That's a good question. There aren't many movies like this. This is more serious, smart thief. Any other heist movie has rather been a comedy.
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LOSE means to come to be without, LOOSE means not bound together. Get it right.
There arnt many Heist movies, you clearly no nothing...
The Italian job
Die Hard
The Thomas Crown Affair
The Heist
Resorvoir Dogs
All movies containing a heist theme...
Rififi
Circle Rouge
Asphalt Jungle
Silk when you accuse someone of "noing" nothing you should at least spell the word KNOW correctly. It gives you a bit more credibility.
shareI think you are mixing up Bruce Willis-type crap "action" Hollywood movies, with "Oceans 11" big budget movies which are ok, and the genuinely exciting movies like "The Sting" (Newman/Redford) and "The Score" which are well directed and have a riveting plot.
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Wow, Die Hard and Reservoir Dogs?...good, but hardly heist movies.
It's especially funny since you tried to sound like you knew what you were talkin about.
Really, no Snatch? No Lock, Stock? Dog Day Afternoon rounds up the top 3
shareRIFIFI # 1 NO DOUBT
CERCLE ROUGE
SEXY BEAST
ITALIAN JOB
TOPKAPI
To the dude who typed in all-caps...
...placing The Italian Job above The Score really tells us how dumb you are.
As far as the whole, placing heist movies together theme goes...
...if you haven't noticed nearly all of the films you all have mentioned are over-the-top hollywood budget pieces of crap that attract 18 year old males like moths to light.
Maybe it's just me but when I think of a heist movie then it's really all about the heist... how it's pulled off and any subtle twists that keep you guessing. I suppose what I'm saying is that yes, Die Hard is a great action movie and it has a heist in it - but it's not a heist movie. I like The Score because it is about finding a way to steal the unstealable.
In this sense Oceans Eleven (2001) is up there too - once you get past the cool aspect of the setting and the characters the actual plan is very clever. The other ingredient of a great heist movie is the twist you didn't see coming, the last piece of the jigsaw that is kept from the audience until we absolutely have to know it.
Another recent example is Inside Man. Spike Lee masterfully directs a great cast full of intriguing characterisation whilst always in the back of your mind is the thought of how are these guys gonna pull this off. It's a great twist which leaves you satisfied. That's yet another key ingredient, the fact that your dark side is cheering for the thieves.
Another personal favourite of mine is The First Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland written and directed by Michael Crichton. Again the focus of the movie is on how to pull off the impossible job. The Victorian setting also gives it a slightly different slant to the usual hi-tech solutions we see in most heist movies.
Going back to the classics Asphalt Jungle is my final choice. No suprises that it's John Huston at the helm. It has all the right ingredients. The building of a team, a slick plan and the palpable tension during the actual robbery. The supporting cast shines under Huston and you won't find too many movies that smoulder as much as this one.
Recently we have seen a revival in heist movies - or rather movies that focus on the plan, whether that's a robbery or a con. Last year we had The Bank Job, The List, Flawless, RocknRolla and the likes of 21. There is a definite move back towards the era of the gentleman theif and I for one am quite happy with that.
So, in no particular order...
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The First Great Train Robbery (1979)
The Score (2001)
Oceans Eleven (2001)
Inside Man (2006)
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No one's mentioned The Sting (1973)? I would think that would qualify, and would probably be top five for me...
shareIt's too difficult for me to put them in order so here is a list of excellent heist films:
The Killing by Stanley Kubrick '56
Ronin with Robert De Niro '98
Bandits with Bruce Willis '01
Inside Man with Denzel Washington '06
The Saint with Val Kilmer '97
The Sting with Robert Redford '73
The Italin Job with Michael Caine '69
The Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg '03
The Bank Job with Jason Statham '08
The Ice Harvest with John Cusack '06
Entrapment with Sean Connery '00
After the Sunset with Pierce Brosnan '04
Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen '01, '04, '07
Hard Cash with Christian Slater '01
The Perfect Score with Scarlett Johansson '04
Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck '00
Matchstick Men with Nicholas Cage '03
21 with Jim Sturgess '08
Sneakers with Robert Redford '92
The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan '99
Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton '03
Wild Things with Neve Campbell '98
Walk All Over Me with Leelee Sobieski '07
Blue Streak with Martin Lawrence '99
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino '92
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels with Jason Statham '98
Trapped in Paradise with Nicholas Cage '94
Swordfish with John Travolta '01
Chaos with Jason Statham '05
All About the Benjamins with Ice Cube '02
The Big Bounce with Morgan Freeman '04
Firewall with Harrison Ford '06
Havana with Robert Redford '90
7seconds with Wesley Snipes '05
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Some people are getting it. Others aren't. Heist movies are told from the point of view of the criminals. I'd mention Inside Man, The Score, Ocean's 11, Swordfish, Thomas Crown Affair...It's all about the surprise ending.
Speaking of which I just rewatched Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Stupid and dated in many ways but you can't beat the ending.
1) Rififi
2) The Killing
3) The Asphalt Jungle
4) Heat
5) High Sierra
6) Topkapi
Kansas City Confidential
Kelly's Heroes
Entrapment
some other silly favorites:
Space Travelers (2000; Japan)
Jewel Robbery (1932) *William Powell
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Ocean's Eleven (original and remakes)
Pink Panther comedies
I haven't seen 'Bob le Flambeur' yet.
I only saw the last 30-45min of 'The Score' on cable (in a 1.77:1 faux-widescreen pan&scan on FX), but it didn't really impress me any more than say 'The Thomas Crown Affair' remake.
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'Life is Beautiful' is to Holocaust movies what 'Twilight' is to vampire movies.
To Catch a Thief
I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die
Not the best, but they haven't been mentioned yet:
Dead Presidents
Half-Baked
Swordfish
The Perfect Score
how would you guys rate these?
Also, I love The Sting (every installment I can possibly watch), and Heat. Those saying Ocean's Eleven is just Hollywood glamour, well you're right but you can't deny the intricateness of the heist.
Heat is a great film, but when I think of a Heist movie I think of the protagonists being the thieves, and then pulling off the one heist.
Heat has 3 heists (one failed/withdrawn) but is more about the mirroring DeNiro/Pacino characters and the lives of the particular group of thieves than just pulling off the one heist.
That being said, I wouldn't argue in depth that it isn't a heist film, I just don't feel like it is one. If we were to say that it is a heist film, I'd put it at number 1 or 2, for sure.
Same deal with Die Hard, it features a heist (as does Die Hard 3, which I love too) but the thieves are clearly the antagonists. I'd put either of those 2 films in a top 5 or top 10 heist film list any day.
For the films that are pure Heist, I love Oceans 11 (remake) and Inside Man.
Oceans 11 is pure fun, interesting plot and comedy, and a cast fun to watch.
Inside Man is clearly far more serious but also feature a superb cast and the storyline is incredible (I just hope the sequel doesn't screw it up).
Dog Day Afternoon is another great film featuring a heist, but is more of a heist-gone-wrong film (like Reservoir Dogs) than a typical heist film like Inside Man or Oceans 11.
All that being said, my list (including above-type 'half-heist' films) includes, in no specific order:
Heat
Die Hard
Die Hard 3
Inside Man
Oceans Eleven (12 and 13 are a fun watch, 12 gets better after the first time IMO)
Dog Day Afternoon
The Score
The Taking of Pelham 123 (original)
Swordfish (not all that good but I like bits of it, entertaining enough and a guilty pleasure)
I think that in addition to some of the more typical heist films, such as the exemplary Dog Day Afternoon and Inside Man (the latter of which owes a lot to the former), Dassin's Topkapi, which was mentioned earlier, deserves an honorable mention for being both comedic and highly suspsenseful, something that is also achieved by other lighter fare such as Wyler's How To Steal a Million. Of course, these films are far more fluffy, but the suspense factor, which is what I think draws people to heist films, is certainly there in spades. Not so in something as downright silly as The Pink Panther, however.
A more serious film that isn't really a heist film, but more of a "How people are driven to crime, and how it goes horribly wrong" film that happens to be building towards a heist is Lewis Gilbert's The Good Die Young. An excellent little film, hardly seen by anyone, and while, as I say, it isn't a heist film in the strictest sense, I urge people to check it out... it's a very interesting and different way of doing something like this. Another unusual film that is perhaps distantly related to the idea of the heist film is Kubrick's The Killing... although that's probably straying too far from the topic at hand. Great film, regardless.
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"I'm vilifying you for God's sake - pay attention!"
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rif
heist
safe crackers with sam rockwell and steve zahn is awesome
bob le
until the devil knows youre dead was lots better than i predicted
"if all this *beep* for nothin, then why do i gotta think about it?" tony soprano
I'm surprised no one mentioned Foolproof, the movie with Ryan Reynolds in it
It is pretty low budget but it wasn't bad
thats because it's a remake of a foreign movie, like 80% of the American productions..
Why dont you people get educated and watch the ORIGINALS first, you'd be surprised
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I see dumb people everywhere, and sometimes, they don't even know they're dumb!