A heist film is a film that has an intricate plot woven around a group of people trying to steal something. Versions with dominant or prominent comic elements are often called caper movies. They could be described as the analogues of caper stories in film history. Typically, there are many plot twists, and film focuses on the characters' attempts to formulate a plan, carry it out, and escape with the goods. There is often a nemesis who must be thwarted: either a figure of authority or a former partner who turned on the group or one of its members. With Furious 7 being released this weekend, I thought it would be fitting to give you another list of my top 10 favorite heist films of all-time. You can check out my other list here. These movies are ranked 11-20 so when you see number 5 it is actually number 15. So without further ado...
10. (20) Dog Day Afternoon
This film is just absolutely amazing and Al Pacino gives one of the greatest performances in his long and storied career. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (played by Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (played by John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain Moretti (played bt Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When Sonny's lover, Leon (played by Chris Sarandon), tries to talk Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery's motive: to finance Leon's sex-change operation. Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent Sheldon (played by James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations. Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing and it won the award for Best Original Screenplay and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. (19) True Romance
Quinton Tarantino may not have directed the film, but his style is all over this as he did write the script for the film. Clarence Worley (played by Christian Slater) is a well-meaning but socially unskilled comic-shop clerk whose idea of a big night out is catching a Sonny Chiba triple-feature at a downtown grindhouse. Clarence is celebrating his birthday in just such a manner when he meets a beautiful girl named Alabama (played by Patricia Arquette), and it's love at first sight for both of them. Clarence's enthusiasm isn't dampened much when he discovers Alabama is actually a prostitute who was paid by his boss to bump into him; she's only been in the business for a few days, and is more than eager to give up streetwalking to be with Clarence. However, Alabama is certain her pimp, Drexl (played by Gary Oldman), will not be happy; he's an ill-mannered sort with mob connections and a fondness for violence. Chivalrous Clarence offers to break the news to Drexl and collect her belongings, but he doesn't tell her he also plans to kill Drexl while he's there; a melee breaks out that leaves Drexl and his henchmen dead. Clarence grabs a suitcase that he thinks contains Alabama's clothes, but he discovers it instead holds five million dollars' worth of cocaine. The couple hits the road for California, planning to sell the dope and enjoy the good life in South America with the proceeds, but soon a group of very unhappy underworld characters are after them, as well as the police. True Romance has a rating of 92% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. (18) Ocean's 11 (1960)
This film is full of some amazing cameos and it's one of only two films where the entire rat pack is are the main stars of the film. During a Los Angeles Christmas, a group of 82nd Airborne vets assembles under the leadership of gamblin' man Danny Ocean (played by Frank Sinatra) to rip off five Las Vegas casinos just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Playboy Jimmy Foster (played by Peter Lawford) joins in the scheme because he's sick of needing his oft-married mother's money, especially now that she's about to wed Duke Santos (played by Cesar Romero), a self-made man with all sorts of underworld ties. After he receives the news that he could die at any time, newly released convict Anthony Bergdorf (played by Richard Conte) reluctantly agrees to participate so he can leave some money to his estranged wife and young son. Ocean's own wife, Beatrice (played by Angie Dickinson), doesn't think much of her husband's promise of a big score to come, but her quiet protests don't dissuade him. With Las Vegas garbage man and fellow vet Josh Howard (played by Sammy Davis Jr.) and several casino employees among their number, the titular band of thieves have just a few days to get ready for their caper. When Duke Santos, Jimmy's mother, and one of Ocean's discarded paramours all show up in Sin City at the same time as the veterans, the crew's perfect plans face some serious hurdles. Ocean's 11 has a rating of 48% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. (17) Snatch
This is an insane film with a great cast and some amazing performances. Turkish (played by Jason Statham) and Tommy (played by Stephen Graham), join up with Mickey (played by Brad Pitt), an Irish gypsy and boxer. Turkish and Tommy make arrangements with Mickey to take a fall in a match engineered by lunatic gang leader Brick Top (played by Alan Ford). In another corner resides equally loony Russian gangster Boris the Blade (played by Rade Sherbedgia), who has asked Jewish gangster Franky Four Fingers (played by Benicio Del Toro) to place a bet on the match for him. Boris is also scheming to have Sol (played by Lennie James), the owner of a pawn shop, rob the place with a couple of dim associates. Meanwhile, Avi (played by Dennis Farina), freshly arrived in London from New York, hires Bullet Tooth Tony (played by Vinnie Jones) to find Franky when he goes missing; it seems that it was none other than Franky who was supposed to be transporting the purloined diamond to New York. Snatch has a rating of 73% on rottentomatoes.com.
6. (16) Layer Cake
This film is action-packed and it has a lot of brutal violence. Just as a successful cocaine dealer named XXXX (played by Dainel Craig), who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite, eyes an early retirement from the business, big boss Jimmy Price (played by Kenneth Cranham) hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. Layer Cake has a rating of 81% on rottentomatoes.com.
5. (15) Jackie Brown
This in my opinion is Quinton Tarantino's worst film, but it is an amazing and underrated film. Ruthless arms dealer Ordell Robbie (played by Samuel L. Jackson), who lives with perpetually stoned beach-babe Melanie (played by Bridget Fonda), teams with his old buddy Louis Gara (played by Robert De Niro), just released from prison after serving four years for armed robbery. ATF agent Ray Nicolette (played by Michael Keaton) and cop Mark Dargus (played by Michael Bowen) bust stewardess Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier), who was smuggling money into the country for Ordell. Ordell springs Jackie, but when middle-aged bail bondsman Max Cherry (played by Robert Forster) picks her up at the jail, he's attracted to her, and they choose a romantic route with detours. Mistrust and suspicions surface after Jackie pits Ordell and the cops against each other, convincing Ordell that she's going to double-cross the cops. Jackie Brown was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 86% on rottentomatoes.com.
4. (14) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
This film is just simply amazing and the Sundace Film Festival is named after Robert Redford's character and Robert Redford is the founder of the film festival itself. Witty pals Butch (played by Paul Newman) and Sundance (played by Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with their trademark non-lethal style. After the pair rests at the home of Sundance's schoolmarm girlfriend, Etta (played by Katharine Ross), the Gang robs the same train, but this time, the railroad boss has hired the best trackers in the business to foil the crime. After being tailed over rocks and a river gorge by guys that they can barely identify save for a white hat, Butch and Sundance decide that maybe it's time to try their luck in Bolivia. Taking Etta with them, they live high on ill-gotten Bolivian gains, but Etta leaves after their white-hatted nemesis portentously arrives. Their luck running out, Butch and Sundance are soon holed up in a barn surrounded by scores of Bolivian soldiers who are waiting for the pair to make one last run for it. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound, while winning 4 (Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Original Screenplay) and it has a rating of 89% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. (13) Ocean's Eleven (2001)
This film is fantastic, it has an amazing cast and director and it surpasses the original in every way. Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) conspires with his old pal Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) to rob 150 million dollars from an underground vault that serves three of Las Vegas' biggest casinos. Between the two of them, they recruit nine other men, each with his own criminal specialty, to assist in the mission: moneyman Reuben Tishkoff (played by Elliot Gould), card dealer Frank (played by Bernie Mac), pickpocket Linus (played by Matt Damon), aging con artist Saul (played by Carl Reiner), British explosives pro Basher (played by Don Cheadle), techie Dell (played by Eddie Jemison), rude-boy brothers Virgil (played by Casey Affleck) and Turk (played by Scott Caan), and professional acrobat Yen (played by Shaobo Qin). What Ocean doesn't tell the group is that there's another reason he's coordinating the heist: the three casinos they're robbing are all owned by ruthless gambling mogul Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia), who just happens to be married to Ocean's former love Tess (played by Julia Roberts). Ocean's Eleven has a rating of 82% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. (12) A Fish Called Wanda
This film is hilarious and absolutely ridiculous. An ambitious con artist, Wanda Gershwitz (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) uses every ounce of her sexual wiles to obtain a fortune in jewels stolen by her gangster lover George Thomason (played by Tom Georgeson). First, she romances Thomason's dimwitted but deadly henchman Otto West (played by Kevin Kline). Then, to clear the path for her getaway with West, Wanda woos Thomason's starched-shirt attorney Archie Leach (played by John Cleese), and it's Leach whom she genuinely falls in love with. Ken Pile (played by Michael Palin), is a stuttering mob flunkey who continually messes up his one big assignment: killing a little old lady. A Fish Called Wanda was nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay, while winning the award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 93% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. (11) Goodfellas
This film is just spectacular and it remains one of the greatest films of all-time. Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (played by Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens Henry is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (played by Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (played by Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Supporting Actress while winning the award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what are some of your favorite heist films and what do you think of my list? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
10. (20) Dog Day Afternoon
This film is just absolutely amazing and Al Pacino gives one of the greatest performances in his long and storied career. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (played by Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (played by John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain Moretti (played bt Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When Sonny's lover, Leon (played by Chris Sarandon), tries to talk Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery's motive: to finance Leon's sex-change operation. Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent Sheldon (played by James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations. Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing and it won the award for Best Original Screenplay and it has a rating of 97% on rottentomatoes.com.
9. (19) True Romance
Quinton Tarantino may not have directed the film, but his style is all over this as he did write the script for the film. Clarence Worley (played by Christian Slater) is a well-meaning but socially unskilled comic-shop clerk whose idea of a big night out is catching a Sonny Chiba triple-feature at a downtown grindhouse. Clarence is celebrating his birthday in just such a manner when he meets a beautiful girl named Alabama (played by Patricia Arquette), and it's love at first sight for both of them. Clarence's enthusiasm isn't dampened much when he discovers Alabama is actually a prostitute who was paid by his boss to bump into him; she's only been in the business for a few days, and is more than eager to give up streetwalking to be with Clarence. However, Alabama is certain her pimp, Drexl (played by Gary Oldman), will not be happy; he's an ill-mannered sort with mob connections and a fondness for violence. Chivalrous Clarence offers to break the news to Drexl and collect her belongings, but he doesn't tell her he also plans to kill Drexl while he's there; a melee breaks out that leaves Drexl and his henchmen dead. Clarence grabs a suitcase that he thinks contains Alabama's clothes, but he discovers it instead holds five million dollars' worth of cocaine. The couple hits the road for California, planning to sell the dope and enjoy the good life in South America with the proceeds, but soon a group of very unhappy underworld characters are after them, as well as the police. True Romance has a rating of 92% on rottentomatoes.com.
8. (18) Ocean's 11 (1960)
This film is full of some amazing cameos and it's one of only two films where the entire rat pack is are the main stars of the film. During a Los Angeles Christmas, a group of 82nd Airborne vets assembles under the leadership of gamblin' man Danny Ocean (played by Frank Sinatra) to rip off five Las Vegas casinos just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Playboy Jimmy Foster (played by Peter Lawford) joins in the scheme because he's sick of needing his oft-married mother's money, especially now that she's about to wed Duke Santos (played by Cesar Romero), a self-made man with all sorts of underworld ties. After he receives the news that he could die at any time, newly released convict Anthony Bergdorf (played by Richard Conte) reluctantly agrees to participate so he can leave some money to his estranged wife and young son. Ocean's own wife, Beatrice (played by Angie Dickinson), doesn't think much of her husband's promise of a big score to come, but her quiet protests don't dissuade him. With Las Vegas garbage man and fellow vet Josh Howard (played by Sammy Davis Jr.) and several casino employees among their number, the titular band of thieves have just a few days to get ready for their caper. When Duke Santos, Jimmy's mother, and one of Ocean's discarded paramours all show up in Sin City at the same time as the veterans, the crew's perfect plans face some serious hurdles. Ocean's 11 has a rating of 48% on rottentomatoes.com.
7. (17) Snatch
This is an insane film with a great cast and some amazing performances. Turkish (played by Jason Statham) and Tommy (played by Stephen Graham), join up with Mickey (played by Brad Pitt), an Irish gypsy and boxer. Turkish and Tommy make arrangements with Mickey to take a fall in a match engineered by lunatic gang leader Brick Top (played by Alan Ford). In another corner resides equally loony Russian gangster Boris the Blade (played by Rade Sherbedgia), who has asked Jewish gangster Franky Four Fingers (played by Benicio Del Toro) to place a bet on the match for him. Boris is also scheming to have Sol (played by Lennie James), the owner of a pawn shop, rob the place with a couple of dim associates. Meanwhile, Avi (played by Dennis Farina), freshly arrived in London from New York, hires Bullet Tooth Tony (played by Vinnie Jones) to find Franky when he goes missing; it seems that it was none other than Franky who was supposed to be transporting the purloined diamond to New York. Snatch has a rating of 73% on rottentomatoes.com.
6. (16) Layer Cake
This film is action-packed and it has a lot of brutal violence. Just as a successful cocaine dealer named XXXX (played by Dainel Craig), who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite, eyes an early retirement from the business, big boss Jimmy Price (played by Kenneth Cranham) hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. Layer Cake has a rating of 81% on rottentomatoes.com.
5. (15) Jackie Brown
This in my opinion is Quinton Tarantino's worst film, but it is an amazing and underrated film. Ruthless arms dealer Ordell Robbie (played by Samuel L. Jackson), who lives with perpetually stoned beach-babe Melanie (played by Bridget Fonda), teams with his old buddy Louis Gara (played by Robert De Niro), just released from prison after serving four years for armed robbery. ATF agent Ray Nicolette (played by Michael Keaton) and cop Mark Dargus (played by Michael Bowen) bust stewardess Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier), who was smuggling money into the country for Ordell. Ordell springs Jackie, but when middle-aged bail bondsman Max Cherry (played by Robert Forster) picks her up at the jail, he's attracted to her, and they choose a romantic route with detours. Mistrust and suspicions surface after Jackie pits Ordell and the cops against each other, convincing Ordell that she's going to double-cross the cops. Jackie Brown was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 86% on rottentomatoes.com.
4. (14) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
This film is just simply amazing and the Sundace Film Festival is named after Robert Redford's character and Robert Redford is the founder of the film festival itself. Witty pals Butch (played by Paul Newman) and Sundance (played by Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with their trademark non-lethal style. After the pair rests at the home of Sundance's schoolmarm girlfriend, Etta (played by Katharine Ross), the Gang robs the same train, but this time, the railroad boss has hired the best trackers in the business to foil the crime. After being tailed over rocks and a river gorge by guys that they can barely identify save for a white hat, Butch and Sundance decide that maybe it's time to try their luck in Bolivia. Taking Etta with them, they live high on ill-gotten Bolivian gains, but Etta leaves after their white-hatted nemesis portentously arrives. Their luck running out, Butch and Sundance are soon holed up in a barn surrounded by scores of Bolivian soldiers who are waiting for the pair to make one last run for it. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound, while winning 4 (Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Original Screenplay) and it has a rating of 89% on rottentomatoes.com.
3. (13) Ocean's Eleven (2001)
This film is fantastic, it has an amazing cast and director and it surpasses the original in every way. Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) conspires with his old pal Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) to rob 150 million dollars from an underground vault that serves three of Las Vegas' biggest casinos. Between the two of them, they recruit nine other men, each with his own criminal specialty, to assist in the mission: moneyman Reuben Tishkoff (played by Elliot Gould), card dealer Frank (played by Bernie Mac), pickpocket Linus (played by Matt Damon), aging con artist Saul (played by Carl Reiner), British explosives pro Basher (played by Don Cheadle), techie Dell (played by Eddie Jemison), rude-boy brothers Virgil (played by Casey Affleck) and Turk (played by Scott Caan), and professional acrobat Yen (played by Shaobo Qin). What Ocean doesn't tell the group is that there's another reason he's coordinating the heist: the three casinos they're robbing are all owned by ruthless gambling mogul Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia), who just happens to be married to Ocean's former love Tess (played by Julia Roberts). Ocean's Eleven has a rating of 82% on rottentomatoes.com.
2. (12) A Fish Called Wanda
This film is hilarious and absolutely ridiculous. An ambitious con artist, Wanda Gershwitz (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) uses every ounce of her sexual wiles to obtain a fortune in jewels stolen by her gangster lover George Thomason (played by Tom Georgeson). First, she romances Thomason's dimwitted but deadly henchman Otto West (played by Kevin Kline). Then, to clear the path for her getaway with West, Wanda woos Thomason's starched-shirt attorney Archie Leach (played by John Cleese), and it's Leach whom she genuinely falls in love with. Ken Pile (played by Michael Palin), is a stuttering mob flunkey who continually messes up his one big assignment: killing a little old lady. A Fish Called Wanda was nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay, while winning the award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 93% on rottentomatoes.com.
1. (11) Goodfellas
This film is just spectacular and it remains one of the greatest films of all-time. Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) begins hanging around the mobsters, running errands and doing odd jobs until he gains the notice of local chieftain Paulie Cicero (played by Paul Sorvino), who takes him in as a surrogate son. As he reaches his teens Henry is inducted into the world of petty crime, where he distinguishes himself as a "stand-up guy" by choosing jail time over ratting on his accomplices. From that moment on, he is a part of the family. Along with his psychotic partner Tommy (played by Joe Pesci), he rises through the ranks to become Paulie's lieutenant; however, he quickly learns that, like his mentor Jimmy (played by Robert DeNiro), his ethnicity prevents him from ever becoming a "made guy," an actual member of the crime family. Soon he finds himself the target of both the feds and the mobsters, who feel that he has become a threat to their security with his reckless dealings. Goodfellas was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Supporting Actress while winning the award for Best Supporting Actor and it has a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com.
So ladies and gentlemen what are some of your favorite heist films and what do you think of my list? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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