The 35 Best Heist Movies - Page 7 of 7

the-asphalt-jungleThe Asphalt Jungle” (1950)
John Huston’s 1950 noir may be better known now for the films it influenced (at least half the titles on this list, notably “Rififi”), and for an early luminous performance by Marilyn Monroe, but the film, creaky though it is in places and marred by some didactic, moralistic dialogue, is still a compelling piece in its own right. The narrative arc, (a man has a plan, gets a gang together, pulls off a heist, only to have chance and human nature foil the scheme) has become pretty much the heist film template, but details like the corruption of the police force and the careful characterizations of the gang members keep the proceedings fresh. And while censor-friendly debates on the nature of criminality abound, it’s clear where Huston’s sympathy actually lies; it is power, not lawbreaking, that corrupts here, so the only people with any sort of a code are those on the very bottom of the food chain: Sterling Hayden’s petty hood; the girl who loves him; the hunchbacked getaway driver and the safe-cracking family man. Disgust is reserved for those further up the hierarchy, whose degenerate desires eventually thwart them (both the mastermind and the front/fence character – a suave Louis Calhern – are undone by their interest in young nubile girls), while Hayden’s Dix is rewarded for his staunch, if misplaced loyalty, and perverse nobility, with the kind of tragic, theatrical, poetic death; the greatest honor a movie criminal in oppressive ‘50s America could hope for.

Les Deuxieme SouffleLes Deuxieme Souffle” (1966)
Talk about the Jean-Paul Belmondos and Alain Delon’s all you like, but perhaps one of the true greats of the French crime era is the undersung and wonderful Lino Ventura (that man again…) who also had major roles in several other Jean-Pierre Melville pictures. While not as engrossing as Melville”s “Le Samourai” or “Le Cercle Rouge” (nor arguably as engaging as the Melville-helmed crime thriller before it, “Les Dolous”) “Second Wind” (as it’s known in its English translation) is absorbing, if a tad sprawling for its 2 1/2 hour runtime. Opening with a breathlessly silent escape from prison, the film follows Gu (Ventura), short for Gustavo, trying to leave the country, but not before he can find his love Machouche (Christine Fabréga). Naturally, he needs to pull off one more job (isn’t it always one more?) to save enough scratch so he and the girl can flee with comfort to a tropical paradise. Crooked cops (and one particularly sadistic detective played by Paul Meurisse) don’t make it easy though, and take Gu in on bogus charges, beat him and scheme into making it looks like he’s ratted out the rest of the crime world and his accomplices in the bloody and violent Brinks van bank heist they pulled off earlier. Seen as a traitor, Gu escapes police captivity and then does what he can to clear his honor, but quickly learns thieves and honor don’t generally mix well. The recently deceased Alain Corneau attempted to remake the film in 2007 with Daniel Auteuil, Monica Belluci and Michel Blanc, to no great effect.

blankHeat” (1995)
How many damn reviews and articles on this movie have basically fixated on it being the first on-screen pairing between Pacino and De Niro? Fair enough, it’s a big enough deal and all, but “Heat” is a grand, complex ensemble piece, and the big Method meet and greet is only one part of its polished clockwork. This ensemble effort extends well beyond the cast: between them, lenser Dante Spinotti, composer Eliot Goldenthal, and director Mann have woven a luminous dream-space out of the L.A. setting: a landscape that is both eerily beautiful and glacially lonely and dehumanized. Mann’s directorial chops are at their peak: the immersive, kinetic fire-fight in downtown L.A., boasting a miraculous, roaring sound-design, is probably the most important single piece of action choreography since Peckinpah reinvented the form. The script is dense and nuanced, exploring gang/familial relationships, perennial male/film noir anxieties regarding emotional commitment, and nailing a certain work-as-identity ethos that was very prevalent in the twilight years of the American Century. The cast is uniformly outstanding. (Does Al go OTT? Well, yeah, to a certain degree, but it mainly works in the context of the character, and in contrast to De Niro.) “Heat’s” influence continues to gather steam – “The Dark Knight,” video games like “Kane and Lynch,” um, “Takers” – and its status is pretty much cock of the walk as far as contemporary heist flicks go.

The-Taking-of-Pelham-One-Two-Three-1974The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three” (1974)
In 2009, Tony Scott attempted to remake Joseph Sargent’s seminal subway flick, but the truth is, he was beaten to it (in spirit) by Spike Lee with “Inside Man.” Like that film, ‘Pelham’ gains its extra appeal by treating each hostage like they are an actual person, a colorful pawn in a deadly game of chess where no piece is disposable. But the peripheral players in ‘Pelham’ are ably matched as well, by dogged clock-puncher Walter Matthau dutifully pursuing bloodthirsty villain Robert Shaw, in a cat-and-mouse competition that is fueled by playful intensity, up until that classic final shot. It’s another film that Tarantino homaged in “Reservoir Dogs,” with the color-coded names of the thieves. Oh, and did we mention David Shire’s all-timer of a score?

Grand SlamGrand Slam” (1967)
Led by Klaus Kinski, Janet Leigh and Edward G. Robinson, you should be tracking down this film based on the casting alone. But this English language, Euro production directed by the otherwise unknown Giuliano Montaldo is a lean heist flick that takes us methodically through every step of a job, from the hiring of the team of experts, through their plotting of the job and the execution which will not quite turn out as it’s planned. The premise is straightforward: a retired professor (Robinson) presents the job of a lifetime to a professional criminal: the robbery of a diamond company in Brazil. With every conceivable angle covered, the job runs into a hitch when a brand new alarm system, the titular Grand Slam 70, is installed shortly before the planned heist. From there, things get even hairier. Montaldo directs with an incredibly visual eye and an utterly crackerjack sense of pacing. The film runs like a goddamn metronome jangling your nerves. But all this wouldn’t mean anything if the actual heist sequence didn’t rank among the greats; breathlessly executed as we watch the team try to outrun their eventual fate. “Grand Slam” is pretty much never mentioned in the usual lists of great heist films, but just watch this inventive, exciting and fun flick and you’ll see why it deserves to be discovered.

rififiRififi” (1955)
Yes, we know. This is the grandaddy of all heist films, the one that tops everyone’s list and is name dropped constantly. But if you haven’t seen the film (and by God, you should remedy that situation quickly) don’t get suckered into thinking this is just some cinematic touchstone that everyone talks about but no one really watches. If anything, Jules Dassin’s “Rififi” remains the template and the standard, with a centerpiece heist sequence that is still yet to be topped. The plot is standard stuff: four guys target a jewelry store, plan the perfect job and things don’t quite go as planned. But Dassin’s masterstroke is the 30-minute, nearly completely silent heist (no dialogue, no soundtrack) that brilliantly throws viewers right into the heart-pounding, tension filled robbery. A masterpiece in every sense of the word, “Rififi” remains the torchbearer for the genre with very good reason.

dog_day_afternoon_blu-ray4xDog Day Afternoon” (1975)
35 years on from its release, it’s easy to take for granted how brave and ahead-of-its-time Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon” was. Based on a real incident, it follows Sonny (Al Pacino), a Vietnam vet who, with a group of cohorts, robs a bank in order to finance his (male) lover’s sex-change operation. It’s remarkable for the honest, sympathetic, cliche-free way it depicts a gay character — even now, it’s rare to see a gay character like Sonny. Even then, however, his homosexuality isn’t the focus — much like “Network” (probably the only film on Lumet’s CV that can top this one), the director is interested in celebrity, the way the media, and the people of New York, vilify and celebrate Sonny’s plan. The handheld documentary feel is still fresh today, Frank Pierson’s screenplay is kind of a masterclass, and the editing, by the late, great Dede Allen, is top of the grade. Perhaps most noteworthy is Pacino’s performance: strong, vulnerable, desperate, revolutionary, masculine, feminine: you can keep Michael Corleone, this is the one we’ll remember him for. The supporting cast can’t be forgotten either: John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, even a young Lance Henriksen are all superb.

— with Nick Clement, Andy Linnane,  Tristan Eldritch, Tan Nguyen