9 months ago
Top Heist Movies: From 'Bonnie and Clyde' to 'Hell or High Water'
These movies show different ways people try to get rich quickly through heists, with varying levels of success and consequences.
Some are based on true events, while others are purely fictional.
They often include social commentary about inequality and injustice, or simply provide entertainment.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is a classic film based on real-life outlaws
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) features a tense hostage situation during a bank robbery
Point Break (1991) involves surfers-turned-bank-robbers
Reservoir Dogs (1992) is a violent and quip-filled movie about a diamond heist gone wrong
Hell or High Water (2016) tells the story of brothers robbing banks to save their family farm
- Who
- Various characters in different movies
- What
- Plan and execute heists
- Where
- Locations range from banks to museums and casinos
- When
- Varying time periods, from the 1930s to present day
- Why
- To get rich, escape poverty, or seek justice
Key facts
- Genre
- Heist, Crime, Drama
- Number of movies listed
- 8
- Earliest movie
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
- Latest movie
- Hell or High Water (2016)
Quotes
Roger Ebert
A renowned film critic
“A 'work of truth and brilliance', the film is a 'milestone in the history of cinema' that is 'pitilessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heartbreaking and astonishingly beautiful'.”
theweek.com
Adam Smith
A film critic
“The 'granddaddy of all heist-gone-wrong films', 'Dog Day Afternoon' grants the audience permission to enjoy criminal shenanigans and to identify with the perpetrators without condoning them'.”
theweek.com
Philip Strick
A film critic
“'Point Break' is a 'celebration not only of the spectacular pleasures of surfing and skydiving and chasing bank robbers' but also of the 'remarkably visceral extremes that violence itself can achieve when orchestrated for the cinema'.”
theweek.com
Tom Shone
A film critic
“'Reservoir Dogs' is a 'great heist movie' with 'remarkably disciplined storytelling' that 'pierces like a bullet, leaving a clean hole'.”
theweek.com
Brian Eggert
A film critic
“'Die Hard With a Vengeance' is a 'very underrated entry in the franchise' that is 'great fun' and has a pace set so frenetically that 'we don’t have time to worry about pesky action movie buzzkills like logic and plausibility'.”
theweek.com
Najee AR Fareed
A film critic
“'Set It Off' is the 'rare heist movie with a serious message' that is a 'hood classic' about the 'love felt between four Black women' who are 'failed by everyone in their lives to an infuriating degree'.”
theweek.com
Ed Gonzalez
A film critic
“'Ocean’s Eleven' is a 'vast improvement over the source material' that is 'pure escapism' with a star-studded heist squad.”
theweek.com
Peter Travers
A film critic
“'Hell or High Water' expertly mixes jolts of violence with social awareness and a sense of life lived on the edge'.”
theweek.com
