When the Bad Guys Are the Good Guys – The Quintessential Heist Movies

by Yvesanemone

When the Bad Guys Are the Good Guys – The Quintessential Heist Movies

Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of the heist film, where most often the authorities are the dupes, and the crooks, daring heroes.

How do heist movies make this work? First, since usually the bad guys are in effect the protagonists, we get to know them as living, breathing characters. They gradually tap into our innate sympathy for the underdog, outcast, and rebel. The heist itself may come to represent the bigger challenges in our own lives, since the same elements determine success: intelligence, instinct, daring, planning, and teamwork.

These films generate considerable dramatic (or comedic) tension, since high-stakes thieves are the ultimate gamblers: no amount of skill can fully eliminate the core risks involved, or the role of arbitrary fate. First, one of the quintessential film noirs is also a heist film: John Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle”(1950). A realistic, detailed chronicle of the planning, execution, and aftermath of a daring jewel robbery, “Jungle” is first and foremost a superb character piece. Huston elicits compelling performances from the entire cast, including Sam Jaffe, a young Sterling Hayden, and in particular, Louis Calhern as the smooth but quietly desperate mastermind. (Also look for an early Marilyn Monroe appearance as Calhern’s mistress.)

Hayden would go on to work with a younger but equally talented director, Stanley Kubrick, on “The Killing” (1955), a documentary-like depiction of a race-track robbery. The film is skillfully paced, edge-of-your-seat entertainment, accented by vivid characterizations (Elisha Cook, Jr. and Marie Windsor stand out as a wildly dysfunctional couple). In “The Killing” you can witness the budding of a cinematic genius.

Two excellent heist pictures were made by the very same man, the gifted Jules Dassin, who in the early ’50s, under the cloud of the Hollywood Blacklist, left a successful directing career state-side to work in Europe. His first feature, made in France, was “Rififi” (1954), about a group of jewel thieves as distrustful of each other as the police-and not without reason. Viewed today, the movie retains its gritty realism: the justly famous heist sequence, done completely in silence, is riveting, and Jean Servais’s performance as the crime’s originator conveys a sad, twisted nobility. The conclusion of this small masterpiece will grip you and remain with you long after the closing credits.

Ten years later, Dassin released “Topkapi”, starring his wife, Greek actress Melina Mercouri , Maximilian Schell, and Peter Ustinov. This is lighter comic fare, with a motley crew of crooks attempting to steal a jewel-encrusted dagger from the heavily guarded Topkapi museum in Istanbul. Breezy, colorful and clever, the stars are clearly enjoying themselves, except for sad-sack Ustinov (no matter-he won Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance anyhow).

Fast-forward to “The Great Train Robbery” (1979), an atmospheric thriller scripted and directed by best-selling author Michael Crichton. “Robbery” exudes a rich Victorian flavor, and features the surprisingly felicitous pairing of Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland as a team intent on stealing a large shipment of gold from a moving train. “Robbery” is grand entertainment, with a fetching Lesley Ann Down completing the criminal trio, and adding a full measure of feminine visual appeal.

For still more recent fare, try Michael Mann’s “Heat” (1995) , a pulsating thriller detailing the cat-and mouse maneuvers between an implacable detective (Al Pacino) and seasoned criminal (Robert de Niro), who leads both an armored truck robbery and a bank heist. Electric, graphic and brutal, “Heat” is not for the squeamish, but if you think you can take it, strap yourself in and hold on. It’s an intense, riveting ride.

There’s a lighter side to “caper films” as well, and my three heist comedy picks would have to be two Alec Guinness comedy classics made with Britain’s fabled Ealing Studios: “The Lavender Hill Mob” (1950) and “The Ladykillers” (1955); along with a third, lesser-known Italian chestnut, “Big Deal On Madonna Street” (1958).

“Mob” is the story of a seemingly timid but sly clerk who plots the perfect robbery of his own bank. This intricate crime’s planning and execution precipitate some of the more inspired comic sequences you’ll see on film. The ever-charming Stanley Holloway (Alfie Doolittle from “My Fair Lady”)) provides terrific support, and look fast in the first scene for a momentary glimpse of a future star, Audrey Hepburn.

“The Ladykillers” are actually a rag-tag bunch of lower-rung thieves and hoods, led by the smarmy Professor Marcus (Guinness). To provide convenient, suitable cover for their upcoming caper, they all board at the home of a frail, elderly widow, one Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), posing as musicians. Unfortunately for them, Mrs. Wilberforce is a good deal smarter and more alert than she appears, and the gang find themselves spending more time fending her off than planning the robbery. Guinness is priceless, both Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom (who’d reunite in the Pink Panther series), appear in early roles, and Miss Johnson nearly steals the picture as the diminutive but strong-willed landlady.

Finally, Mario Monicelli’s “Big Deal”, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale, is like the first two entries, but done in the broader, more expansive Italian style, with lots of yelling and frantic gesturing. This particular assemblage of would-be thieves may just rank as the most bumbling in history, defying all logic or reason. Delightfully, absurdly over-the-top, “Big Deal” is great fun for those who prefer their comedies with a hearty dose of Italian passion.

These great heist movies work by tying us to the unfortunate characters who populate them, and investing us in the outcome of their attempts to reach the same pot of gold so many of us chase, however flawed or misguided those attempts may be. And of course, in doing all that, they also give us that most satisfying of sensations: the vicarious thrill.

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