#ive been told he reminds people of ‘michael’ from that podcast

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Heist movies! This reminded me that somehow, the serious, nuanced meditation on intolerance I'm plotting has morphed into an 8th century paper caper (like literally stealing paper from the Chinese) and I am wholly ignorant on where heist/caper tropes end and their clichés begin. Other than Leverage, can you or your readership recommend good motion pictures examples of the genre?

A PAPER CAPER. What a great idea! 

Hmm, heist films. Well, there are a couple of subgenres. And some examples of the genre are really good examples of the genre while not necessarily being very good movies. But let me see if I can break it down a bit.

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Movies I Have Seen: To Catch A Thief - focused around crime and theft but the classic caper is actually carried out by someone else; I think it’s a great movie but it is quite long and not everyone agrees with me. How To Steal A Million - the heist sequence itself is a bit clunky, but the movie is charming and well-written for the most part. It’s somewhat of an outlier in terms of using heist/caper tropes but fun to watch. Ocean’s 11 (classic) - this is a Greek tragedy written as a heist. But it does have great music and it’s a fun Rat Pack film.Ocean’s 11 (modern) - a great example of heist genre tropes and inversions of same (pickpockets, hackers, a laser grid, a bait and switch, etc)Ocean’s 12 I felt betrayed its viewers somewhat; I don’t think it’s a very good heist film. I haven’t seen Ocean’s 13, but @sailorsol says it goes back to a more traditional heist feel. I am SUPER EXCITED about Ocean’s 8 because it looks like it’s a return to what made Ocean’s 11 so good. Entrapment is a heist film and I remember when I saw it in 1995 I loved it, but I don’t know how well it has aged. Inception is considered by some to be a heist film. I don’t care for it, but it does use several heist-related tropes (a ragtag group of experts, an elaborate plot, a lot of thinking on one’s feet) so I think it’s worth a watch if you’ve worn out your other movies. :D The Sting is based on supposedly real-life events. It is an EXCEPTIONAL film and a good introduction to many con-man and heist tropes. Its central conceit, the telegram fraud, is riffed on in an episode of White Collar. The Thomas Crown Affair (classic) - contains several heists, but I would consider it more of a psychological thriller. An enjoyable film in general. The Thomas Crown Affair (modern) - An adequate remake with a great heist at the end; on its own it’s a decent film, though it pales in comparison to the original. Now You See Me - Considered by some a heist film, I’m not entirely sure I’d agree; they do pull off several heists but it’s more focused on illusionism. I didn’t care as much for Now You See Me 2, but it does have a very The Sting-like denouement that is useful if you’re analyzing heists. Dog Day Afternoon has been riffed on endlessly as a bank robbery film; I’m not sure I’d classify it as heist/caper, but there’s no denying it has had a huge impact on anything to do with media and bank robbery. The Saint: suggested by Anon and also by @drivemetogeek, I had forgotten about this movie and I love it a lot, though again it’s more spy-thriller-with-heist-tropes than a heist. The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan: Anon suggested Great Muppet Caper, which reminded me that there’s a great send-up of high-tension heists in Muppets Take Manhattan. Both are absolute classics. @sailorsol pointed out “If you want to get pedantic, Star Trek IV: The Journey Home is a heist film too" and a) totally true and b) it’s my favorite Star Trek movie, so highly recommend. @jmathieson-fic recoomended Catch Me If You Can, which I had forgotten about and agree is a really fun and also quite touching film, based on real events. 

Movies I Haven’t Seen:Logan Lucky JUST came out and I haven’t seen it yet but it has Sebastian Stan in it so I will. :D Similarly I’ve head Baby Driver is great, but I haven’t seen it. @radiozilla says “Baby Driver is indeed fantastic, but I don’t really consider it a heist movie. It focuses on a group of heisters, but the heists themselves aren’t shown in detail. During them the focus is more on the driver parked outside, then the car chase.”And I’ve just had Going In Style recommended to me by @enduring-reality, who says “Its a 2017 film about grandpas getting screwed over and stealing from their bank! funny and entertaining. starring morgan freeman and michael caine. 10/10 would recommend!“The Usual Suspects is a movie I haven’t seen but is generally thought to belong to the heist/crime genre and to be a good example of it. The Italian Job (classic and modern) – the modern one considered an excellent heist film and a comedy. I know nothing about the classic. Likewise The Taking of Pelham 123 (classic and modern) I know very little about, but they’re both considered heist films. @jmathieson-fic recommends the original as “Classic and awesome.”Snatch - I honestly know nothing about it but it shows up on a lot of lists. @miss-kitty-fantastico recommends it. The Great Train Robbery - I’ve been meaning to see this one for ages but don’t know a ton about it. The Fast And Furious films - most of these are considered a form of heist film. I’ve seen several of them but they all kind of blur together. They are very good viewing, action-film wise. A Fish Called Wanda - supposedly quite funny; I don’t know much about it. @delphia2000 says “one of my very favorite films..worth borrowing from your library” and @prince-atom adds “A Fish Called Wanda is hilarious, for the most part. I would caution that it comes with a major content warning for animal death, however.”Heat and Inside Man both came to my attention from a 99% Invisible episode, and while I’ve never seen either one, Inside Man sounds amazing. Anon says “Sneakers is a classic, and I think Hackers counts as one too. And The Real McCoy.” @miss-kitty-fantastico says “Also consider Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Another Guy Ritchie film and although the Heist part is sort of told oddly, it is done really well.”@rsfcommonplace suggests “Sam Whiskey, a 1969 film which is both a Western and a heist film in reverse. (They have to put the gold back. Once they retrieve it from the depths of the Platte River.)”@jmathieson-fic suggested  “The Hot Rock (based on Donald E. Westlake's excellent novel)” and @geekerypeekery seconds it. @geekerypeekery also suggests “the often-overlooked Quick Change, a Bill Murray heist film from 1990. Hilarious and also quite meta on the heist tropes.” @onceuponacupoftea suggests “David Mamet’s Heist and also House of Games, which is a con film. The Spanish Prisoner is “neonoir suspense”, according to wikipedia, but also involves espionage and cons.” (I feel like I’ve seen The Spanish Prisoner and compared it semi-favorably to The Sting but I don’t recall if it’s the actual movie I’m thinking of.)@brownhairandeyesonline says “Out With A Bang is good fun (though I haven’t seen the original)”@annechen-melo recommends “The Ladykillers, and though I enjoyed the classic more than the remake, the modern film has its moments.”@laughingacademy says “This list needs some Jules Dassin: Rififi, a noirish “one last job” story in which a break-in and safecracking plays out for half an hour with no dialogue, and Topkapi, a comedic caper film and the origin of what’s now known as the Mission: Impossible Cable Drop.”

Are They?Often spy thrillers are classed as heist films because they usually involve an elaborate multi-stage plan to steal something. So you’ve got your Mission Impossible films, your Man From UNCLE, and I would consider Rogue One this very serious, very dramatic form of heist film. I don’t know if I’d consider Kiss Kiss Bang Bang a heist film exactly, but it plays on a lot of the tropes. I don’t like it, as a film, but it does have Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in it and that’s not nothin’. In theory, you could consider Captain America 2: Winter Soldier to be a sort of heist film. It’s more of a spy thriller and I wouldn’t classify their attack on SHIELD as infiltration or a multi-stage elaborate plan, but there’s some elements there. Apparently Ant Man is also considered a heist film but I haven’t seen it. 

TV Shows and Etc:Leverage as you already know is a great primer for heist tropes because many episodes involve a heist that is structured after a movie trope.White Collar is even more explicit about lifting its heists from cinema, so it’s also excellent (at least in the first few seasons) for learning the standards. I can’t really recommend viewing after 3rd season, but YMMV. I have never seen the original Man From UNCLE tv show, but I hear it’s pretty compelling. @spadesandaces says “Idk if the man from uncle tv show counts as heist centric...don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it’s not like leverage or ocean’s” while @peoriarhetoriapeoria says “the show has many episodes that may not be exactly heists but hew close enough to the tropes they might as well.” Same for the classic The Saint series -- I haven’t seen it but I hear it’s good. @drivemetogeek seconds the recommendation for the Saint tv series. @glymr says “It’s not exactly a heist show (at least, not mostly), but if you want to see the Grifter to end all Grifters, watch the Rockford Files.  It’s a show about a P.I. played by James Garner, and he is a Master of social engineering." @drivemetogeek says “seconding Rockford.... the Leverage writers referenced it constantly.” though you guys, I have to admit I’ve watched a few episodes and I found them less than engaging. 99% Invisible did a FANTASTIC podcast about heist films. There is a GREAT book about early 20th century con men (it’s the first place I encountered the characters from The Sting) called The Professional Thief. I don’t know that a lot of people who write heist genre have read it, but the stories inside it have obviously trickled out into our crime media. It’s a really enjoyable read as a sociological study of individual-level crime in the early 20th century. Also gonna throw in a quick recommendation for the Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison (particularly A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born) and the Raffles short stories by EW Hornung, who wrote a gentleman burglar in response to his famous in-law, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing Sherlock Holmes. :)

Wikipedia also has an extensive list of heist films and a decent definition of what they generally entail. 

One last note – don’t necessarily think that just because the heist genre is rife with tropes, you can’t use tropes and cliches. Most heist films of the modern day really lean into them; they’re fun to play with and there’s a reason they became tropes in the first place. Don’t be afraid to write a “standard” heist – as long as you enjoy writing it and the readers enjoy reading it, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the most original idea in the world. Think of it as a rube goldberg machine, where the formula is essentially the same but the components vary and provide the fascination. Heist films are fun in part because there’s a formula, and that formula is comforting when followed and fascinating when defied. 

Good luck! There’s tons of media out there and a lot of it is just fun. Enjoy yourself!

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