While some heist movies excite their audiences with violence and action, others offer more intriguing and intelligent plans. Many of the best heist movies glamorize the act of robbery, portraying suave thieves who outsmart their marks, rather than intimidating them. It’s a joy to see a clever plan being executed well, and heist movies offer a chance to root for the bad guys for once. In the twisted morality of the heist genre, intelligence, bravery and efficiency can be more attractive traits than lawfulness.
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The heist genre first developed in its current form as an offshoot of film noir crime dramas. Movies like The Killing and Rififi strike a balance between gritty action and clever schemes. Crime capers in the 1950s and 1960s ushered in a new style of heist movies, ones in which the criminals win more often than not, often without killing anyone or even using guns. These heist movies offer a subversive fantasy that has remained just as exciting for decades.
10 Snatch (2000)
Snatch’s Jewel Thieves Have The Perfect Disguises
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Snatch
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*Availability in US Director Guy Ritchie Release Date January 19, 2001 Cast Benicio Del Toro , Jason Statham , Lennie James , Alan Ford , Stephen Graham , Dennis Farina , Brad Pitt , Vinnie Jones
Snatch is all about the chaotic aftermath of a heist, rather than the build-up. This isn’t unusual for a heist movie – A Fish Called Wanda, Reservoir Dogs and Time to Hunt all do the same – but it’s rare for such movies to feature such creative crimes. Reservoir Dogs, for example, doesn’t even show the robbery in progress. Snatch‘s opening sequence is the perfect introduction to one of Guy Ritchie’s best movies.
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Snatch
‘s opening sequence is the perfect introduction to one of Guy Ritchie’s best movies.
As the credits pop up, Ritchie shows CCTV monitors of four criminals dressed as orthodox Jewish men debating religious philosophy as they enter a diamond trading center in Antwerp. Their disguises provide them with the perfect cover, as they can hide their identities without masks, and they are even allowed to bypass the metal detectors, since they seem so harmless. Ritchie changes the pace once they get to their target and pull their guns out, creating an unforgettable intro that sets the events of the entire movie in motion.
9 The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Fencing Stolen Goods Is Just As Important As The Heist
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The Lavender Hill Mob
Director Charles Crichton Release Date June 26, 1951 Cast Alec Guinness , Stanley Holloway , Sidney James , Alfie Bass , Marjorie Fielding , Edie Martin , John Gregson , Clive Morton
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The Lavender Hill Mob is a classic Ealing comedy, and a British crime caper in the same tradition as The Ladykillers and The Italian Job. The plot follows a disillusioned bank clerk who has put up with his rigid 9-5 for far too long, so he decides to rob his own employer. His proximity to the case means that he can throw off the investigators at every turn with false information, and he is even treated as a hero for trying to stop the heist.
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The real stroke of genius in the plan is the decision to smuggle the gold out of the country by melting it down and creating fake Eiffel Tower souvenirs to be sent to Paris. This plan would work perfectly, if not for a legendary streak of bad luck that’s only possible in a farcical comedy. Not only are the wrong Eiffel Tower souvenirs sold, but one of the incriminating pieces of evidence is sold to the daughter of a police officer who has taken a keen interest in molecular analysis.
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8 The Wrong Trousers (1993)
Feathers McGraw Is Wallace & Gromit’s Smartest Villain
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Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers
Director Nick Park Release Date December 17, 1993 Cast Peter Sallis , Peter Hawkins
The Wrong Trousers is a short film, but it manages to include a more elaborate and detailed criminal plot than many feature-length heist movies. The Wallace and Gromit classic sees a new lodger coming to stay at West Wallaby Street. The penguin is soon revealed to be the criminal mastermind Feathers McGraw, who disguises himself as a rooster by wearing a red rubber glove on his head.
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Feathers McGraw’s plan involves reprogramming Gromit’s new automatic dog-walking machine so that he can operate Wallace as a puppet while he sleeps and steal a priceless diamond from the Natural History Museum. Other animated heist movies, like Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ruben Brandt, Collector, don’t aim for such nerve-shredding tension, but The Wrong Trousers is both hilarious and intelligent. Feathers McGraw is set to make a comeback after over 30 years in the upcoming Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
7 Fast Five (2011)
Dom’s Crew Kicked Things Up A Notch With Fast Five
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8/10 Fast Five
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*Availability in US Director Justin Lin Release Date April 29, 2011 Cast Vin Diesel , Paul Walker , Dwayne Johnson , Jordana Brewster , Tyrese Gibson , Ludacris , Matt Schulze , Sung Kang , Gal Gadot
Just as the Fast and Furious franchise seemed to be running out of fuel, Fast Five revitalized the series with a completely new style of action movie. The street-racing franchise expanded its horizons in an instant, taking inspiration from the heist genre. Things have gotten bigger, louder and sillier ever since, but Fast Five is perfectly measured. The plot follows Dom and his crew as they attempt to pull off an audacious heist in Brazil with law enforcement breathing down their necks every step of the way.
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Dom’s plan ticks all the boxes of a traditional heist thriller, with a ragtag crew, some hacking wizardy and plenty of intelligent diversions to keep the mark and the audience guessing.
Dom’s plan ticks all the boxes of a traditional heist thriller, with a ragtag crew, some hacking wizardy and plenty of intelligent diversions to keep the mark and the audience guessing. Naturally, Fast and Furious‘ take on a heist movie focuses heavily on the getaway. The scene in which Dom and Brian drag an entire vault through the streets delivers the kind of action that the franchise is known for, but the moment when the vaults are switched adds another layer to the scheme that puts it over the top.
6 Goldfinger (1964)
Goldfinger’s Plan To Infiltrate Fort Knox Comes Within Seconds Of Success
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10/10 Goldfinger
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*Availability in US Director Guy Hamilton Release Date September 20, 1964 Cast Sean Connery , Honor Blackman , Gert Fröbe , Shirley Eaton , Tania Mallet , Harold Sakata
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Goldfinger isn’t what most people would think of when they think of a heist movie, but the James Bond thriller sees 007 trying to foil Auric Goldfinger’s plan to break into Fort Knox. The movie changes his scheme a little from Ian Fleming’s novel. In the movie, Goldfinger doesn’t plan on simply stealing the gold, because moving it would be too heavy and slow. Instead, he plans to detonate a dirty bomb inside Fort Knox, irradiating America’s gold reserves for generations, thereby making his own stock skyrocket in value.
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This simple change makes Goldfinger’s plan even more intelligent. The only reason he doesn’t get away with it is that his second-in-command, Pussy Galore, gets cold feet and rats him out to the CIA. It seems as though Bond’s legendary powers of seduction foil a terrorist attack, since he’s largely responsible for Pussy’s change of heart. Goldfinger’s intelligence and odd charms make him an iconic Bond villain, and he contributes to one of the best James Bond movies of all.
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5 Gambit (1966)
Michael Caine’s Heist Comedy Shows That A Great Plan Doesn’t Always Ensure Success
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Gambit
Director Ronald Neame Release Date January 7, 1967 Cast Shirley MacLaine , Michael Caine , Herbert Lom , Roger C. Carmel , Arnold Moss , John Abbott , Richard Angarola , Maurice Marsac
Before the gritty violence of 1970s thrillers, heist movies in the 1960s were characterized by elegance and intelligence. Movies like How to Steal a Million, The Thomas Crown Affair and Topkapi portray stylish thieves who use brains instead of brawn. Gambit is much the same, as a cockney grifter hatches a fiercely intelligent plan, but the crime comedy proves the inescapable truth that all plans are useless when real life intervenes.
Gambit
proves the inescapable truth that all plans are useless when real life intervenes.
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Gambit‘s first half presents one of the most brilliant heist plans in film history, which involves using a woman who looks like the mark’s deceased wife to gain access to his private quarters. After the plan is laid out in its entirety, Gambit shows what happens when just about everything goes wrong, starting with the fact that the lookalike is obnoxious and bratty, and ending with the unfortunate speed bump that the hero falls in love with her.
4 Logan Lucky (2017)
The Logan Brothers Aren’t Typical Criminal Masterminds
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8/10 8.5/10 Logan Lucky
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*Availability in US Director Steven Soderbergh Release Date August 18, 2017 Cast Channing Tatum , Adam Driver , Daniel Craig , Farrah Mackenzie , Jim O’Heir , Riley Keough , Rebecca Koon , Katie Holmes
Steven Soderbergh is the director of Out of Sight and the Ocean ‘s franchise, so it should come as no surprise to see that Logan Lucky is also one of the best heist thrillers in recent memory. Just like these other movies, Logan Lucky balances its intelligent heist plan with plenty of humor. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver are both on top form as two brothers trying to banish their family’s history of bad luck by pulling a heist on a motor speedway.
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Logan Lucky features an outstanding cast led by Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, and Channing Tatum who play a group of ambitious NASCAR thieves.
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Jimmy and Clyde Logan don’t fit the mold of most criminal masterminds. The former construction worker and the bartender still manage to come up with a genius plan to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s an unlikely setting for a heist movie, but this just gives Logan Lucky the chance to be extra original. Their plan nails all the fine details, and they have a string of great ideas, like putting the roaches into the tube system to find where the money from concessions is sent.
3 The Dark Knight (2008)
The Joker’s Heist Is A Great Character Introduction
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10/10 24 9.5/10 The Dark Knight
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*Availability in US Director Christopher Nolan Release Date July 18, 2008 Cast Christian Bale , Heath Ledger , Michael Caine , Morgan Freeman , Nestor Carbonell , Ritchie Coster , Cillian Murphy , Chin Han , Gary Oldman , Eric Roberts , William Fichtner , Aaron Eckhart , Maggie Gyllenhaal , David Dastmalchian , Anthony Michael Hall Expand
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The Dark Knight takes inspiration from the crime genre, starting with an opening sequence that barely resembles a superhero movie at all. The Joker’s bank heist is the perfect introduction to his character, showing that he’s intelligent, ruthless and always one step ahead. It’s also a great way to start an action-packed movie that blends crime and superhero tropes. From the outset, The Dark Knight starts mounting its case as one of the best action movies of the 21st century.
The Joker’s heist is so gripping because it seems so realistic. The heist scenes in Ant-Man and Rogue One show that genre movies often go for eye-popping spectacle, even if this makes it harder to relate to the specifics. The Dark Knight parks its more eccentric influences to begin with. The plan is completely original, with the clever detail that each robber takes out one of his accomplices, but it maintains a weighty realism.
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2 Inside Man (2006)
Spike Lee’s Narrative Tricks Make Inside Man’s Heist Even More Interesting
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Inside Man
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*Availability in US Director Spike Lee Release Date March 24, 2006 Cast Denzel Washington , Clive Owen , Jodie Foster , Christopher Plummer , Willem Dafoe , Chiwetel Ejiofor
Inside Man starts with Dalton speaking directly to camera, laying out his current circumstances and stating plainly that he has recently orchestrated an ambitious robbery. It seems as though he’s in prison, but this merely sets up one of many clever twists that the story has to offer. From the outset, Dalton appears intelligent and remarkably calm, and he maintains his composure throughout his heist.
The core idea is brilliant, but he also has some clever touches, like rotating the hostages in different rooms to add to the confusion.
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Inside Man‘s heist is consistently surprising. The audience is placed in the shoes of Denzel Washington’s detective character, as he reacts to every curveball that comes his way. Ultimately, he is left just as bewildered as anyone. Dalton’s plan to stay inside the bank works so well because he releases the hostages unharmed and leaves the money in the vault untouched. The core idea is brilliant, but he also has some clever touches, like rotating the hostages in different rooms to add to the confusion.
1 Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Ocean’s Eleven’s Appeal Is Tied To The Nature Of Its Heist
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8/10 7.8/10 Ocean’s Eleven
Director Steven Soderbergh Release Date December 7, 2001 Cast Brad Pitt , Don Cheadle , Julia Roberts , George Clooney , Matt Damon , Andy Garcia
The entire allure of Steven Soderbergh’s 2001 heist thriller Ocean’s Eleven comes from the charms of the main cast and the intricacy of the plan. It’s a joy to see such a complex and carefully plotted plan being put in motion, and the audience can’t help but root for Danny Ocean and his crew. He and Rusty string together plenty of ideas from their criminal playbook, honed from years of work. Their most cunning idea is showing Benedict footage from a replica of his own vault.
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Related All 5 Ocean’s Movies Ranked From Worst To Best
The Ocean’s movies epitomize the Hollywood heist movie genre. From Frank Sinatra to George Clooney to Sandra Bullock’s, we rank the 5 Ocean’s films.
The third act of Ocean’s Eleven provides a steady flow of glorious payoff, as the crew’s mysterious behavior from earlier in the movie is finally clarified. The heist sequence also shows precisely how each member of the crew plays their part in the plan, from the remote-controlled car drivers to the explosives expert. The Ocean’s franchise never quite matched the sheer joy of the first movie in Soderbergh’s trilogy, but fresh reports of Ocean’s 14 suggest that Danny, Rusty and the gang could have another chance.
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