When it comes to action films, one of the most popular and engaging topics to base a story around is an attempt to steal something and pull off a massive job in the process. Heist films, or the slightly different caper movie traditionally make for great viewing and over the years, some classic films have emerged – here’s some of the best.
If someone mentions the genre of a caper film, the first movie that comes to mind is the ever-brilliant Italian Job from 1969, featuring legendary actors such as Michael Caine and the late Noel Coward. The picture centers around Michael Caine playing recently released prisoner Charlie Croker who gets a heist crew together to attempt to steal $4 million in gold bullion. To help with the heist process, he makes use of the film’s now-signature modes of transport, vintage Mini Coopers, in order to maneuver through the streets of Turin and in turn lose the Italian police.
The main, and arguably most exciting, section of the film concerns the defining car chase through the streets of Turin where Croker and the gang do their best to escape the Italian police using tunnels, shopping arcades and twisty mountain roads, amongst other settings. With the Italian Job being released now over fifty years ago, it’s become both one of the defining films of the late sixties and also one that has set a precedent when it comes to other caper films.
Since the release of the Italian Job, heist movies have, in some instances, taken on a bit more of a comedic tone. One such example is the hilarious Tower Heis, which has an all-star cast, including the likes of Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy and Alan Alda. Instead of stealing money or gold like in The Italian Job, the job of the crew in Tower Heist is to steal one of the prized possessions of Martin Shaw, a businessman who lives in the hotel and is under house arrest for embezzling $2 billion, a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso.
With such a great cast, it’s easy to see why Tower Heist became such a smash hit. Eddie Murphy received heaps of praise from a multitude of critics due to the fact that his performance was deemed to signal a return to his popular style from the eighties, following a succession of commercial failures. Interestingly, the original project for the film and original idea was deemed too similar to Ocean’s Eleven and the script was then developed into what the 2011 movie would become.
More recently, Channing Tatum and a seemingly unrecognizable Daniel Craig took part in Steven Soderbergh’s return to directing in the American comedy caper Logan Lucky, concerning a highly unlucky family who stage a heist in order to essentially rewrite the family history. Being set in the south of America (West Virginia to be exact), it’s easy to think that Logan Lucky just plays on the typical tropes of the Deep South and, whilst that’s true in some regards, the actual execution of the story is a lot more layered than that.
Sure, there are references to saloon bars and beauty pageants, but the main humor of Logan Lucky is based around sheer wackiness not just limited to stereotypes. Both Tatum and Daniel Craig put in great performances and it’s especially nice to see the latter swapping the suit for a blonde buzzcut in an entirely different role to usual.
Of course, such movies as those above usually appear on streaming services such as Amazon’s Prime Video and the ever-growing library associated with Netflix. There’s definitely a great selection of action films to be found on these platforms too. This move online when it comes to convenient repositories of media isn’t just strictly limited to video services and has become a key part of other online services such as online casinos.
Through the growth of the Internet, these sites have been able to build up their own vast libraries of content, with traditional inclusions such as online roulette games for players in Canada that make use, in some instances, of live dealers to bring with them a more familiar casino experience. In addition, there’s plenty of themed slot games and variations of the more classic games to help them appeal to a broad audience.
Heist movies, in any guise, definitely make for some of the best viewing experiences out there. As with any great action movie, they feature the right mix of unexpected twists and turns, as well as compelling storylines and some great acting. The ones listed above are just the start of a long list of brilliant movies based around the art of stealing and getting away with it.
