The clothes are black. The gear is state of the art. Needless to say, the thieves are the best ever.
The safe/museum/vault? Uncrackable.
The planning? Meticulous.
The diamond/emerald/painting? Flawless.
Needless to say, the clock is ticking and getting caught is an unspeakable danger.
From The Pink Panther and Topkapi to The Thomas Crown Affair and Entrapment, we love a good heist movie. The second half of 2001 has no fewer than three films built around jewelry heists: Don’t Say a Word, Heist–which opens this weekend–and The Affair of the Necklace.
Jewel/art heist movies are a special genre within the genre overall: Unlike the thief going just for the cash, the jewel/art thief often has a fondness for the object he or she is stealing, an appreciation of the aesthetic beauty of the piece, which transcends the resale value.
One reason for the proliferation of heist films is it’s a genre that works. A bonus for audiences is that sometimes these films are clever enough and pretty enough that the movie is as artistically satisfying as the storyline is thrilling.
And we get to feed our personalities’ dark side: we get to root for the bad guy.
The construction of a good heist movie follows a tried-and-true formula. Though there may be elements unique to each movie, many devices remain the same. If you’re going to make your own heist pic, you must…
Assemble the Team
Sometimes the team is small, say 2 people, sometimes it’s large. No matter. There’s usually one leader–an older man, perhaps–in the group who assembles the team. Maximilian Schell gathers his gang in Topkapi, including Elizabeth, Arthur and Giulio, the Human Fly. Robert Redford does the assembling honors in The Hot Rock.
Give the Leader a Quirky Accomplice
Let me just run down a few:
• The Pink Panther: Robert Wagner as Sir Charles’s (The Phantom’s) smarmy nephew
• Topkapi: Giulio, the Human Fly
• Out of Sight: Ving Rhames, as a religious man who has to confess to his sister what he’s done
• The Hot Rock: Ron Leibman as the getaway driver who listens to recordings of race cars driving around a track
• Thief: Willie Nelson as the ailing mentor thief who’s in jail, and doesn’t want to die there
• The Score: Marlon Brando. (He’s just plain quirky looking.)
Case the Joint
Sean Connery builds a replica of the room where the gem is kept in Entrapment. Pierce Brosnan practically lives in the museum in The Thomas Crown Affair. The museum is visited, the jewelry store photographed, the security measures carefully detailed by one thief to another.
One of the hardest things for writers/directors to get right in a heist film is finding a new way to crack a safe or snatch jewelry from a museum.
Do The Job
This is where gadgets enter the picture. These days, getting into a building usually involves a little computer hacking. But for the ultimate test of heistdom, nothing beats good, old-fashioned safecracking.
The time element is crucial in the best caper films: There’s always a time lock on a safe that will open at a specific time (Entrapment) or cops who should/will show up after X number of minutes (Reservoir Dogs).
Overcome The Obstacle
At some point, some obstacle will block the thieves’ way.
In Out of Sight it’s Ving Rhames‘s need to confess to his sister his crimes, and then his sister’s need to tell the cops, that becomes a real obstacle to his and George Clooney‘s success. Similarly, in Rough Cut, Burt Reynold‘s girlfriend is actually a snitch for Scotland Yard. And Pierce Brosnan is dating the insurance agent investigating him in The Thomas Crown Affair.
Or the group’s makeup can cause dissension and tension. In Topkapi a member of the team dies, creating a “why should we go on” atmosphere. After a particularly bloody diamond heist, the crooks recall their previous actions and argue about what went wrong in Reservoir Dogs.
Finally, there can be a smart cop or agent (Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair, Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight) or perhaps a not-so-smart cop or agent (Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther).
Surprise! Finish Off with a Twist
To create the perfect heist picture, you’ve got to have a twist, perhaps even a double twist, to finish the film.
Will Pierce Brosnan get away…and get the girl in The Thomas Crown Affair? Will Sean Connery live to rob again, or will Catherine Zeta-Jones be the death of him in Entrapment? And in The Score, a smart young hotshot (Edward Norton) might be smart enough to do a double cross, but is the veteran thief (Robert De Niro) smart enough to see it all coming?
One thing’s for sure; it seems that breaking in and stealing the jewel/piece of art is easier than getting away with it.
