Top 100 Best Heist Movies To Watch In 2024

 

Don’t go getting any ideas. This is an entertainment blog, not a dark-web bank robbery and money-heist guide.

 

If you watch some of these movies and get funny ideas stuck in your head, ENTOIN and this writer is not responsible for whatever heist you might have in mind for later.

 

This list is not numbered based on importance or ‘better than’. Feel free to explore and enjoy any of the following titles – perhaps even revisit a few old favorites.

 

Let’s get started exploring the top films we ‘pick-pocketed’ from various sources to give you a master list of the most delightful and memorable, heart-racing, and exceptional, Heist Movies of all time.

 

 

 

1. Baby Driver (2017)

 

 

 

Struggling with a partial hearing impairment, Baby (played by Ansel Elgort) wouldn’t be most people’s choice for a getaway driver. But the young man soon proves to be incredibly skilled when it comes to flexing his motor talents.

 

As long as the right soundtracks are playing in the car, Baby is ready to roll. Personally, he’s doing what he needs to do to make his indentured servitude to crime boss Doc (played by Kevin Spacey) more palatable.

 

Doc, meanwhile, relies on Baby’s highly honed driving skills to help him with his meticulous heist strategies. The time soon comes when Baby believes he has earned his freedom from Doc. He makes plans to start a new life with girlfriend Debora (played by Lily James).

 

Doc, however, forces Baby back into the game for one final job. The crew he hired for this latest gig are nothing if not unstable, unpredictable, and unreliable. Nearly everything Baby has been working toward is threatened by this heist.

 

It all boils down to Baby’s bravery and wit to see him through this messy gamble, which might not go well for anyone involved.

 

 

 

2. Now You See Me

 

 

 

Answering a mysterious summons to an enigmatic destination, four magicians go to learn what they believe are special secrets reserved only for them.

 

The four are: Daniel Atlas (played by Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (played by Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (played by Isla Fisher), and Jack Wilder (played by Dave Franco).

 

A year passes, and these four magicians have re-styled themselves as ‘The Four Horsemen’. They have made quite a career for themselves as stage illusionists.

 

For their ‘final trick’ in their latest show at Las Vegas, all four promise to rob a real bank without triggering a single alarm or even leaving the auditorium.

 

Their ‘entertaining’ success in this endeavor raises official hackles. FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (played by Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol Agent Alma Dray (played by Mélanie Laurent) are tasked with the investigation, specifically to figure out how exactly the Four Horseman pulled off this heist.

 

Even after entailing professional illusion exposer Thaddeus Bradley (played by Morgan Freeman), the agents fail to reach a verified conclusion.

 

The investigation then takes a turn for the bizarre, with all sorts of illusions and tricks coming to the fore, as well as secret agendas and dark truths.

 

In the end, the saying ‘the closer you look the less you see’ takes on a whole new meaning, especially for law enforcement officials who are desperately at work to honor their professional competence.

 

 

 

3. Hell or High Water (2016)

 

 

 

With their West-Texas family farm facing foreclosure and their mother having recently passed away, two brothers Toby Howard (played by Chris Pines) and Tanner Howard (played by Ben Foster), along with their divorced dad, come up with a last-minute get-rich scheme.

 

Harnessing Tanner’s ex-con experience, they embark on what amounts to a crime spree which targets small branches of the Texas Midland Bank. This happens to be the very same bank looking to foreclose on their property.

 

Toby masterminds the whole heist and carefully plans every stage of it. But the uncompromising and unrelenting Marcus Hamilton (played by Jeff Bridges) is soon set on their trail. Along with his half-Comanche deputy Alberto Parker (played by Gil Birmingham), this Texas ranger closes the distance between him and the thieves.

 

All they want is for the criminals to make one little blunder. Unpredictable consequences and showdown-worthy scenarios abound in this cat-and-mouse chase where everything can go right and anything can go wrong.

 

 

 

4. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

 

 

 

Henry Holland (played by Alec Guinness) successfully portrays himself as a timid and soft-spoken bank clerk. He’s been maintaining that image for years. Despite having a quiet nature, a part of him has always been keen on emptying the Bank of England’s coffers.

 

His eyes are soon set on their gold reserves and the bespectacled clerk finally (after twenty years of service) decides to execute a heist. Even though he has it all planned, down to a T, the man finds himself in need of help if he is to actually succeed in the attempt. 

 

He therefore turns his eye to his next-door neighbor, the artistic Alfred Pendlebury (played by Stanley Holloway), to ‘disguise’ the gold ingots as Eiffel Tower souvenir paperweights. With over £1 million ready for the camouflage treatment, a few more members have to join the team.

 

Together, four thieves go to town. In this case, the bank. However, contrary to the popular saying, fortune does not always favor the bold. The heist is fraught with dangers and risks that the ‘robber quartet’ might not be ready to face.

 

 

5. The Red Circle (1970)

 

 

 

After five years in jail, Corey (played by Alain Delon) is a thief looking at blessed release. However, a day before he could taste freedom, one of the prison guards approaches Corey with a major jewelry heist idea.

 

After leaving prison, Corey manages to revenge-steal from his former boss Rico (played by André Ekyan). This in turn earns him a serious response when Rico dispatches two gangsters to catch Corey and retrieve the stolen cash.

 

Around this time, a hoodlum named Vogel (played by Gian Maria Volontè) is being transported by train under the watchful eye of Officer Mattei (played by Bourvil). Vogel successfully escapes Mattei’s custody by hiding out in the trunk of a random car.

 

As fate would have it, this becomes the same car Corey uses to drive from Marseille to Paris in a bid to put distance between himself and Rico’s thugs. When Corey discovers Vogel, he agrees to safely drive the man to Paris.

 

Rico’s goons, however, catch up to Corey only to encounter Vogel who inadvertently ends up helping his savior. Corey, sadly, loses all the funds during this time. Now broke, he convinces Vogel to join him in that jewelry heist the prison guard was telling him about.

 

Corey also drags in former police detective Jansen (played by Yves Montand) to play an active role in the robbery. Despite pulling off a successful strategy, Corey soon lands in the scope of not just a revengeful Rico but also a somewhat unethical Officer Mattei who is desperate to recapture Vogel.

 

 

6. White Heat (1949)

 

 

 

Murdering two men during a train robbery gone wrong, Cody Jarrett (played by James Cagney) soon finds himself hard-pressed to appear “not guilty” in a court of law. He cleverly accepts guilt for a comparatively lesser crime that took place around the same time as the twin murders.

 

This other crime happened at a relatively far away location, thus granting Cody a reasonable alibi. The Treasury Department, however, is not convinced. They start putting together strong evidence to bag the slippery Cody, even going so far as to plant one of their own as a spy in the same prison where Cody is jailed.

 

Cody and Hank become fast friends. Officer Hank Fallon (played by Edmond O’Brien), aka Vic Pardo, secretly tries to learn where Cody hid the Treasury Bonds he’d stolen. When an escape attempt takes place, Fallon goes with Cody, pretending loyalty from start to finish.

 

Cody’s criminal days are not behind him. In fact, the man is already planning another heist, involving a chemical factory and almost half a million dollars. Using modern technology, the police manage to track Cody down and halt his nefarious crime spree, perhaps only for the time being.

 

 

7. Public Enemies

 

 

 

The year is 1933, marking four years into the Great Depression. Bank thief John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) is a perennial criminal nuisance whose gang-related activities earn him the title ‘public enemy number one’.

 

Approaching Congress to attain financial support to bring down Dillinger’s’ crime network, President J. Edgar Hoover personally assigns Agent Melvin Purvis (played by Christian Bale) the unenviable task of handling Chicago area operations.

 

Where technology fails to gather enough evidence against Dillinger, Melvin is allowed to use force, blackmail, torture, and intimidation to interrogate the thief to make the man commit his heinous heists.

 

Their plan is that if they can bring down Dillinger, the rest of the criminal enterprise will fall in line.

 

John Dillinger falls in love with Billie Frechette (played by Marion Cotillard), unwittingly making her a means for Melvin to help catch Dillinger in the hope of bringing him to justice.

 

 

8. The Ladykillers

 

 

 

Charming but eccentric Southern professor G. H. Dorr (played by Tom Hanks) gathers a crew together in what appears to be a classic heist ensemble.

 

Before long, he makes progress toward robbing a casino. He does it all under the increasingly suspicious eye of his old landlady Marva Munson (played by Irma P. Hall) who remains unsure about Dorr’s true agenda following his renting out one of the rooms in her house.

 

When she eventually catches on, the men are cornered into attempting to kill her – the only way to silence her, really.

 

But that side requirement seems like an insurmountable challenge in itself. This movie is a remake of the 1955 hit comedy after the same, the one that starred Peter Sellers.

 

 

9. The Wild Bunch

 

 

 

The so-called Wild West finally meets its declining years. Aging outlaw Pike Bishop (played by William Holden) finds himself planning the daylight robbery of a railroad office on the eve of World War I.

 

Along with him are a gang of five renegades known collectively as ‘The Wild Bunch’.

 

They’re heading to Mexico to carry out the heist while Pike’s own former friend Deke Thornton (played by Robert Ryan) is hot on his trail along with a set of mercenaries.

 

Pike and company aim to hijack a United States ammunition train and make big bucks after supplying the contents to the power-mad General Mapache (played by Emilio Fernández) and his revolutionary army.

 

Their alliance has always been an uneasy one. It finally comes down to the point when a suicidal showdown takes place and everyone’s loyalties are tested.

 

 

10. The Asphalt Jungle

 

 

 

Career criminal Doc Erwin Riedenschneider (played by Sam Jaffe) is a ‘ladies man’. He also cherishes the thrill of a heist.

 

No sooner is he out of prison than he begins planning his next robbery, this one a complex jewel theft.

 

With financial backing from a corrupt lawyer and married playboy Alonzo D. Emmerich (played by Louis Calhern), Doc gets started gathering a team to carry out the heist.

 

Relying on a familiar bookie joint, he gets all the right talents to join his latest scheme.

 

His ‘heavy’ is quite the wild card, though a man after his own heart. Dix Handley (played by Sterling Hayden), who was once a farm boy, just so happens to be the right man in the wrong place.

 

Doc’s excited attitude about the heist encourages Dix to come to be part of it. The lot of them soon listen to Doc’s pitch and are almost zealously drawn into the game.

 

The film is filled with twists and turns of the thrilling kind. It also features Marilyn Monroe’s breakout role.

 

 

11. Logan Lucky

 

 

 

After being fired from his job, Jimmy Logan (played by Channing Tatum) convinces his brother Clyde Logan (played by Adam Driver) as well as his sister Mellie Logan (played by Riley Keough) to join forces and rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

 

They plan to execute the heist during a major NASCAR race event. They find themselves in dire need of Joe Bang’s (played by Daniel Craig) skills.

 

The man is a talented and convicted safecracker who is currently incarcerated. The Logan siblings strategize how they’re going to get him out, carry out the racetrack heist, make away with the money before anyone grows any the wiser, and oh also return Joe back to his prison cell before the guards discover he’s missing.

 

Jimmy also makes it quite clear that he cannot miss his daughter’s beauty pageant, which becomes one more near-impossible goal to add to the Logans’ list.

 

The siblings seem awfully confident that they won’t experience the so-called ‘Logan family curse’ during the risk-ridden robbery.

 

 

12. Band of Outsiders

 

 

 

Good-looking Franz (played by Sami Frey) once met Odile (played by Anna Karina) in an English class.

 

Thanks to her having rich benefactors, she could afford to stay at Joinville. During their conversations, Odile lets slip that one of her sponsors, Mr. Stolz, maintains 10,000 Franc notes in his room, and they are not locked away.

 

Franz soon shares the story with his buddy Arthur (played by Claude Brasseur) who at that time has an uncle pressing him for cash.

 

Imitating the American film ‘tough guys’ both Arthur and Franz study Odile’s lavish residence. Before long, the boys put pressure on Odile to become part of their small group and to help pull off a heist at the house.

 

The girl remains undecided while the boys seem to already be counting their gains.

 

 

13. Drive

 

 

 

An unknown driver (played by Ryan Gosling) is a quiet man working as a garage mechanic in Los Angeles for his buddy Shannon (played by Bryan Cranston).

 

In addition to this job, the mystery driver secretly makes money on the side by serving as a getaway car driver for real-life heists and robberies.

 

His moonlighting as a stuntman in Hollywood lends him all the confidence and skills he believes he needs to perform his illegal role.

 

When his neighbor Irene (played by Carey Mulligan) finds herself in need of help, the driver rises to the occasion.

 

The poor woman’s husband is still in jail and she has her son Benicio to take care of.

 

The driver gradually falls in love with Irene, but just a few days later her husband, Standard (played by Oscar Isaac), is released from prison.

 

A criminal named Cook (played by James Biberi) soon presses Standard into service, tasking him with the theft of a pawn shop.

 

This deed is meant as compensation for the protection Standard received in prison. The driver, meeting and learning about Standard’s situation, decides to help him by being his getaway driver.

 

When the whole plan goes awry, the enigmatic driver finds himself safeguarding Irene and Benicio from a bunch of mobsters who are out for blood.

 

 

14. Out Of Sight

 

 

 

Career bank thief Jack Foley (played by George Clooney) busts out of prison with timely aid from his friend Buddy Bragg (played by Ving Rhames).

 

During their escape attempt, they are left with little choice but to kidnap U. S. Marshal Karen Sisco (played by Jennifer Lopez).

 

When the cons make for Detroit to carry out one final scam before bolting into hiding, Karen is put on their case only to end up getting captured by the men.

 

As time goes by, she falls for one of them. It doesn’t take long from there for Karen to doubt her own convictions about arresting the men and bringing them to justice.

 

 

15. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

 

 

 

Leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, Butch Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (played by Robert Redford) are planning a new heist.

 

Where Butch is the brains and the creative force behind the robberies, Sundance is the ‘action man’ of the troupe, one who harbors great skill at what he does.

 

As the West nears a degree of civilization that will all but wipe out outlaws and their ilk, it gets harder for Butch and Sundance to maintain their train-robbing ways.

 

A specialized posse is set on their trail to bring the two men to justice one way or another.

 

No matter how far they range or rove, Sundance and Butch cannot shake off their pursuers.

 

Through sheer luck, they manage to escape them one day, at which point Butch gets it into his creative head to “…go to Bolivia.” This film is based on the real-life – and insofar historically recorded – exploits and experiences of the actual Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy.

 

 

16. Nine Queens

 

 

 

Marcos (played by Ricardo Darín) wakes up one day to witness Juan (played by Gastón Pauls) indulging in his successful bill-changing scam by actively hoodwinking a cashier.

 

When Juan tries a rinse-repeat attempt on the next shift, he is caught red-handed.

 

Marcos comes into the picture and pretends to be a policeman. He gets Juan out of the store and when they’re alone on the street, Marcos reveals his own secret swindler status and veritably recruits Juan into a high-stakes game he has planned in the near future.

 

Now that they’re partners in crime, Marcos and Juan eye a major high-profit scheme involving the sale of incredibly valuable and rare stamps on behalf of an old-time con artist.

 

Known simply as ‘The Nine Queens’ the stamps enjoy a potent status of their own.

 

Several names enter the scheme including Marcos’s own family members. His younger brother Federico (played by Tomás Fonzi) and sister Valeria (played by Leticia Brédice) are soon part of the heist along with a plethora of thieves, pickpockets, and conmen.

 

Deceptions abound in this game, one where nobody can be certain exactly who is playing whom.

 

 

17. The Lookout

 

 

 

Chris Pratt (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a high school hockey player who is quite admired.

 

To say he had a bright future ahead of him was putting it mildly. When he goes on a nighttime drive with two friends and his girlfriend, the results are quite devastating.

 

Chris and the company meet with an accident that leaves him with a brain injury. Chris can no longer remember anything for more than a brief period of time, and so is forced to maintain a notebook that helps him keep track of goings-on in his life.

 

He lives with a friend, who is blind, and who helps him out however he can.

 

Due to this accident, Chris finds his employment status taking a turn for the worse, to say nothing of his future sporting dreams that now stand ruined.

 

He ends up finding work as a night cleaning man for a bank. Chris’s luck, or lack thereof, brings him under the scrutiny of a gang that is actively planning a robbery there.

 

Key gang members make friends with Chris and even position a young woman to keep him interested and on their side.

 

One thing leads to another, and Chris inadvertently becomes part of a major bank heist.

 

At first, he was okay with going along with what the gang wanted. But when the going gets tough, and Chris realizes that he is merely being used, he ardently tries to get out of the game before it is too late.

 

When he has no other way out, Chris aims to stop the robbery only to watch as it becomes worse.

 

 

18. Take the Money and Run

 

 

 

Virgil Starkwell’s (played by Woody Allen) young life is highlighted in this comical heist movie.

 

Viewers learn much about him through what his acquaintances and family members have to say.

 

The man is no stranger to prison – he’s been incarcerated multiple times in his twenties on charges of armed robbery.

 

Having grown up in New York City’s slums, Virgil has always been familiar with the ‘criminal element’.

 

He never quite felt he belonged anywhere in society if all the shunning and bullying he experienced over the years can serve as proof.

 

In order to survive, Virgil turned to a life of crime. The man has proven inept at nearly everything in his life, including being a competent thief.

 

One day, Louise (played by Janet Margolin) comes into his life and changes things for the better.

 

The thief thus falls in love with the laundress, who in her own way also feels like an outsider.

 

Louise’s upbringing in a dysfunctional household run (and not too well) by a mother prone to alcoholism and a father given to a strict military approach certainly informed her current mindset.

 

Hoping to eke out a living together, Virgil and Louise grow closer day by day.

 

Circumstances turn truly interesting when Virgil finds himself deciding whether or not he should turn a new leaf and put his criminal past behind him, or do whatever it takes to ensure that Louise and he live ‘securely ever after’.

 

 

19. Topkapi

 

 

 

Criminal genius Walter Harper (played by Maximilian Schell) and gorgeous burglar Elizabeth Lipp (played by Melina Mercouri) hatch a scheme to steal the Topkapi Palace’s emerald-encrusted dagger (currently in Istanbul).

 

They need more members for the job, and so a crew starts to form, which includes small-scale hustler Arthur Simon Simpson (played by Sir Peter Ustinov) who is going to play the role of ‘fall guy’.

 

Following the heist, Arthur is captured at the border by the Turkish secret police who pressure him into spying on his partners on behalf of the law.

 

The police are unaware that these ‘partners’ are just thieves and not the Communist Agents – who are probably plotting anything from a high-profile assassination to arms smuggling – they think they are.

 

 

20. Sexy Beast

 

 

 

Their past is rife with ill-repute, Gal (played by Ray Winstone), Jackie (played by Julianne White), and Aitch (played by Cavan Kendall) are currently enjoying ‘early retirement’ in Spain amidst luxury and leisure.

 

Their assumed ‘enjoyment ever after’ routine is derailed by an unforeseen disruption hailing from their past.

 

The comically edgy Don Logan (played by Ben Kingsley), known for his rather puerile tendency for violence, pays them a visit, setting in motion a series of irrevocable deeds and insane negotiations that finally result in Gal saying yes to one last job.

 

Don is, after all, his former mentor, and someone who simply won’t take no for an answer.

 

The upcoming heist seems like it’s going to be a legendary one. Filled with personal implications, the robbery appears to be ready to receive ups and downs of the deadly kind.

 

 

21. Bottle Rocket

 

 

 

After experiencing a nervous breakdown that gets him committed to a mental hospital, Anthony Adams (played by Luke Wilson) soon joins his buddy Dignan (played by Owen Wilson) who appears much less sane than himself.

 

The latter has come up with hare-brained heists involving multiple crimes involving his ex-boss, the so-called legendary Mr. Henry (played by James Caan).

 

Along with their pitiable neighbor and another friend named Bob Mapplethorpe (played by Robert Musgrave), both Anthony and Dignan carry out the crime and hit the road soon after.

 

Before long, they end up at a motel where Anthony falls for the maid Inez (played by Lumi Cavazos).

 

They eventually cross paths with the mysterious Mr. Henry, resulting in a bizarre escapade that nobody saw coming.

 

 

22. Sneakers

 

 

 

Heading a team of experts who specialize in security systems testing, Martin Bishop (played by Robert Redford) finds himself being blackmailed by government agents.

 

His past comes back to haunt him. Martin has outstanding warrants for his arrest due to radical actions he’d committed in the 60s.

 

The man is pressured into stealing a black box that has top-secret written all over it, in a manner of speaking.

 

Plenty of intrigue and peril abound in the heist attempt. A while after grabbing the box, Martin and the company realize that it is more than capable of decoding any and all extant encryption systems.

 

Martin also learns that the so-called agent who hired them does not work for the American government’s CIA.

 

The mystery agent actually belongs to an organized crime syndicate that desires to own and control a means to crack any computer anywhere in the world.

 

 

23. The Good Thief

 

 

 

Gambler Bob Montagne (played by Nick Nolte) is getting old. He plans a decisive and grand casino heist on the glamourous French Riviera.

 

He aims to commit a ‘sleight of hand’ double-heist, with one robbery being real and the other not so much.

 

Roger (played by Tchéky Karyo) seems to be a policeman whose intent on saving the opponent he has been keeping an eye on for a long time as opposed to catching him once and for all.

 

Bob gets busy getting together a team, which includes Vladimir (played by Emir Kusturica), crime partners Raoul and Paulo (played by Gérard Darmon and Saïd Taghmaoui, respectively), informant and former drug dealer Said (played by Ouassini Embarek), identical twins Albert and Bertram (played by Mark Polish and Michael Polish, respectively), and finally a young lady named Anne (played by Nutsa Kukhianidze) whom Bob had once rescued from prostitution.

 

 

24. The Driver

 

 

 

The titular character, played by Ryan O’Neal, is a specialist in a rather exclusive business where he fulfills the role of ‘getaway car driver’ for any robbers interested in hiring him via secret channels.

 

The man has yet to be caught, adding to his ‘professional’ value. After a casino gets robbed, a self-assured detective (played by Bruce Dern) steps up to halt the driver’s crime-enabling spree.

 

He personally gets a criminal gang together and promises them remission if they all play their parts in a new scheme that will put the brakes on the driver in question.

 

The driver, meanwhile, has caught wind of the setup and so turns to ‘The Player’ (played by Isabelle Adjani), who was a witness in the casino robbery, to help him misdirect the detective long enough to buy him time to exchange his dirty cash and make another swift getaway.

 

 

25. Tower Heist

 

 

 

High-rise condo manager Josh Kovaks (played by Ben Stiller) has a reliable relationship with his tenants.

 

This is especially true where financier Arthur Shaw (played by Alan Alda) is concerned. When the man is arrested on charges of fraud, Josh steadfastly believes it all to be one huge misunderstanding.

 

Josh even tasked Shaw with handling his employees’ pension fund. Before long, the manager finds the cash in said fund gone.

 

Things get so bad that one of the employees threatens suicide. One day after the next, Josh finds himself looking at his former tenant and friend Shaw in a new light.

 

When he goes to meet the man and loses his temper, Josh realizes that Shaw could well be a crook who stole the entire fund he’d entrusted the man to handle.

 

Josh loses his job, and soon after engages with an FBI agent who informs him that Shaw could be found ‘not guilty’ and allowed to walk free.

 

Josh realizes that he’s never going to recover the employees’ pension fund if he doesn’t take things up several notches.

 

The agent also let’s slip to Josh that Shaw might potentially have $20 million stashed away for emergencies.

 

Josh, knowing his tenants well, recalls a significant memory that hints at the location of these ill-gotten funds.

 

Along with a couple of other fired employees, a criminal acquaintance, and an evicted tenant, Josh strategizes a way to get back at Shaw by getting to the man’s loot.

 

 

26. Danger: Diabolik

 

 

 

Diabolik (played by John Phillip Law) has become quite the international man of mystery. It’s the Swinging 60s, and anything goes.

 

Along with his curvaceous lover Eva Kant (played by Marisa Mell), the anti-hero executes several different heists while successfully evading European law officials, especially a certain bumbling Inspector Ginko (played by Michel Piccoli) who is constantly on their trail but never quite catches up.

 

Mobsters given to envy and greed are also after Diabolik and Eva. The hoodlums are led by Ralph Valmont (played by Adolfo Celi), and they want nothing better than to get rid of the ‘competition’ who are busy emptying governmental coffers left, right, and center.

 

This film is based on the popular Italian comic book series by (sisters) Angela and Luciana Giussani.

 

 

27. Small Time Crooks

 

 

 

Small-scale criminal and dishwasher Ray (played by Woody Allen) works with select partners in crime to come up with a new scheme that sees them re-opening a local pizza joint.

 

They aim to use the place to help cover their attempts to dig a tunnel to the bank situated down the street.

 

Ray’s wife Frenchy (played by Tracey Ullman) is tasked with using her cookie-baking prowess to keep customers coming and going.

 

After a while spent digging, the criminal tunnellers get lost in their own subterranean endeavor.

 

Meanwhile, Frenchy’s cookies are starting to become the talk of the town and business is booming, making the thieves unexpectedly rich.

 

Complications abound in this heist movie rife with elements of human greed and strange twists.

 

 

28. Bandits

 

 

 

Charismatic convict Joe Blake (played by Bruce Willis) and a hypochondriac Terry Collins (played by Billy Bob Thornton) attempt, and consequently succeed, at a prison break.

 

They soon begin a robbery spree that involves bank-manager kidnaps and spending the night with each of their families.

 

The thieves then accompany said managers to their respective banks the next day to rob the place.

 

With a dimwit of a stunt man serving as a lookout and getaway driver, Joe and Terry successfully pull off multiple such bank heists and gain media recognition.

 

TV calls them ‘The Sleepover Bandits’. When bank managers all over the country learn that the thieves are actually non-violent, the game changes in favor of the bank professionals who decide to use this trait against Terry and Joe.

 

When an unhappy housewife, the doubly bored Kate Wheeler (played by Cate Blanchett), ends up encountering the thieving duo, she develops feelings for both men, which results in a seriously tricky ‘love triangle’ that just may spell doom for their criminal enterprise.

 

 

29.  Wrath of Man

 

 

 

The 2021 heist film “Wrath of Man,” directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jason Statham, revolves around a mysterious and skilled individual named H (Statham), who joins a cash truck company as a security guard.

 

Unbeknownst to his colleagues, H is on a personal mission of revenge following a tragic incident involving his son.

 

As a series of meticulously planned heists target the cash trucks, H’s true intentions, and lethal abilities come to light.

 

The film’s success stems from its engaging and intricate narrative, blending heist elements with a revenge-driven plot. The tension builds as the audience unravels the layers of H’s backstory while witnessing intense action sequences and high-stakes heists.

 

Ritchie’s signature style and Statham’s commanding performance contribute to the film’s appeal, as does its focus on character development amidst the adrenaline-pumping thrills.

 

“Wrath of Man” captivates audiences through its masterful storytelling and offers a fresh take on the heist genre, ultimately leading to its success at the box office.

 

 

30. The Bling Ring

 

 

 

This movie, based on real-life events, features a bunch of teens so obsessed with fame that they use the all-accessible reach of the Internet to pinpoint the exact addresses of celebrities before teaming up to go rob their residences.

 

One such teen is Marc Hall (played by Israel Broussard) who enrolls in Indian Hills High School (California) as a new student.

 

Before long, the fame-hungry Rebecca Ahn (played by Katie Chang) befriends him. During a party, the two of them casually fall into a circumstance where they check to see if any cars are unlocked in the street so they can steal any cards and cash they might find inside.

 

Marc unwittingly let’s slip the fact that one of his rich acquaintances will be out of town.

 

This prompts Rebecca to plan a robbery of the person’s home, and successfully follow through when the time comes, making away with some valuable luxury goods.

 

Rebecca next takes Marc to a celebrity-frequented nightclub where they catch up with Nicki Moore (played by Emma Watson), Nicki’s adopted sister Sam (played by Taissa Farmiga), and Chloe Tainer (played by Claire Julien).

 

After rubbing shoulders with Paris Hilton herself, they soon start plotting another high-profile home invasion and robbery.

 

One heist after another, the teens crawl closer to getting caught by law enforcement who is busy at work trying to pinpoint their identities and addresses.

 

 

31. The Thomas Crown Affair

 

 

 

Four unconnected men are hired by an unknown individual to perform a bank heist that could rake in more than $2 million.

 

The four thieves only meet one another during the heist. Somehow, they succeed in the endeavor, all the while remaining ignorant that the man who brought them all together was one of the bank’s own top-ranking executives, the enormously wealthy and suave Thomas Crown (played by Steve McQueen).

 

Boston Police Detective Eddy Malone (played by Paul Burke) is put in charge of the investigation.

 

He finds himself meeting dead ends until he encounters insurance investigator Vicki Anderson (played by Faye Dunaway).

 

Her self-serving nature kicks in double time. But despite that, Vicki uses her instinct to ‘think like a thief’ and helps Eddy tie up loose ends in the case.

 

Relying on all the evidence available to her, Vicki zeroes in on Thomas Crown and pegs him as the mastermind behind the affair.

 

The bank exec soon crosses paths with Vicki and Eddy, and several cards are revealed.

 

Though Vicki and Thomas are technically on opposite sides of the law, a romance sparks between them and they passionately give in to it.

 

They still continue their cat-and-mouse game, though, but the roles seem to keep shifting between the two lovers who are clearly indulging in a dangerous affair.

 

 

32. Set It Off

 

 

 

Four black inner-city women – Stony (played by Jada Pinkett Smith), Cleo (played by Queen Latifah), Frankie (played by Vivica A. Fox), and Tisean (played by Kimberly Elise) – find the scales unjustly against them in society.

 

The ladies decide to gang up and rob a bank to make ends meet. One of the women’s brothers is shot by a police officer.

 

The same officer is now on to the four of them. As the ladies keep stealing and adding to their ill-gotten fortune, suspicions rise up in earnest within their own ranks.

 

Allegiances make subtle shifts and interests change, leading up to an exciting final robbery that just might decide all their fates.

 

 

33. The Score

 

 

 

Aging safecracking specialist and thief Nick Wells (played by Robert De Niro) is about to go into retirement with his stolen ‘life savings’.

 

He has plans to run his jazz club and spoil his girlfriend Diane (played by Angela Bassett).

 

However, one last job calls and it’s Nick’s business partner and mentor Max (played by Marlon Brando) doing the calling.

 

The ever-extravagant and oh-so-flamboyant upscale fence is not known for taking no for an answer.

 

Max has the Montreal Customs House on his mind, and he has set up an entire heist around the place.

 

He also has an inside man, Jackie Teller (played by Edward Norton), ready to do his part when the time comes.

 

Jackie’s an unpredictable but skilled crook who has made positive strides with the facility’s staff.

 

Pretending to be one of them, and a man suffering from cerebral palsy, Jackie can most certainly be called talented.

 

He’s also an ambitious man who does not like Nick calling the heist ‘his’ idea when Jackie is helping make it possible in more ways than one.

 

When he picks up cues that he’s going to be left out of the action, Jackie bristles and turns aggressive.

 

Nick, on the other hand, grows increasingly more uncomfortable with the way the heist seems to be going in its very first phase.

 

Nick Wells has always believed in two dictums – never execute a job in your own city, and always work alone – both of which now come under question.

 

 

34. The Silent Partner

 

 

 

Lonely and methodical Toronto bank-teller Miles Cullen (played by Elliott Gould) works within a shopping mall and harbors one-sided romantic stirrings for his colleague Julie Carver (played by Susannah York).

 

The girl, meanwhile, is in a love affair with the bank’s manager Charles Packard (played by Michael Kirby), who is married.

 

One not-so-fine day, Miles finds a note on his bank counter informing him that the place is about to be robbed.

 

He later finds out that the man working as Santa Claus in the mall shares the same handwriting as the content on the note.

 

Steering clear of immediately informing the police, Miles stashes away some cash in his lunchbox and awaits the inevitable.

 

When the robber comes calling, Miles does the needful. Silently, he takes home the stashed cash for himself.

 

He is ready to pin the blame for the missing wads on the bank robber.

 

Soon, the psychopath thief Harry Reikle (played by Christopher Plummer) realizes that he was short-changed, and comes back to find Miles.

 

Threats are thrown, and the money Miles hid away is demanded. Miles was smart enough to set the man up, and before long Harry finds himself arrested for van theft.

 

Around this time, Miles’s dad passes away, bringing him into contact with his father’s nurse Elaine Muriel (played by Céline Lomez) at the funeral.

 

A while into their love affair, Miles learns that she is affiliated with Harry Reikle, the bank thief now currently serving time in jail.

 

Being head over heels in love with Miles, she helps him pinpoint the location of a key to a safety deposit box that he once lost.

 

Harry is soon released from prison, adding fuel to a still-burning fire between the two men.

 

 

35. Gun Shy

 

 

 

Undercover DEA agent Charlie Mayheaux (played by Liam Neeson) is the epitome of ‘calm-cool-collected’. Inside, however, the man is anything but.

 

His nervousness grows worse when he gets deeper into a double game where the outcome is to bring down not just a major Colombian cartel but also a powerful mob family living and working out of New York City.

 

Charlie’s supervisor tasks him to strictly keep away from performing any arrests until large amounts of money are involved in the game, which would mean a great legal victory for law enforcement.

 

Almost everyone involved comes bearing arms, even the NYC negotiator who does not shy from revealing a sociopathic streak when he guns down a lover of the cartel leader.

 

After a while, Charlie keeps a psychiatrist-prescribed appointment for group therapy where he ends up falling for Nurse Judy Tipp (played by Sandra Bullock) who gives him an enema and recommends homeopathic treatments.

 

Backstabbing and showdowns are just the tip of the iceberg in this film rife with robbery and murder.

 

 

36. Bound

 

 

 

Corky (played by Gina Gershon) is an ex-convict and a lesbian who is currently employed as a plumber.

 

When she encounters the sexy mistress Violet (played by Jennifer Tilly) of mafia gangster Caesar (played by Joe Pantoliano), Corky can’t help but be drawn to her.

 

The so-called couple both share space right next door to her, adding to Corky’s curiosity to want to get to know Violet better.

 

Before long, Corky is dragged into a plot to help Violet steal $2 million from her man to help save the life of another.

 

Caesar works under mob boss Gino Marzzone (played by Richard C. Sarafian) from whom the detained man stole.

 

Risking torture and probable death, Violet wishes to steal from Caesar whom she starts to believe is rotten to the core.

 

She works with Corky to set Caesar up to take the fall and have Gino end him when the time comes.

 

The new-met lesbian lovers find their plan going awry when mob boss Gino inexplicably goes missing and another mobster, Mickey Malnato (played by John P. Ryan), is dispatched to find him.

 

 

37. Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round

 

 

 

Eli Kotch (played by James Coburn) is a conman who is as seductive as he is manipulative – if the two traits can even be considered distinguishable.

 

Eli manages to seduce the prison psychiatrist to help him land parole. Armed with a skill set that includes the donning of various guises and the implementation of sundry accents, Eli seduces one woman after another to get his hands on an L.A. Airport Bank’s security plans.

 

He uses the blueprint to raise money from a fellow inmate to finance his own robbery scheme.

 

Eli takes on a whole new identity and charms his way into marriage with Inger Knudson (played by Camilla Sparv) who ends up unwittingly helping the man get closer to realizing his heist dreams.

 

Using the high-profile coming of the Russian Premier as a viable distraction, Eli coordinates a daring theft with a handful of accomplices.

 

 

38. The Hot Rock

 

 

 

Four thieves are hired to carry out a diamond heist. The robbers are Murch (the driver, played by Ron Leibman), Greenberg (the bombmaker, played by Paul Sand), Kelp (the locksmith, played by George Segal), and Dortmunder (the leader and mastermind of the plot, played by Robert Redford) who is also Kelp’s brother-in-law.

 

African ambassador Dr. Amusa (played by Moses Gunn) hires the four men and tasks them with the heist of a diamond – called the ‘Sahara Stone’ – that has special national and cultural significance to his people.

 

The thieves prepare to rob the stone from inside a museum. The heist progresses smoothly at first, but afterward, the men find themselves never quite being able to keep the stone in their collective possession.

 

There seems to be what Dortmunder calls a ‘curse’ on the diamond, one that he fully intends to break and make good on his cat-burglary skills.

 

 

39. Get Shorty

 

 

 

Chili Palmer (played by John Travolta) is in Hollywood to collect a gambling debt when he runs into a spot of luck.

 

A ‘show business’ talent scout spots the mobster and decides to hire him for a role in an upcoming movie he plans to produce.

 

Currently employed as a loan shark for the notorious and violent Ray “Bones” Barboni (played by Dennis Farina), Miami man Chili finds strong correlations between his line of work and what goes on in the movie business.

 

Chili’s ‘loan sharking’ led him first to Vegas to collect on a bad debt only for a casino boss there to send him on a side job to get cash due from a movie producer (of low-budget horror flicks) Harry Zimm (played by Gene Hackman) who’s currently in Hollywood.

 

Before long, strange paths cross, including that of Harry’s leading lady, regular ‘scream queen’ Karen Flores (played by Rene Russo).

 

Chili gradually encounters more people in Harry’s filmy circle, especially big-shot stars with an even bigger ego Martin “Shorty” Weir (played by Danny DeVito) who also happens to be Karen’s ex-boyfriend.

 

Chili also meets Harry’s personal financier and drug dealer Bo Catlett (played by Delroy Lindo).

 

Chili finds a new calling in Hollywood, despite having been sent there to close deadbeat Harry Zimm’s account.

 

In show business, Chili finds a new kind of heist that captivates him.

 

 

40.  The Burnt Orange Heresy

 

 

 

The 2019 film “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” directed by Giuseppe Capotondi, is a stylish and intriguing thriller centered around an art critic, James Figueras (played by Claes Bang), who becomes entangled in a web of deceit and manipulation.

 

Figueras is invited to the lavish estate of an enigmatic art collector (Mick Jagger) and his alluring wife (Elizabeth Debicki) to interview a reclusive artist.

 

As secrets and ulterior motives come to light, Figueras finds himself drawn into a dangerous game of intrigue and moral ambiguity.

 

The film’s success lies in its artful storytelling, lush cinematography, and the performances of its talented cast. The tension between characters and the moral dilemmas they face create a captivating narrative that keeps audiences engaged.

 

“The Burnt Orange Heresy” skillfully explores themes of authenticity, ambition, and the corrupting influence of the art world. Its unique blend of psychological drama and thriller elements, along with its stylish presentation, contribute to the film’s allure and critical acclaim.

 

 

41. The Great Train Robbery

 

 

 

The year is 1855 and Edward Pierce (played by Sir Sean Connery) plans to perform the impossible (in that time and age), namely robbing a moving train.

 

A shipment of gold makes its way every month to Crimea to support the British forces there who are ardently fighting the Russians. £25,000 sterling of gold is stashed securely away in two locked safes (Chubb variety) and demands the use of four separate keys to come open.

 

The bank’s president is in possession of one of the keys, the senior manager of the firm holds fast to the second, and the station master safeguards the last two.

 

Edwards gets a team together, including Agar (played by Donald Sutherland) and Miriam (played by Lesley-Anne Down) to covertly get all four keys from the three men in question.

 

The safes are present in the train’s luggage compartment, which becomes the group’s next target.

 

Their aim is to silently break into this carriage and make good their escape without anyone being the wiser.

 

A good thief is said to have a better backup plan, one that Edward and the company will desperately need because their original strategy goes to heck.

 

 

42. The Grifters

 

 

 

Small-time thief Roy Dillon (played by John Cusack) attempts to rob a bar attendant only to meet with the blunt end of a baseball bat.

 

His mother, Lilly Dillon (played by Anjelica Huston), is a big-time swindler who works for influential book-maker Bobo Justus (owner of Justus Amusement Company) at an establishment called La Jolla.

 

Where Bobo changes track odds with a nefarious placing of bets, Lilly stashes away his hard-stolen cash in her Cadillac.

 

When she is in LA for a horse race, Lilly finds herself finally meeting her son Roy after eight years.

 

They meet in terrible circumstances, with Roy experiencing an internal hemorrhage after his altercation at the bar.

 

Lilly manages to get him to a hospital, veritably saving her son’s life in the process.

 

Before long, Lilly meets Myra Langtry, Roy’s girlfriend. The mother quickly realizes that Myra, aside from being a con artist and slut, is also using (rather, misusing) her son.

 

Having been absent for several years does not help Lilly successfully convince Roy that Myra’s a roper.

 

They head over to La Jolla, of all places, for a rest break. It is here where Myra smooth-talks Roy into thinking big and aiming for tycoons instead of small-time targets.

 

By this time, Myra has also figured out that Lilly is dealing with a real fat cat, i.e., Bobo Justus, in her line of work.

 

Roy may have turned down Myra’s offer to go big, but greed nonetheless comes calling and perils soon follow.

 

 

43. Point Blank

 

 

 

Mal Reese (played by John Vernon) owes a lot of money to some organized crime bosses.

 

He convinces his friend Walker (played by Lee Marvin) to join him in committing a heist that will solve both their cash problems.

 

After they succeed at the attempt, Mal realizes that their ‘take home’ isn’t as large as he wanted it to be.

 

He turns on his own friend and kills him, or so Mal believes. Time passes, and Walker’s ex-wife Lynne (played by Sharon Acker) joins up with Mal Reese.

 

When Walker feels the time is right, he starts to exact revenge, starting with his former missus.

 

Walker’s aim is to get the cash owed him and be on his way. His path takes him to Lynne’s sister Chris (played by Angie Dickinson), followed by Mal himself.

 

Walker finds himself encountering Big Stegmam, Frederick Carter, and other gangsters on his self-appointed mission to reclaim the share owed to him by Mal Reese.

 

It doesn’t help his case that none of them care to understand or believe that he’s owed anything by anyone.

 

 

44. Who’s Minding The Mint?

 

 

 

When Harry Lucas (played by Jim Hutton) accidentally destroys $50,000 in cash while on the job – he is employed at the U.S. Mint – the man tries to reprint more to cover the losses. He has to break into the mint where he works in order to do so.

 

He finds himself teaming up with people who later want in on the deal. After all, the prospect of making an easy few thousand bucks is certain to entice anyone.

 

 

45. Rififi

 

 

 

After spending five years in jail, master burglar Tony le Stéphanois (played by Jean Servais) breathes the fresh air of freedom in rain-soaked Paris.

 

Before long, he learns that his girlfriend Mado (played by Marie Sabouret) has become mistress to his rival, a gangster known for dealing in dope.

 

A broken-hearted Tony heeds the advice of his young protégé Jo (the Swede, played by Carl Möhner) and a friend named Mario Ferrati (played by Robert Manuel).

 

They suggest going on a smash-and-grab raid involving the Mappin & Webb jewelry store where they plan to perform a full-scale heist.

 

The group entails the aid of expert safecracker Cesar (the Milanese, played by Jules Dassin), and gets ready to get rich.

 

However, infiltrating the jewelry store’s so-called impregnable safe is just the beginning of a slew of risky problems that the troupe is about to face.

 

 

46. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

 

 

 

The oldest and youngest of a trio of New York City-based siblings, Andy Hanson (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank Hanson (played by Ethan Hawke) are quite different from one another.

 

Andy’s clever and ruthless while Hank’s attractive but weak-minded. Andy’s missus Gina Hanson (played by Marisa Tomei) finds her marriage on the rocks, and so turns to her hubby’s brother.

 

The two of them have a casual and clandestine affair. Before long, the divorced Hank starts to believe he’s in love with Gina.

 

Andy, despite raking in a six-figure salary working as a finance manager at a real estate office, finds himself experiencing some serious crunches.

 

He’s been managing white-collar crimes through his business to help him pay off some debts.

 

Andy believes his misdemeanors are on the verge of being discovered, at which point he would face total ruin.

 

Hank, despite being behind on his own child support payments, is convinced by his brother to carry out a ‘victimless crime’.

 

They target their own parents’ – Charles and Nanette Hanson (played by Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris, respectively) – jewelry store situated in Westchester.

 

The boys worked there themselves, and are therefore familiar with the shop’s routine and another information key to helping them pull off the quiet robbery.

 

They stand assured that their folks can reclaim their loss thanks to the store’s insurance policy.

 

The time of the robbery will also have only one elderly employee closing shop for the day.

 

Andy makes sure that a reluctant Hank executes the robbery. Plenty of things (familial as well as financial) go wrong, and a web of consequences starts to spin out of control following the robbery attempt.

 

 

47. Payback

 

 

 

Porter (played by Mel Gibson) may well be a rotten person, but apparently, his neighbors are just as bad, if not worse.

 

Life has made Porter a bad person. He was shot in the back by his own wife and junkie Lynn Porter (played by Deborah Kara Unger).

 

He was betrayed by his one-time partner Val Resnick (played by Gregg Henry), back when they were part of the U.S. Marines.

 

Porter has grown tough and street-smart over the years, surviving so much. He finally decides to reclaim his share of the robbery that went down involving an Asian crime gang, who were the targets of the heist.

 

A slick mobster organization called ‘The Outfit’ are running a tight ship in the city, and is in control of the cash that Porter seeks.

 

The man finds himself making his way through a slew of unsavory people including corrupt cops, heroin dealers, gunmen, and a dominatrix (played by Lucy Liu).

 

His only reliable friend in all this is a prostitute named Rosie (played by Maria Bello) whom he once knew.

 

Rosie’s loyalty now rests with ‘The Outfit’ gang, keeping Porter second-guessing the reasons behind her supporting him.

 

He eventually encounters syndicate bosses Fairfax, Bronson, and Carter, and that’s when the proverbial ‘brown stuff’ hits the fan.

 

 

48. Quick Change

 

 

 

Grimm (a New Yorker played by Bill Murray) hates NYC. He’s making serious plans to get out of the city, for which he needs plenty of money for manifold expenses.

 

Grimm plans and executes the robbery of a Manhattan bank, after which he disguises himself as one of the hostages and makes good his escape.

 

The accomplices he’d brought on the job also escape with him. These include his best friend Loomis (played by Randy Quaid) and girlfriend Phyllis (played by Geena Davis).

 

More than the robbery itself, the getaway seems fraught with excessive peril and risk. Plenty of obstructions get between Grimm and company in their attempts to reach the airport and catch a flight out of NYC.

 

These random circumstances end up involving the likes of bureaucratic bus drivers, mobsters, con artists, befuddled roadworkers, and a cabbie who doesn’t know to speak a word of English.

 

Meanwhile, Chief of Police Rotzinger (played by Jason Robards) is relentlessly on their tail.

 

 

49. The Getaway

 

 

 

Career criminal Carter “Doc” McCoy (played by Steve McQueen) is currently serving time – his fourth year in a ten-year term – at Texas State Penitentiary.

 

Despite proving himself a model prisoner, his request for parole is denied. Doc is desperate to leave prison, and so entails his wife Carol McCoy’s (played by Ali MacGraw) aid to contact a man on the outside, namely Jack Beynon (played by Ben Johnson), who’s a crooked businessman with strong political ties.

 

In exchange for being released, Doc sells his thieving skills to the man. When the time comes, Jack tasks Doc with a small-scale bank heist.

 

The target is a branch in Beacon City where Jack’s sources have confirmed the existence of $750,000.

 

The money will stay inside the vault for all two weeks before being moved.

 

He puts Doc in a small team involving his own men Rudy Butler (played by Al Lettieri) and Frank Jackson (played by Bo Hopkins).

 

A ‘no casualties’ rule is insisted upon, a fact that sits well with Doc’s own principles.

 

Doc’s aim is to successfully pull off the robbery and then retire to Mexico with his wife for the rest of their years.

 

Instead, things go downhill, making fugitives out of Doc and Carol who are on the run from law enforcement officials as they speedily make their way toward the Mexican border with their share of the loot.

 

Two significant West Texas border crossings are monitored by officials who are ready to capture the thieves, dead or alive.

 

Doc and Carol also encounter Fran and Harold Clinton (played by Sally Struthers and Jack Dodson, respectively) during their covert transit.

 

Carol never knew about the conditions behind Doc’s release from prison. The truth of it comes out, putting great pressure on their relationship and trust in one another.

 

 

50. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

 

 

 

Trouble brews when four at-first-glance unrelated men board a subway train Pelham 1:23. Mr. Blue, Mr. Grey, Mr. Green, and Mr. Brown each get on at successive stations, and they come packing arms.

 

They overpower the motorman as well as the novice conductor, leaving the path clear for them to take full control of the train.

 

At an apt time between stations, they detach the front car from the rest of the train, freeing the motorman and several passengers but holding at least eighteen passengers and the conductor hostage.

 

The men demand a ransom of $1 million and set a strict deadline of one hour.

 

They provide sharp directions and threaten violence, or worse, if they aren’t followed to the letter.

 

Every minute beyond the hour, they promise to shoot one hostage and keep going until there are none left.

 

Transit police Lt. Zach Garber (Walter Matthau) is quite the wisecrack. The man becomes the main go-between connecting the authorities – the NYPD, his own police force, transit operators, and a flu-bitten mayor – with the train hijackers.

 

It boils down to the mayor deciding whether or not to pay the ransom. The nature of each of the hijackers is quite distinct, a fact that unwittingly plays up during the negotiations.

 

Mr. Green (played by Martin Balsam) seems ill and could pass out even before the lot of them make their escape.

 

Mr. Grey (played by Hector Elizondo) is a rather trigger-happy thief. Mr. Brown (played by Earl Hindman) seems to have his own thing going.

 

Finally, group leader Mr. Blue (played by Robert Shaw) is as unbending as he is methodical.

 

Zach Garber remains unaware that among the eighteen hostages is one plain-clothes NYPD officer. The hijackers are inside a tunnel and in full control of the dead-man mechanism previously handled by the motorman.

 

Things are heating up inside the train. Meanwhile, Lt. Zach Garber is reaching his wits’ end.

 

 

51. Layer Cake

 

 

 

Unknown British cocaine dealer XXXX (played by Daniel Craig) takes his job so seriously that it is always all business for him.

 

Respect becomes a two-way street, especially where his clients and distributors are concerned. Various money-laundering initiatives have earned XXXX a small fortune at an uncommonly young age, and the man soon plans to retire early.

 

When Jimmy Price (played by Kenneth Cranham) asks him for a favor outside of work, he finds himself intrigued.

 

The favor sees XXXX tracking down Charlie (played by Nathalie Lunghi), the drug-addicted daughter of his popular colleague Eddie Temple (played by Michael Gambon).

 

The girl has apparently escaped from a rehab center and her whereabouts remain unknown. XXXX also continues with business as usual.

 

He connects Jimmy with small-time hood Duke (played by Jamie Foreman) who’s ardently seeking to stash a million ‘ecstasy’ pills.

 

This particular business is not savory for XXXX, who despises Duke and wants the job over and done with.

 

The news comes in that the pills in question were stolen from a prominent Serbian gang.

 

The ruthless men pit the responsibility squarely on XXXX’s shoulders. Around this time, the Brit dealer is also facing issues tracking Charlie down.

 

Even though XXXX has long steered clear of involving himself directly in anything gangster related, he now finds himself getting his hands dirty if only to survive the coming storm.

 

 

52. Croupier

 

 

 

A struggling novelist living in London, Jack Manfred is always working extra hard to make ends meet.

 

He is even forced to sell his car, which he loved. Using his South African father’s connections, Jack lands a job as a croupier at the Golden Lion Casino.

 

This establishment also happens to be one of London’s second-tier casinos. Though he’s great at his job, Jack despises everything about it.

 

The man has always harbored a sour spot for gamblers, so he takes some pleasure in watching them lose their money at his table.

 

Marion Nell, his girlfriend, was a police officer once. She voices her dissent regarding Jack’s new career choice.

 

Even though he brings home more money than he ever did before, she is not keen on any of it.

 

The casino itself enforces a strict set of rules: no employee should gamble at work, and no employee should fraternize with fellow employees as well as the gamblers either inside or outside the casino.

 

Jack, however, picks and chooses when and which rules he feels he can break and get away with.

 

The main character in his book, namely Jake, helps him. Jack often slips into Jake’s ‘alter ego’ to study the functioning of the casino and not go crazy being in a job he hates.

 

In fact, Jack does several things through the eyes and hands of Jake, just to see where things go – or rather, how far he can go before alerting the casino’s head honchos.

 

 

53. Heist

 

 

 

Career jewel thief Joe Moore (played by Gene Hackman) finds himself in a setting riddled with twists and turns.

 

It all goes downhill when he is caught red-handed on a security tape stealing jewelry.

 

Mickey Bergman (played by Danny DeVito) goes against his word to help him fence the goods and give him his due.

 

Joe also has doubts about his wife, Fran Moore (played by Rebecca Pidgeon), who seems like she’s having an affair with Mickey’s lieutenant.

 

Before long, Joe and his partner, Bobby “Bob” Blane (played by Delroy Lindo), not to forget their utility man, Don “Pinky” Pincus (played by Ricky Jay), go broke.

 

They have been blackmailed and betrayed in unforgivable ways. Joe gets together with his crew to carry out one last decisive job that will help them regain their honor – if such a thing as honor can even exist among thieves.

 

Having a firm grip on the men’s futures, Mickey tasks them with a Swiss gold shipment heist.

 

He also insists that his nephew Jimmy Silk (played by Sam Rockwell) tag along. Trust is thrown out the proverbial window and every move becomes a lesson in caution.

 

 

54. The Brink’s Job

 

 

 

A dramatized version of the real-life Brink’s Company Robbery that happened in Boston (on 17th Jan 1950), this movie captures the infamy of the original event in several ways.

 

With a score of $2,700,000, there’s little wonder how the heist made history. The cost to American taxpayers was $29,000,000, but officials could only manage to recover $58,000.

 

Tony Pino (played by Peter Falk) has not been happy with his personal spate of bad luck.

 

He gets a gang together to rob one of the Brink company’s security transports. The score hauls in a good $30,000.

 

When their robbery does not garner media attention, he believes his group and he has to start thinking big.

 

They learn that the company’s headquarters has such incredibly lax security that stealing from them would be akin to grabbing candy from a baby.

 

The real heist thus begins in earnest.

 

 

55. Charley Varrick

 

 

 

Husband and small-time bank robber Charley Varrick (played by Walter Matthau) plan a heist with his wife, of all people.

 

They entail one of his friends to be part of the score. Circumstances take a turn for the bloody when Charley’s wife is killed during the robbery.

 

The ‘small’ heist that Charley had planned ends up revealing a much larger fortune than he had previously estimated.

 

He soon learns that the cash belongs to the mob. With the robbery now gone wrong, Charley has both the mob and the police on his tail.

 

He thinks about returning the funds to the mob but realizes that they will most surely kill him for stealing it in the first place.

 

If he turns to the police, he will most assuredly be arrested and imprisoned for decades.

 

What’s a man to do when he is caught between a deadly rock and a wastefully hard place?

 

 

56. Thief

 

 

 

Professional safecracker Frank (played by James Caan) specializes in high-profile diamond heists. He is no stranger to prison nor to ambition.

 

Frank has long dreamed of extracting more out of life (home, wife, kids) after striking rich.

 

He relies on his strengths, especially safecracking, to help him realize his dreams. By way of redemption, Frank affirms to retire properly and become a model citizen.

 

To live his so-called American Dream, Frank teams up with a big-time gangster who is on the verge of initiating a major score.

 

So excited is he for his future that Frank briefly, and inadvertently, shelves his natural instinct for mistrust and caution.

 

He strikes a deal with the gangster to fulfill the job, which Frank believes will be his last.

 

Before long, Frank is robbed of his share, his freedom, and his dream.

 

 

57. Happy New Year

 

 

 

Nick (played by Peter Falk) and Charlie (played by Charles Durning) are small-time crooks with a big-time plan to steal an exclusive jewelry store.

 

Relying on sundry disguises that will help them pose as wealthy old codgers, as well as women (!), the two thieves get ready to execute the heist of their lives.

 

Until Nick falls head over boots for the neighboring antique store owner, thus adding much-unneeded complication to the planned robbery.

 

 

58. The Spanish Prisoner

 

 

 

Rising star Joe Ross (played by Campbell Scott) has come up with a design that promises to rake in millions for his company.

 

He wants a bonus but remains fearful of how his boss will react to the request.

 

When he meets the wealthy Jimmy Dell (played by Steve Martin), a strange friendship forms between them.

 

Joe’s boss covertly but deliberately sets him up for failure, prompting Joe to seek Dell’s guidance.

 

Before long, Joe learns that there is more to Dell than meets the eye, a realization that leads Joe to an FBI agent.

 

He initiates contact via his highly wound assistant Susan Ricci (played by Rebecca Pidgeon). Joe finds himself in an entrapment scheme to catch Dell red-handed via a sting operation.

 

The tables turn and Joe is framed for murder. He is left desperate, and so turns to his assistant Susan for help in proving his innocence.

 

 

59. The Ice Harvest

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve in Wichita (Kansas), Charlie Arglist (played by John Cusack) believes he has a reason to celebrate.

 

Having been part of a sleazy business in Wichita involving lust and larceny, Charlie is celebrating with his associate Vic Cavanaugh (played by Billy Bob Thornton) the successful embezzlement of $2 million.

 

‘Head honcho’ Bill Guerrard (played by Randy Quaid) finds himself short of a couple million, and the beautiful Renata Crest (played by Connie Nielsen) who kept the Sweet Cage strip club’s profit margins strong.

 

Charlie and Renata get together and make plans to leave Kansas for good. An ice storm delays their desire to do just that.

 

His drinking buddy Pete Van Heuten (played by Oliver Platt) as well as the police are wondering after Charlie, in different capacities.

 

The twelve hours leading to Christmas Day are soon filled with all sorts of surprises.

 

 

60. Kelly’s Heroes

 

 

 

When U. S. soldiers successfully capture German Colonel Dankhopf (played by David Hurst) during World War II, they seem eager to wrest Nazi secrets from the man.

 

However, their hopes of gathering intel that would lead them to a secret Nazi treasure trove is upended when a barrage of artillery fire interrupts the interrogation.

 

Lieutenant Kelly (played by Clint Eastwood) later manages to access the colonel and his secrets.

 

Kelly gets Dankhopf drunk and soon discovers that he was on a covert mission to ship $16 million dollars in gold to a corrupt German bank in France.

 

Kelly is eager to get his hands on the gold. Along with a few fellow soldiers, he plans a heist to get into enemy territory and whisk away the bullion to be shared among themselves.

 

Kelly gets a team together, comprising a hustler named Crapgame (played by Don Rickles) and a rather anachronistic hippie called Oddball (played by Donald Sutherland).

 

Three German tanks will soon be involved in this daring cross-border heist rife with greed and ambition, and dangers galore.

 

 

61. House Of Games

 

 

 

Margaret Ford (played by Lindsay Crouse) runs a successful psychiatric clinic in Seattle. She also happens to be a bestselling writer.

 

One of her clients, Billy Hahn (played by Steven Goldstein), informs her that he owes around US$25,000 to a gambler by the name of Mike (played by Joe Mantegna).

 

Billy even attempts to kill himself (with a gun) because he is sure he can never pay the man back before he comes to kill him anyway.

 

Margaret takes it upon herself to save the man’s life, on both counts. After demanding that he hand over his pistol, Margaret later goes in person to the ‘House of Games’ where sundry gamblers are busy at pool tables in the saloon and poker tables in the back.

 

The acclaimed psychiatrist finally comes face to face with the cynical Mike who reveals that Billy only owes him US$800.

 

Mike doesn’t stop there, he in fact entails Margaret’s help in a high-profile poker game.

 

In exchange, he promises to waive Billy’s debt. Margaret agrees but soon learns that she’s being had, and that Mike and his buddies are taking money out of her pocket.

 

Margaret is wracked by confusion and distrust, and it shows in her work. Upon insistence from her colleague Dr. Maria Littauer (played by Lilia Skala), she decides to take a professional break and write a new book.

 

Margaret returns to Mike and asks to let her see him ‘at work’. The psychiatrist is determined to base her new book on the way ‘confidence games’ are used to swindle people.

 

Gradually, Margaret finds herself delving into dark corners of the human mind, via diverse gambling heists.

 

 

62. Larceny, Inc.

 

 

 

‘Pressure’ Maxwell (played by Edward G. Robinson) makes ironic plans, upon his release from Sing Sing prison, to go into the legal business.

 

His buddy ‘Jug’ Martin (played by Broderick Crawford) doesn’t want any part of it. In fact, Jug is happier joining fellow inmate Leo Dexter (played by Anthony Quinn) in a bank robbery scheme. ‘Weepy’ Davis soon joins Maxwell.

 

When Pressure purchases a luggage store right next door to a bank, three so-called ex-cons get back to their old tricks.

 

Pressure, Jug, and Weepy plan to tunnel under one building to get to the vault next door.

 

The bumbling trio are some of the most incompetent thieves in the biz. The luggage store, however, fails to serve as a reliable front, because customers are constantly coming and going, and making legit purchases to boot.

 

The three thieves soon realize that they can make more money as legitimate businessmen than as bank thieves.

 

An unexpected roadblock occurs when one of their former prison inmates escapes from jail and later refuses to let them adopt an above-board approach to making cash.

 

 

63. The Sting

 

 

 

Johnny Hooker (played by Robert Redford) is a small-time grifter. He unwittingly steals from major crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (played by Robert Shaw).

 

What was supposedly a simple street con ends up dragging Johnny into Doyle’s ruthless scope.

 

His partner in crime, Luther Coleman (played by Robert Earl Jones), is killed. This sends Johnny scurrying for help from one of Luther’s contacts, Henry Gondorff (played by Paul Newman).

 

Having established himself as ‘master of the long con’, Henry seems more than capable of helping Johnny not only survive Doyle but also steal big from the crime boss.

 

Johnny also wishes to ‘even the score’ with the man for killing Luther. Gradually, a talented team of con artists rallies together and devise a complex heist with the promise of getting a share of the steal.

 

Doyle is known for being murderous, which ups the stakes in more ways than one.

 

 

64. Disorganized Crime

 

 

 

Career criminal Frank Salazar (played by Corbin Bernsen) is busy planning a bank heist with his friends.

 

Before his buddies can arrive to join him, though, Frank is caught by the police and taken into custody.

 

His friends are left to execute the heist by themselves. Before long, Frank makes good his escape only to set off a wide search carried out by more than a few bumbling law officials.

 

The film has an all-star cast in roles of various fictional bank thieves who experience more mistakes than are possible in a bank robbery scheme.

 

 

65. 2 Guns

 

 

 

Undercover DEA Agent Robert “Bobby” Trench (played by Denzel Washington) quietly goes along with gunman Michael “Stig” Stigman’s (played by Mark Wahlberg) idea to execute a bank heist.

 

Bobby is of the mind to use the opportunity to bust a major mob boss.

 

Bobby’s team fails to stop the heist, and a large fortune in cash and sundry is stolen.

 

Robert learns that Stig happens to be a Naval Intelligence agent before the man shoots him and makes a swift getaway.

 

Corruption and secret inter-agency rivalries come to light as both sides of the law hunt, not just Stig but also Bobby, with the full intention of hunting, blackmailing, and isolating the men, all to get their hands on the stolen cash.

 

The robbers now turned fugitives find themselves working together if only to get out of their situation alive, and possibly a little richer than they were before.

 

 

66. Mission: Impossible

 

 

 

Based on the popular TV series, this movie features a man named Jim Phelps (played by Jon Voight) and a company who together strive to prevent one man from stealing highly classified material and selling it on the Black Market.

 

One of his team includes Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) who encounters a strange situation when the man they were following ends up dead.

 

He, and the rest of Jim’s team as well, all except Ethan. When Ethan next approaches Director Kittridge (played by Henry Czerny) to learn what’s really going on, he discovers that the mission harbored a hidden agenda: to root out a mole among them.

 

They declare, in no uncertain terms, that Ethan is that mole. However, Ethan knows he is being framed for some unknown reason, and so makes good his escape.

 

In his possession is the covert material he stole for his former agency. Ethan secretly arranges a meeting with an interested buyer purely to exchange the data for the identity of the actual mole.

 

Relying on Jim’s wife Claire (played by Emmanuelle Béart), Ethan teams up with a couple of other disavowed agents.

 

Franz Krieger (played by Jean Reno) and Luther Stickell (played by Ving Rhames) decide to lend their talents to Ethan’s cause in a mission that could only be termed impossible.

 

 

67. The Newton Boys

 

 

 

Considered to be one of the most successful bank robbers in history, the ‘Newton Gang’ have made quite a notorious name for themselves.

 

Using minimal violence and optimum planning, their infamy often precedes them. Part of an impoverished family of farmers living in the 1920s, four brothers gradually grew to earn the name ‘Newton Gang’ starting with Willis (played by Matthew McConaughey) who was first to realize that there was no future in tilling the fields.

 

He brainstorms bank heists with his brothers – Jess (played by Ethan Hawke), Joe (played by Skeet Ulrich), and Dock (played by Vincent D’Onofrio).

 

The family agrees with their sons’ decision to become bank robbers because it means assured wealth and fortune to live the rest of their days in comfort and security.

 

It will be five years before the Newton brothers plan and execute the greatest train robbery in American history.

 

 

68. Time Bandits

 

 

 

Kevin (played by Craig Warnock) loves history. The boy is often the subject of parental neglect, and he’s only eleven years old.

 

One day he discovers a way to make his dreams come true. It starts with the inexplicable appearance of six dwarfs in his bedroom.

 

All six are time-travelers who have come bearing the Supreme Being’s (played by Ralph Richardson) map of space and time.

 

Since they stole the map, the dwarfs are on the run and find in Kevin a means to an end.

 

They take him with them on their journey into the past. Kevin welcomes the adventure because he knows he’ll get to live in history for real now.

 

They jump from one era to the next, encountering various historical figures – Napolean (played by Ian Holm), Robin Hood (played by John Cleese), and King Agamemnon (played by the late great Sean Connery), to name a few.

 

The dwarves are also avoiding their arch-rival. Known simply as Evil Genius (played by David Warner), this man wants to own and use the Supreme Being’s map at whatever cost.

 

He is hot on the dwarves’ time-traveling trail. Kevin only later realizes that his room is host to one of several enigmatic wormholes that permit inter-dimensional and inter-periodical travel.

 

 

69. Fast Five

 

 

 

Brian O’Conner (played by Paul Walker) was once a cop. He teams up with former con man Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) after entailing his wife Mia Toretto’s (played by Jordana Brewster) aid to get him out of police custody.

 

Evading the authorities becomes their new way of life until the gang is cornered in Rio de Janeiro where they find themselves facing one last job that could help them regain freedom.

 

Gathering a team of top racers, the unconventional allies eventually make a play to confront the businessman who issued death warrants against them.

 

Federal Agent Luke Hobbs (played by Dwayne Johnson) is also on their tracks – the man even goes as far as organizing a strike team to help bring them down.

 

Brazil becomes a life-or-death arena for Brian and company where the line between good and evil is mighty fine indeed.

 

Hobbs relies on his instincts to guide him through the mess in which he now finds himself before people he believes are good end up getting killed.

 

 

70. Reservoir Dogs

 

 

 

Six criminals, all of them strangers to one another, are hired by notorious crime boss Joe Cabot (played by Lawrence Tierney) to perform a grand diamond heist.

 

They each adopt false names with the express intention of not getting close to one another.

 

The job becomes the priority, after which they’ll all be going their own separate ways, and a little richer too.

 

So sure are the men of their success that they do not see a gift from fate coming with their names on the package, in a manner of speaking.

 

The police arrive suspiciously precisely at the same time the gang is about to carry out the robbery, and in the exact location to boot.

 

Panic grips each of the men, with two of them meeting their demise during the shootout that ensues.

 

Civilians and policemen are also caught in the line of fire. Whoever survived the ordeal makes for the warehouse, i.e., their pre-planned rendezvous spot.

 

That’s when suspicions truly start to flare because one among them is most assuredly an undercover law enforcement official.

 

 

71. Inception

 

 

 

This movie is quite different from your typical heist movie, and it’s expected from a director like Christopher Nolan.

 

When talented thief Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is called upon to apply his deadly ‘art of extraction’ in a futuristic mind-invasive project, he finds himself going along with the potentially lucrative flow.

 

Stealing crucial secrets from the subconscious minds of various people has come to be termed ‘Inception’, and Dom is one of the best in this state-of-the-future game of corporate espionage.

 

It’s no wonder he became an ‘international fugitive’, a tag that cost him a lot in life and love.

 

The latest project provides Cobb a chance at redemption, one that could give him back his original life.

 

But this particular Inception is quite impossible. Along with his team of specialists – which includes Arthur (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Eames (played by Tom Hardy), and Ariadne (played by Elliot Page) – Dom is tasked with implanting an idea instead of extracting one.

 

The target is high-level businessman Robert Fischer (played by Cillian Murphy). But a dangerous enemy is lurking in the shadows, one who seems to predict his every move, one whom Dom never saw coming.

 

 

72. Casino

 

 

 

The year is 1975. Seasoned handicapper and bookie Sam “Ace” Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro) discovers a slightly ‘legit’ side of himself when Chicago-based Italian Mafia members hire his services.

 

They task him with running the Tangiers Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip. Despite his past misdemeanors, Ace applies for a gaming license.

 

His job titles still keep changing, though, and the license itself gets lost in the system.

 

His childhood bestie Nicky Santoro (played by Joe Pesci) soon joins the game but in a protective capacity.

 

Under Ace’s capable hands, the Tangiers Casino sees remarkable success, which in turn makes it possible for the Italian Mafia to skim the profits off the top.

 

The authorities see them doing everything by the book, and any secret shenanigans are well-hidden.

 

Nicky, however, fails to keep his angry nature in check. Ace’s longtime buddy gives in to a ruthless streak that puts the casino’s workings in serious jeopardy.

 

Nicky wants to craft his own gangster niche in Las Vegas. Even Ace’s wife, Ginger McKenna (played by Sharon Stone), gives him grief.

 

He knew she was a hustler before he married her, and he has always believed that Ginger meant it when she said she loved him.

 

Her self-destructive behavior, however, raises its ugly head when she joins forces with a loser and hanger-on Lester Diamond (played by James Woods).

 

Casino is one of the best collaborations of Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro, being the second highest-grosser out of all movies, the duo has worked on together.

 

 

73. True Romance

 

 

 

On his birthday, Clarence Worley (played by Christian Slater) heads alone to the theatre to catch a movie or two.

 

When the beautiful Alabama Whitman (played by Patricia Arquette) accidentally spills popcorn on him, they end up striking a conversation and watching the film together.

 

Afterward, the pair grab some pie at a local diner, which is then followed by a one-night stand.

 

The dawn comes and with it a serious revelation. Alabama reveals that she’s a paid-for call girl who has inadvertently fallen in love with him.

 

One thing leads to another and Clarence goes to the club where she works so he can bring back her things.

 

They have, by this time, also tied the knot in a quiet and private wedding.

 

Alabama’s pimp, Drexl Spivey (played by Gary Oldman), is not willing to let her go so easily.

 

Along with his club partner, Drexl gives Clarence a good thrashing only for Clarence to react in such a way that he ends up killing both men.

 

When he leaves the nightclub with what he assumes is Alabama’s suitcase, he is actually given a case filled with cocaine instead.

 

When the realization dawns, it is too late to turn back. So Clarence and Alabama head to the house of a friend, aspiring actor Dick Ritchie (played by Michael Rapaport).

 

They aim to sell the drugs and use the cash to start a new life in Mexico.

 

He also leaves his future address with his father Clifford Worley (played by Dennis Hopper).

 

Circumstances being what they are, and the drugs belonging to the ruthless Sicilian Mafia, Clarence is tracked down and pursued by a group of trained killers who are out for blood.

 

 

74. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

 

 

 

Known for his card-sharp skills since he was young, Eddy (played by Nick Moran) finds himself becoming part of an illegal high-roller game.

 

Along with his three buddies Tom (played by Jason Flemyng), Soap (played by Dexter Fletcher), and Bacon (played by Jason Statham) the gang chips in £25,000 each to be part of this latest gambling caper.

 

One of the local ‘baddies’, Hatchet Harry (played by P. H. Moriarty), is hosting the session.

 

What Eddy does not know is that the game is rigged against him, and he ends up owing the man £500,000.

 

If he doesn’t pay off the debt in a week, Eddy’s going to find himself short of a finger or few.

 

The gang comes together again to hatch another illegal scheme, this one involving ripping off a gang of thieves near them.

 

That group is already planning to raid the cash-packed shoe boxes of a secret drug ring that grows cannabis on the down low.

 

Best laid plans going awry and all that, the group finds themselves in hot water of the bloody kind.

 

Violence ignites, the body count keeps going up, and Eddy and the gang are left wondering how they’re going to get out of this mess alive.

 

 

75. Bonnie And Clyde

 

 

 

The year is 1934. Bonnie Parker (played by Faye Dunaway) desires a change in her life, and she finds more than she bargained for in charming drifter Clyde Barrow (played by Warren Beatty).

 

Clyde is intent on resorting to crime if it means gaining relief from the many hardships brought on by the Great Depression.

 

The pair fall for one another and soon start to scheme. Their crime spree covers several locations, stretching from Oklahoma to Texas.

 

The panache and skill with which these notorious criminals rob small banks put law enforcement on edge.

 

Bonnie and Clyde have by this time practically become American celebrities, where everyday people are concerned.

 

These citizens often express pride in being held up by the ‘great’ Bonnie and Clyde.

 

The pair nurture accomplices in secret, one of whom is mechanic C. W. Moss (played by Michael J. Pollard) who helps keep their getaway vehicles in good shape. One of Clyde’s older brothers, Buck Barrow (played by Gene Hackman), is also in on their gigs.

 

His wife, Blanche Barrow (played by Estelle Parsons), however, is a reluctant ‘gang member’, owing in large part to her father being a preacher.

 

Their victims, however, have darker tales to tell. Though the pair are determined not to kill anyone, a single fatal gunshot changes everything and the twain thereafter resort to more bloody violence than they themselves thought possible.

 

They do it all to secure their livelihoods, as they have come to believe. Meanwhile, the police are literally gunning for the two thieves who are fast succeeding in making them look weak and incompetent.

 

Of all the people and parties intent on being associated with the infamous Bonnie and Clyde case, Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (played by Denver Pyle) is eager to bring retribution to the infamous duo.

 

 

76. Heat

 

 

 

Neil McCauley (played by Robert De Niro) joins forces with a professional criminal outfit to make big bucks ‘hunting’ anything from armored cars to vaults and banks.

 

The thieves are in turn hunted by the unrelenting Lt. Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino) and his fellow cops.

 

The Robbery/Homicide police division is rife with cases that lead back to Neil and his gang.

 

One of their botched gigs catches Vincent’s attention – it was supposed to be the thieves’ ‘retirement score’.

 

There comes a moment when Neil forgets to adhere to his mentor’s golden words, “Never have anything in your life that you can’t walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you spot the heat coming around the corner.” Neil’s falling in love goes against this very dictum.

 

An ending rife with suspense and suspicion plays out in this movie, filled with some of the most unpredictable twists in cinema.

 

 

77. Den Of Thieves

 

 

 

A team of thieves headed by Ray Merrimen (played by Pablo Schreiber) takes Los Angeles law enforcement by surprise when they violently assault and hijack one of their armored trucks.

 

Police arrive on the scene and before long a shootout ensues. The robbers eventually manage to escape arrest by using the truck itself to make a speedy getaway.

 

The following day, Detective Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien (played by Gerard Butler) is put on the case.

 

He’s the right agent for the job because Nick has been studying Merrimen’s MO for a while now.

 

His suspicions land on a local barkeep named Donnie Wilson (played by O’Shea Jackson Jr.), and he brings the man in for interrogation.

 

After a while, Donnie cracks and spills the beans on Merrimen’s next plan, which is to rob the Federal Reserve that week on a Friday.

 

They aim to steal around $30 million in old government bills, which will otherwise be shredded and their serial numbers permanently deleted from computer records.

 

The thieves aim to get rich using what they believe will be wasted money. But Detective Nick is a law enforcer, and he takes it personally when crooks assume they can circumvent the law whenever they feel like it.

 

 

78. The Usual Suspects

 

 

 

When a cargo ship is set on fire after a series of people have been murdered, Roger “Verbal” Kint (played by Kevin Spacey) comes under U.S. Customs Agent Dave Kujan’s (played by Chazz Palminteri) scope.

 

The proverbial canary starts to sing, and Verbal shares details about the time he met four particular men, all of whom have criminal backgrounds.

 

They shared a holding cell for a few hours, during which time they allegedly concocted a scheme among themselves.

 

Their plan was to hijack a passing jewel shipment and hide out in Los Angeles afterward.

 

However, once they succeeded in their endeavor and made it to LA, feared international criminal Keyser Söze (played by Scott B. Morgan; in flashback; uncredited) sends his lawyer Kobayashi (played by Pete Postlethwaite) to hire the men for a job.

 

That was when the cargo ship incident happened. Refusing to give evidence in the case, Verbal eventually goes free.

 

Only later does Agent Dave Kujan realize what was actually going on right under his nose.

 

 

79. To Catch A Thief

 

 

 

Coming from Alfred Hitchcock the legendary director who gave cinema some of the best films, ‘To Catch a Thief’ is certainly one of the best in the genre.

 

Retired jewel thief John “The Cat” Robie (played by Cary Grant) is as dashing as he is reclusive.

 

He lives in a quiet and picturesque villa in sunny and cosmopolitan Côte d’Azur. A thief happens to be on the prowl in the French Riviera.

 

A sheer number of audacious diamond robberies have been plaguing Cannes. John is left with little choice but to get back into the game if only to clear his name, because law enforcement officials are intent on pinning all those heists on him.

 

Sophisticated and undeniably svelte nouveau-riche heiress Frances Stevens (played by Grace Kelly) is on his tail.

 

Who is the true thief, and what will it cost to catch them?

 

 

80. Snatch

 

 

 

Entering the illegal world of match-fixing (boxing) are Turkish (played by Jason Statham) and his friend Tommy (played by Stephen Graham).

 

When Mickey O’Neil (played by Brad Pitt) unexpectedly wins against a prominent fighter in one of these matches, the complication comes home to roost.

 

Turkish recruited Mickey – aka ‘pikey’, a slang term used for an Irish Gypsy. Unlicensed boxing promoter Turkish was in the market for a caravan when he ended up convincing Mickey to brawl for cash.

 

The match-fixing game sees Mickey losing at times but winning when most profitable. A diamond heist occurs around this time, dragging a plethora of characters into the story.

 

The thieves include ‘Cousin Avi’ (played by Dennis Farina), ‘Franky Four Fingers’ (played by Benicio Del Toro), ‘Boris The Blade’ (played by Rade Serbedzija), and ‘Bullet Tooth Tony’ (played by Vinnie Jones).

 

An actual dog is involved in a game that soon becomes all about guns and money.

 

 

81. The Killing

 

 

 

Former convict Johnny Clay (played by Sterling Hayden) assures his girlfriend Fay (played by Coleen Gray) that he has ideas to make serious money.

 

He refrains from telling her that he’s going to get a gang together to help him execute a ‘fool-proof’ bank heist.

 

Johnny plans to rob a racetrack of $2,000,000. Word trickles down to all the wrong people when Sherry Peatty (played by Marie Windsor), wife of gang member George Peatty (played by Elisha Cook Jr.), spills the beans on the scheme to her covert boyfriend Val Cannon (played by Vince Edwards) so he can cut in on the action.

 

Johnny has little choice but to induct Val into the gang. They successfully pull off the heist after which each gang member makes a swift retreat to a pre-selected hideout where they’d all planned to catch up.

 

Greed sets in and when Val fires the first shot, a series of shots leave all the gang members dead.

 

Johnny comes late to the hideout and, seeing the bloodbath doesn’t hesitate to suitcase the cash and head to the airport to meet his wife.

 

But more strange twists are coming, and Johnny might not be as lucky as he thought he was.

 

 

82. Matchstick Men

 

 

 

Small-time but professional con artists Roy Waller (played by Nicholas Cage) and Frank Mercer (played by Sam Rockwell) are at it again.

 

Considered a ‘veteran of the grift’ Roy took Frank in as his protégé and trained him in the art of swindling.

 

But the two men have come down in the game quite a ways. These days, their ‘great heist’ is convincing people to pay ten times the actual cost of water filtration systems that the two help install in their homes.

 

They entice people with phony prize-winning promises – anything from jewelry and cars to overseas holidays.

 

Making a few hundred here, a few more there, Roy and Frank keep their flim-flam scam going, all the while staying under the police radar.

 

Their funds keep increasing based on whom they’re serving, making their con quite a lucrative one.

 

Roy’s criminal efficiency is threatened by his own personal life, though. The man’s at his wits’ end owing to the fact that he’s an obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe.

 

He forces himself to get help, thus leading him to a psychoanalyst who unwittingly helps Roy stay sane long enough to keep conning.

 

One thing leads to another and Roy soon learns that his worst fears are coming true.

 

He confirms that he has a teenage daughter living in the world. All of fourteen, Angela (played by Alison Lohman) is oblivious to her dad’s sinister exploits.

 

She wishes to meet the man, a circumstance that throws a large wrench in Roy’s routine and therapy-aided stability.

 

His neurotic side threatens to derail him. Roy gradually learns to apply his own version of parenthood and starts to enjoy Angela’s company – a relationship he never thought he’d have in this lifetime.

 

As Roy gets closer to his baby girl, his baby girl gets closer to the truth about what her father actually does for a living.

 

 

83. The Pink Panther

 

 

 

The classic Clouseau (played by the late great Peter Sellers) character comes to life in this first-on-the-spot movie that covers the attempts of a rather bumbling idiot of an inspector whose heart is in the right place as he aims to close crucial cases for the French police.

 

A dastardly jewel thief known simply as “The Phantom” is on the loose. They have stolen a significant jewel – an oh-so-rare diamond whose pink tint makes it one-of-a-kind in the world – from the royal coffers.

 

This stone is known as “The Pink Panther”, and it falls to Inspector Jacques Clouseau to piece together the clues, starting with a mysterious glove that was left at the scene of the crime.

 

He aims to return it to The Princess (played by Claudia Cardinale) from whom the jewel was stolen.

 

It does not help that Clouseau personally believes he’s something of an expert on the Phantom’s MO.

 

Armed with a rather comedic set of logic, he makes for Switzerland from Paris where he hopes to get in touch with the Princess.

 

Her Highness is spending time at a ski resort wherein English millionaire-playboy Sir Charles Lytton (played by David Niven) and his nephew George Lytton (played by Robert Wagner) are also holidaying.

 

Using his wife Simone Clouseau (played by Capucine) Inspector Clouseau goes undercover and makes ready to close the high-profile case one blubbering blunder at a time.

 

 

84. Ocean’s Twelve

 

 

 

Yet another glowing addition to the “Oceans” grand larceny series of films, this installment sees Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) returning to the ‘game’ after his initial successful robbery of $150 million from calculative casino owner Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia).

 

The man certainly holds a grudge, and returns in this film to tell the thieves “You have two weeks”.

 

The gang assumes they’re going to have to pay the man back what they stole from him, plus interest.

 

Danny aims to steal from another prominent institution just to get the ruthless Benedict off their tails.

 

His buddy Rusty Ryan (played by Brad Pitt) suggests a spot in Amsterdam. Rusty conveniently leaves out his reasons why he chose that particular place.

 

To blend in, they need to land jobs. One thing leads to another and EUROPOL agent Isabel Lahiri (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) learns of their presence.

 

She is certain that the men are (again) up to no good. Rusty and Isabel had a ‘thing’ in the past, a fact that soon comes to light.

 

Their ‘moments’ go back to a recent robbery in Europe that had nothing to do with them but with another thief, who was also probably the same one who tipped off Benedict about where Danny and the gang were.

 

The ‘boys’ along with Danny’s wife Tess Ocean (played by Julia Roberts) soon learn that this unknown thief had a mentor named Le Marc, who now shows a keen interest in Danny and company.

 

He sets into play a challenge, pitting Danny’s larceny skills against his own, the promise being that if Danny wins Le Marc will close their debt with Benedict from his own pocket.

 

Isabel is a law-abiding agent, and she does not sleep easy after knowing that Rusty, Danny, and others are out and about.

 

The unknown thief, on the other hand, is busy trying to sabotage Danny’s chances at victory.

 

 

85. Dog Day Afternoon

 

 

 

Based on a true story, or rather event, that took place in August 1972, the film features a siege that unraveled inside the Chase Manhattan Bank branch situated in Gravesend (Brooklyn, New York).

 

Vietnam war-veteran turned bank thief Sonny (played by Al Pacino) has no qualms about his aim to bag just enough cash (in this case, around $2,500) for his ‘wife’ to undergo a sex-change operation.

 

The real-life Leon was married to the real-life Sonny in secret. This movie boldly captured the travails faced by some members of the gay community back then.

 

Sonny, along with Stevie (played by Gary Springer) and Sal (played by John Cazale), head to the (fictional) First Savings Bank.

 

Nerves get to Stevie and he flees. The robbery unravels anyway. Even though the bank staff is more than cooperative, Sonny learns that there isn’t much to steal from this branch – most of the funds have already been picked up for the day.

 

Sonny soon discovers from Captain Moretti (played by Charles Durning) of the NYPD that he’s been surrounded.

 

The entire police force has come to the scene, apparently. Before long, Sonny dives headlong into a bargaining match with the Captain, promising the bank staff’s safety in exchange for his own.

 

Sonny wants a safe escort not just out of the bank in question but out of the country as well.

 

 

86. Inside Man

 

 

 

Genius, soft-spoken, classy, and meticulous bank thief Dalton Russell (played by Clive Owen) is ready to pull off the perfect heist (his words).

 

At the corner of Wall Street and Broadway stands Manhattan Bank, his target. Ensuring his safety through dozens of hostages, Dalton pulls off the seemingly impossible while dealing with hostage negotiator Detective Keith Frazier (played by Denzel Washington).

 

Keith finds himself one step behind Dalton at every stage. The bank’s founder Arthur Case (played by Christopher Plummer) does not rely on the police and so appoints ‘problem-solver’ Madeline White (played by Jodie Foster) to the serious situation unfolding inside his bank.

 

Arthur, however, desires mainly to retrieve something of great significance from inside the bank before it falls into the hands of the master thief.

 

Something genuinely strange is happening ‘behind the scenes’. Criminal mastermind Dalton Russell might just be in on the true scoop behind this heist, but his intentions happen to be dangerously self-serving.

 

 

87. Die Hard With A Vengeance

 

 

 

An explosion at the Bonwit Teller Department Store rocks New York City, and the police are called in.

 

Rather, a call goes to the police from a man named Simon (played by Jeremy Irons) who claims responsibility for the bombing.

 

He has specific demands from Detective John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) who at this time happens to be seriously down on his luck.

 

He has been suspended from the Force due to over-indulging in his alcoholism. John is now, not surprisingly, drinking his post-suspension days away.

 

Before long, Inspector Arthur Cobb (played by Larry Bryggman) dispatches the disgraced McClane to play a ‘Simon Says’ game, of sorts, that is anything but fun.

 

Because the actual Simon promises to set off another bomb if his instructions are not followed to the letter.

 

Harlem electrician Zeus (played by Samuel L. Jackson) accompanies John on this curious case that takes them all over New York and has them solving insane puzzles laid out by the clever terrorist.

 

However, when a bomb does go off in a subway station positioned suspiciously close to the Federal Reserve which lies the world’s biggest gold storage, things start to get interesting as curious connections are made concerning Simon’s true agenda.

 

 

88. The Bank Job

 

 

 

London car dealer and married man (with kids) Terry Leather (played by Jason Statham) is experiencing a slump in business.

 

In the past, the man proved to be quite the artful dodger. So it came as no surprise when a former model who used to fancy him, Martine Love (played by Saffron Burrows), approaches him with a ready-to-execute bank-heist scheme.

 

Tunneling into the vault is part of the game and only during the two-week period when the bank’s alarms are going to be covertly turned off.

 

Terry carries out the task, owing to his urgent need to put food on the table.

 

But the man is ignorant of the fact that Martine actually desires to get her hands on a particular safe deposit box containing compromising photos of a royal nature.

 

She hopes to exchange said photos for a reduced jail sentence. Both MI-5 and MI-6 are involved in an indirect way.

 

However, inside this particular vault rests evidence that could endanger not just a royal but also a pornographer, a flashy bordello owner, and a thug from Trinidad.

 

 

89. Ronin

 

 

 

In Japanese culture, ‘Ronin’ is the name given to Samurai who have no masters. In this movie, it represents specialists who happen to be outcasts.

 

They hire out their services to all and sundry in exchange for payment. Irishwoman Dierdre (played by Natascha McElhone) is set on employing a team of such ‘Ronin’.

 

Her aim is to retrieve a suitcase from a particular man who is intent on selling its dangerous contents to the Russians.

 

The men are a melange of ex-Special Forces soldiers and intelligence operatives turned mercenaries for hire.

 

Dierdre’s team includes Sam (played by Robert De Niro), Spence (played by Sean Bean), Gregor (played by Stellan Skarsgård), Larry (played by Skipp Sudduth), and Vincent (played by Jean Reno).

 

Though their mission is successful, one of the team members gets it into his head that the suitcase might be more valuable than his pay for the job.

 

Trickery and deceit come to the fore following a suitcase switch, and it looks like things are about to turn deadly for a lot of people involved.

 

 

90. A Fish Called Wanda

 

 

 

British criminal mastermind Georges Thomason (played by Tom Georgeson) relies on support from his right-hand man Ken Pile (played by Michael Palin) to enlist a couple of siblings to help with a heist.

 

The siblings are foxy and gorgeous Wanda Gershwitz (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and Nietzsche-obsessed ‘loose cannon’ Otto West (played by Kevin Kline).

 

While the heist goes off without a hitch, greed soon comes calling. All it took was one anonymous phone call to the police to put Georges behind bars.

 

Unfortunately, the man hid the loot on time, making him and his lawyer the only men to know its exact whereabouts.

 

Wanda dons her most seductive hat to coax Georges’s barrister Archie Leach (played by John Cleese) into spilling the beans – in this case, the location of the jewels.

 

This movie adds comedic value to the phrase ‘no honor among thieves’.

 

 

91. City On Fire

 

 

 

In a short time, Ko Chow (played by Chow Yun-Fat) will be ready to resign from the police force and enjoy retirement.

 

A new case beckons him to stay a while longer. Before long, Ko is tasked with going undercover and infiltrating a gang of jewelry store thieves.

 

He manages to succeed at the first half of his mission, which only gets dangerous from that point onwards.

 

The gang is alert for any treachery in their ranks, so Ko finds himself going all out to keep his true identity and goal hidden from them.

 

Then there are those police members who turn to a chapter in Ko’s past and wish to use it to level criminal accusations and suspicions against the man.

 

Ko is caught between a rock and a hard place, all the while keeping his focus on the successful outcome of the operation.

 

 

92. The Italian Job

 

 

 

John Bridger (played by Donald Sutherland) is helming a heist with Charlie Croker (played by Mark Wahlberg).

 

The two men gather a competent team for what they believe is ‘one last robbery’.

 

They’re going to steal $35 million in gold bars from a super-guarded safe in Venice.

 

They actually manage to pull it off. However, the real challenge comes when one of their own, Steve (played by Edward Norton), succumbs to greed and envy.

 

Steve makes a move to take all the gold and kill the rest of the team in the process.

 

He assumes he’s successful in that endeavor before making a beeline for Los Angeles with the fortune.

 

Those who survived Steve’s treachery track him to California to exact their vengeance. John’s daughter Stella (played by Charlize Theron) is called in to use her professional safe-cracking abilities to help them settle the score with Steve.

 

A new team soon forms and it includes expert hacker Lyle (played by Seth Green), explosives master “Left Ear” (played by Yasiin Bey), and skilled driver “Handsome” Rob (played by Jason Statham).

 

A fresh heist begins and it is going to take the team through the convoluted subways and freeways of L. A. to pull it off.

 

 

93. The Town

 

 

 

Four thieves team up to tackle a heist at the Cambridge Merchants Bank. They are soon forced to kidnap Claire Keesey (played by Rebecca Hall), the bank manager.

 

Blindfolded, she is separated from her driver’s license and left on an empty beach after which the robbers make for Charlestown (Boston).

 

The thieves in question are Doug MacRay (played by Ben Affleck), James Coughlin (played by Jeremy Renner), Albert ‘Gloansy’ Magloan (played by George Carroll), and Desmond Elden (played by Owen Burke).

 

The boys soon learn that Claire also resides in Charlestown, so they make sure to keep track of her movements just in case.

 

Doug gets close to her if only to learn what she might have told the FBI following the heist.

 

In the process, Doug and Claire end up falling for each other. Tasked with the investigation is FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (played by Jon Hamm).

 

Adam gradually figures out the thieves’ identities and covertly plans to join their gang to run surveillance.

 

Claire and Doug are at this time making plans to move to Florida and start a new life.

 

The rest of them, however, are still stuck in Charlestown with Adam who is getting ever closer to making a legal arrest.

 

 

94. Bad Boys

 

 

 

Hen-pecked family man Marcus Burnett (played by Martin Lawrence) has enough on his plate. His partner at the Miami Police Department Mike Lowrey (played by Will Smith) is quite the opposite, a loose cannon of sorts.

 

They are both tasked with a deadly case involving 100 million dollars of heroin that was stolen from police headquarters, and the chance to bust one of the biggest drug hubs of their career.

 

With only 72 hours on the clock before Internal Affairs takes up the reins, Marcus and Mike begin their pursuit in earnest.

 

They start by tracking French drug kingpin Fouchet (played by Tchéky Karyo). Maxine Logan (played by Lisa Boyle) is a hooker whose undercover support comes in might handy.

 

She helps the officers by pinpointing high rollers in the illegal drug trade. One thing leads to another and Maxine is deceived into going to a location where Fouchet murders her in cold blood.

 

She went with a friend named Julie Mott, who manages to escape and call Mike.

 

Before long, she is kidnapped. Action and hilarity unfold as the men in uniform do what they do best to deliver sweet justice to Fouchet.

 

 

95. Catch That Kid

 

 

 

Twelve-year-old Maddy (played by Kristen Stewart) has quite the adventure-crazed father. They both spend time mountain climbing, a hobby close to their hearts.

 

Once, when scaling a side of Mount Everest, Maddy’s dad contracts a spinal injury that leaves him paralyzed for the rest of his days.

 

The only surgery that can help him is also one that’s extremely expensive. Maddy makes up her mind to get her hands on the required funds by hook or by crook.

 

To help her with the heist she has in mind, she calls on two particular friends.

 

One is a computer whiz-kid and the other a mechanical genius. Together, they focus their talents on a local bank, a rather high-tech one at that.

 

Its vault stands suspended 100 feet off the floor. They have to get to it to get to the safe inside.

 

Maddy’s mother actually works at the bank as a security chief. Relying on the climbing skills her father taught her, Maddy makes a bold attempt to do whatever it takes to ensure that her dad can climb again.

 

 

96. American Hustle

 

 

 

A fictional retelling of a very real scandal that rocked the United States, this film focuses on the story of ingenious con-man Irving Rosenfeld (played by Christian Bale).

 

Along with his rather seductive and equally clever British partner Sydney Prosser (played by Amy Adams), Irving is forced to work for FBI agent Richie DiMaso (played by Bradley Cooper).

 

Together, they come up with a grand undercover plan involving the mafia and Jersey powerbrokers.

 

Carmine Polito (played by Jeremy Renner) is as unpredictable as he is passionate. Stuck between two cunning con-artists on one side and the Feds on the other, the New Jersey political operator has little choice but to help them successfully pull off a major sting operation.

 

But unpredictable ‘wild card’ Rosalyn (played by Jennifer Lawrence), who’s Irving’s wife, seems to have a plan of her own in the pipeline, one that might end up proving unfruitful for everyone.

 

 

97. Jackie Brown

 

 

 

Flight attendant Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier) is caught smuggling ‘gun money’ that her boss covertly stashed on her airline.

 

Teaming up to take down the arms dealer are Federal Agent Ray Nicolette (played by Michael Keaton) and L. A. cop Mark Dargus (played by Michael Bowen). Jackie finds herself in a tight spot.

 

She knows her only real option is to come clean and tell the men about Ordell Robbie (played by Samuel L. Jackson) – whose real identity law officials do not know – and thus ensure her freedom.

 

However, Ordell is known to silence (i.e., kill) anyone who outs him. Jackie is confused about confessing or just keeping quiet and doing time instead.

 

Bail bondsman Max Cherry (played by Robert Forster) comes into her circle. Max is a middle-aged man who has recently separated and ends up falling for Jackie.

 

Ms. Brown entails his help and soon starts strategizing a way to play all parties against each other.

 

She especially aims to pit Ordell against his own people, namely Louis Gara (played by Robert De Niro) and Melanie Ralston (played by Bridget Fonda), after which Jackie is confident that she will walk away with a million-dollar payoff.

 

 

98. Thunderbolt And Lightfoot

 

 

 

A man with the nickname ‘Thunderbolt’ (played by Clint Eastwood) has been maintaining the pretense that he’s a mere preacher at a local church in the Western American countryside.

 

One (among many) who knows his real identity accidentally finds him there. When Thunderbolt makes a run for it, he runs straight into a man (played by Jeff Bridges) nicknamed ‘Lightfoot’.

 

Both men vary in age. In fact, both men only accidentally encounter one another. But they end up becoming fast friends with several things in common, like their unwitting ability to fall foul of the law.

 

Various people are on their trail with the intention of killing them. One day, Lightfoot’s suggestion to rob a bank meets with Thunderbolt’s reluctance.

 

After all, Thunderbolt has a long history of bank heists, his most recent one bagged him five hundred thousand dollars.

 

The man has the cash squirreled away in a secret place that only he – and any surviving members of the robbery gang – knows about.

 

The police play a trick on them by publicly stating that the money has been recovered in full.

 

This leads to Thunderbolt’s gang assuming the man has cheated them, thus sparking off a quiet hunt for his head.

 

Eddie Goody (played by Geoffrey Lewis) and Red Leary (played by George Kennedy) only later come to know of Thunderbolt’s uncompromised loyalty.

 

Lightfoot learns about the dire circumstance from Thunderbolt himself and feels inspired to hatch a new plot, one that will need the old gang to team up again.

 

 

99. Three Kings

 

 

 

A team of American soldiers – during the days after the Gulf Wars – happen upon a secret Iraqi map.

 

On it, they discover the location of a classified bunker that is rumored to contain Kuwaiti treasures including gold.

 

The soldiers make plans to find and distribute the gold among themselves. On-site, however, the situation is rather different.

 

The Iraqis whom the soldiers assumed would try and stop them seem keener on persecuting the civilians in the area.

 

The team soon learns that these civilians were empowered by the American Government to fight back against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorial reign of terror.

 

Without U. S. Military aid, however, the civilians are guaranteed to lose, after which they are certain to face death by execution.

 

The soldiers who were previously only interested in a quiet heist experience a crisis of conscience that encourages them to modify their plan.

 

They are now at a major decision crossroads: help the Iraqi civilians cross the border safely and risk losing the gold by doing so, or just stay focused on their get-rich heist.

 

 

100. Point Break

 

 

 

As Special Agent for the FBI, Johnny Utah (played by Keanu Reeves) finds himself working tough cases.

 

He is partnered with the experienced Angelo Pappas (played by Gary Busey) who happens to be something of a workaholic.

 

A group of thieves calling themselves the ‘The Ex-Presidents’ commit heinous heists wearing masks representative of their collective moniker.

 

With their heads disguised with masks of former American Presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon, and Johnson, this team of four thieves comes under the FBI’s scope.

 

Using what little he knows so far, Angelo theorizes that the men might actually be surfers.

 

He then tasks Johnny with a significant undercover role. Oddly enough, Johnny can’t surf squat.

 

The men are also being pressured, nay hassled, by the rough and annoying Agent Harp (played by John C. McGinley).

 

Using Tyler’s (played by Lori Petty) competent surfer support, Johnny ‘gets into character’ and hopes to gain the attention and acceptance of local surfer Bodhi (played by Patrick Swayze) who is later suspected as possibly having spearheaded the exploits of the Ex-Presidents gang.