“Each life is a game of chess that went to hell on the seventh move…”
—Martin Amis, Money
A heist story is packed with narrative potential. A crack team of rogues, each possessing a different skill, are assembled to pull off an impossible theft. The treasure may be extremely valuable precious gems or jewelry, rare art works, bearer bonds, or even cold hard (or these days, digital) cash. There is usually a strict timetable to adhere to, which means the actual job is up against a remorseless ticking clock
To begin with, we have a master mind who comes up with the plan and, perhaps with help from an old friend or associate, recruits the crack team. Each member has a unique ability essential for the particular heist. There’s friction of course, because when you have a team of incredibly talented, accomplished and experienced individuals, each sure of their skills and often distrusting of others who claim to be the best at their own role, friction is sure to result.
Then there’s the inevitable moment when the job goes sideways and the team has to improvise. You’d better look over your shoulder, because, given the stakes, betrayal may be right behind.
The tone can be serious, playful, or a bit of both. The team, AKA “the crew” is a big part of the appeal of a heist story, the more colorful, idiosyncratic and fascinating the members, the better.
Heists have elements of crime stories, action stories, suspense, and are often set in the present day, but can be historical, science fictional, young adult, or even based in a fantasy setting. It’s been observed that the process of staging a heist and making a movie mirror each other, which might account for some of the genre’s enduring popularity with film makers. In fact, Christopher Nolan’s science fiction heist film Inception is about implanting a memory in a target to trigger an emotion experience rather than extracting a treasure, just as film makers (and novelists for that matter) aim to do.
Whether or not that’s the case for film makers, for movie goers and readers alike, heists are fast paced, intriguing fun. On the big screen, heists often feature stars with striking charisma to match the members of the crew, and both heist films and novels take away from the ordinary and allow you to experience the high-wire act of pulling off an impossible crime.
Here are some of my favorite heist movies:
Topkapi: Based on the Eric Ambler novel The Light of Day, it features a jewel thief who recruits a criminal mastermind who in turn assembles a team of amateurs to pull off an impossible heist in the Turkish palace of Topkapi, with a priceless emerald encrusted dagger as the prize. Slyly comic and slap-stick funny by turns, it covers each phase of a heist with panache and humor.
The Art of the Steal: An excellent example of a heist-within-a-heist.
Ocean’s 11: Both the original version with Frank Sinatra and the later George Clooney remake offer stylish and tense takes on a carefully planned heist of a casino in Las Vegas.
The Italian Job: The original starring the incomparable Michael Caine is a true classic, and features an epic car chase.
Die Hard: An action-heist story with the “fly in the anointment” hero John McClain disrupting the clockwork mechanism of a carefully planned heist by Hans Gruber and his deadly efficient team at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. Something always goes wrong in a heist; in this case, it’s named McClain.
Mission Impossible, both the original TV series and the later film series have good guys pulling off heists to make the world a better place. Disguises are prominent devices in both along with gadgets. The more recent movie series also showcases computer hacking.
The Great Train Robbery, based on the 1855 “Great Gold robbery. First a novel by Michael Crichton. He adapted the book and directed the subsequent movie, starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland. All but one of the characters in the film were at least loosely based
The Great Escape: An epic WW2 movie about the largest escape from a prisoner of war camp. Based on a true story, it shows how the POWs carefully plan a multi-tunnel break out and everything from planning to recruitment to gathering materials and then implementing the plan, and of course, what happens when things go wrong.
Kelly’s Heroes: A heist set during the last part of WW2 on the Western Front, with a sardonic tone and witty moments, such as when the American soldiers finally arrive at the bank filled with Nazi gold behind German lines and square off with the commander of an SS Tiger tank:
Kelly: “Sergeant, this bank’s not gonna fall into the hands of the American army. It’s gonna fall in our hands. You see, we’re just a private enterprise operation.
German tank commander: “You… the American army!”
Oddball: “No, baby, we ain’t.”
The Gold: Based on the real-life Brinks-Mat gold heist in 1983, this two season television series follows both the criminals after the job and the British police striving to reconstruct the robbery and track down the thieves. A compelling look at the aftermath of a heist and the varied and idiosyncratic characters of both the thieves and the investigators who embark on a multi-year quest to bring the thieves to justice.
Leverage: A show about a former insurance investigator who assembles a team of criminals to engage in heists against powerful bad actors and obtain justice for the victims of said bad actors.
Hands down my favorite heist novels are Richard Stark’s (a pen name of mystery grand master Donald Westlake) Parkerbooks, beginning with The Hunter (adapted twice, first as Point Blank and then as Payback), is the first novel starring tough guy Parker, who was betrayed after pulling off a heist and seeks revenge. The series covers a number of heists, as discussed in this Wikipedia entry.
“Always perfectly blueprinted heists, Parker’s plans tend to go awry in the execution, sometimes due to bad luck but more often due to greed or incompetence on the part of Parker’s less-experienced partners. The tension in the novels often comes from Parker having to work his way out of increasingly dangerous situations on the fly, as his carefully planned heist collapses around him—all while he tries to keep hold of both the money he stole, and his life. (And, often, he does so while endeavoring to exact revenge on those responsible for his troubles.)”
How about you? What are your favorite heist stories?
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Resources:
19 Heist Novels That You Won’t Be Able to Put Down. A multi-genre list.
8 Tips for Plotting a Great Heist Novel (or How to Be a Thief), a Writer’s Digest article by author Sara Desai.
Heists or Capers, where do you stand? Award-winning multi-genre author Fran Wilde interviews three crime writers about the difference between heists and capers