Heist Movies

In Gambit, the new Coen brothers’ scripted film, private art curator Harry Deane (Colin Firth) devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England’s richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Alan Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting. In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Cameron Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII. Cue Ocean’s 11 – Coen brothers’ style.

In Gambit, the new Coen brothers’ scripted film, private
art curator Harry Deane (Colin Firth) devises a finely-crafted scheme to con
England’s richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Alan Rickman)
into purchasing a fake Monet painting. In order to bait his buyer, he recruits
a Texas rodeo queen (Cameron Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose
grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII. Cue Ocean’s 11 – Coen
brothers’ style.

To mark the film’s cinema release
on 21st November, FilmJuice takes a look back at some of the ten top
heist movies:

Gambit
The Coen brothers bring their
usual energy to the Gambit script with
Michael Hoffman at the director’s helm. Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman make a wonderful
central trio in this light-hearted movie centred around Harry Deane as he
“ropes” in cowgirl PJ to con his terrifying media-tycoon boss, played
with especial aplomb by Rickman.

The Italian Job
The 1969 film still resonates as a
classic moment in British cinema, with the infamous line “You were only
supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” still alluded to in films
today. The plot follows Charlie (Michael Caine) as he is released from
prison and plans a last “big job”: stealing $4m of gold arriving in
Italy from China. The Mini Cooper
chase sequence is a piece of filmic gold.

Man On A Ledge
In this intriguing twist on the
conventional heist movie, Sam
Worthington is the eponymous man balanced on the ledge of a Manhattan
hotel. Is he really about to end
it all, or is there more at stake?
As police negotiator Elizabeth
Banks tries to figure it out and the eyes of New York are on the ledge,
across the road Jamie Bell is in the
process of stealing a diamond… What could possibly go wrong?

Entrapment
This 1999 heist film sees Virginia
‘Gin’ Baker (Catherine Zeta Jones)
as an insurance agent investigating famed art thief Robert ‘Mac’ MacDougal (Sean Connery). Infiltrating his inner circle, Gin’s
seduces Mac and convinces him to take her along on his next job. As they partner up to steal the
ultimate prize, the web tightens and the question becomes: just who is double
crossing who?

Public Enemies
Director Michael Mann garnered critical acclaim for his depiction of
notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny
Depp). Pursued by relentless
FBI agent Melvyn Purvis (Christian Bale),
the film follows Dillinger’s final years – including his doomed love affair
with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard). Depp is fantastic as Public Enemy #1,
compulsively robbing banks.

Inception (Main Picture)
In the future, technology allows
skilled thief Dom Cobb (Leonardo di
Caprio) to perform the ultimate heist: stealing information from the
unconscious mind. In Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending film,
the task becomes the reverse – to plant an idea, rather than to steal one. An ensemble cast of Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page
and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, along with
the sheer daring of Nolan’s plot, earns this reverse heist a place on our list!

Gone In Sixty Seconds
Nicolas Cage is car thief Randall ‘Memphis’ Raines, forced out of
retirement when his younger brother messes up a job for gangster and all around
bad guy Raymond Callitri. Tasked
with stealing 50 luxury cars in one night, Raines reassembles his old team
(including a dreadlocked Angelina Jolie)
in an attempt to pull of the impossible.
Oh, and the police are after him too.

Ocean’s Eleven
The original Oceans Eleven starred Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in the 1960’s but Hollywood’s A-list assembled in 2001
for Stephen Soderbergh’s remake.
Headed up by George Clooney as Danny
Ocean, the eleven plan the ultimate heist: three Las Vegas casinos, $150
million, and no room to fail… Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon
are also on board.

Inside Man
Spike Lee’s 2006 heist movie plays with convention and keeps the
audience guessing throughout.
Dalton Russell (Clive Owen)
tells us from a cell that he has planned the perfect bank robbery but, as
events unfold, and negotiator Denzel Washington gets ever more disturbed, the
purpose of the robbery becomes increasingly murky.

The Thomas Crown Affair
Pierce Brosnan is Thomas Crown, a millionaire playboy who amuses
himself by stealing priceless works of art. Rene Russo is the
beautiful detective investigating him but, as the two are drawn closer
together, the relationship becomes slightly less than professional…

Gambit is released in UK cinemas on November 21^st.