas. They rob small banks with skill and panache, soon becoming minor celebrities known across the country.

People are proud to have been held up by Bonnie and Clyde; to their victims, the duo is doing what nobody else has the guts to do. To the law, the two are evil bank robbers who deserve to be gunned down where they stand.

Bonnie and Clyde highlighted the growing disenchantment that young Americans had against the Vietnam War and their desire to rebel against the right wing government so the film was a hit.

The film spawned a number of killer couple imitations such as Badlands, Thelma and Louise and Natural Born Killers.

Dog Day Afternoon

Al Pacino plays a ferocious and fed-up bank robber in Lumet's classic film Dog Day Afternoon. Sonny is a smart yet self-destructive Brooklyn tough whose plan to rob the local bank to fund his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex change goes absurdly wrong.

Accompanied only by his doltish accomplice, Sal (John Cazale), Sonny realizes that all the money had been removed before his arrival, and decides to kidnap a handful of bank employees instead.

As the lengthy August day drags on, Sonny and hordes of local police, led by Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning), make little progress, and eventually Sonny's wife and lover are brought to the scene.

The crowd's sympathy is immediately captured by the charismatic Sonny, whose antagonism with the police is played out before an audience of millions, leading to an inevitably tragic finish.

Other great movies in the heist genre include Ocean's Eleven, The Thomas Crown Affair, Heat. The Pink Panther and The Lavender Hill Mob.