--- description: Planning montages and high-speed getaways continue to thrill viewers. From Logan Lucky to Ocean's 11, here are the 25 best heist movies. title: The 25 Best Heist Movies image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The 25 Best Heist Movies  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 18, 2017 5:40 PM CUT  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 18, 2017 5:40 PM CUT Heist movies are a summer staple. Time-tested tropes of the genre — the planning montage, the inevitable need to change plans on the fly, the high-speed getaway — have thrilled audiences for over half a century. One of the greatest heist film directors, Steven Soderbergh, is returning to the world of larceny with [_Logan Lucky_](http://time.com/4902726/review-logan-lucky-soderbergh-channing-tatum/ "undefined"), out Aug. 18\. But unlike the heroes of _Ocean’s 11_, these protagonists aren’t suave, besuited tricksters robbing a casino. They’re so-called hillbillies who have decided to leverage people’s biases to their advantage. Along with [Edgar Wright’s _Baby Driver_](http://time.com/4835390/review-baby-driver-ansel-elgort/ "undefined"), which premiered earlier this summer, _Logan Lucky_ puts a new spin on a classic genre. Both films are sure to also make you nostalgic for the capers of years past. Here are the 25 best heist movies to catch in theaters or watch at home. ### _Logan Lucky_ (2017)  Logan Lucky Fingerprint Releasing **Director:** Steven Soderbergh **Why it’s great:** Soderbergh returns to what he does best with _Logan Lucky_, a movie about self-proclaimed hillbillies who are smarter than they let on. The film reunites Channing Tatum with his _Magic Mike_ director and adds Daniel Craig, Adam Driver and Riley Keough to the crew that hatches a plan to rob a motor speedway. With self aware humor — at one point the heist is dubbed “Ocean’s 7-11” — and emotional heft in the form of a young daughter for Tatum, Soderbergh expands on the genre by introducing characters who are rarely allowed to outwit the authorities. ### _Baby Driver_ (2017)  Baby Driver Sony **Director:** Edgar Wright **Why it’s great:** No one can drive a getaway car quite like Baby. With a carefully curated playlist — Ansel Elgort’s Baby has tinnitus and plays music constantly to tune out the hum in his ears — and a cohort of crazed criminals (Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm), this instant classic shifts into high gear during the driving scenes. Baby’s moves behind the wheel are choreographed as carefully as an intricate dance. But _Baby Driver_ is also a love story: The romance between Baby and diner waitress Debora (Lily James) is what gives this film its beating heart. ### _Fast Five_ (2011)  Fast Five Universal **Director:** Justin Lin **Why it’s great:** The best movie in the [_Fast & Furious_ franchise](http://time.com/4726355/fast-and-the-furious-movies-ranked/ "undefined") is technically a heist film — it just also involves a lot of cars. In _Fast Five_, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker plan to pull “one last job” (or, you know, one of about five “last jobs”) to finance their escape off the grid. The action flick is filled with classic heist movie tropes: a planning montage, a speed bump that forces the crew to change their plans and a cop hot on their heels. In this case, that cop is a ridiculously jacked Dwayne Johnson infusing the franchise with some much-needed life. This is the first _Fast_ movie where the stunts are delightfully ridiculous: Diesel and Walker jump off the side of a cliff and later drag a giant safe through the streets of Rio. As heist movies go, this one is more brawn than brains. ### _The Town_ (2010)  The Town Warner Bros **Director:** Ben Affleck **Why it’s great:** _Argo_ might have won Best Picture, but _The Town_ proved Ben Affleck had real directing chops. The violent film starring Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Affleck centers on the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown. Affleck’s reluctant bank robber Doug desperately wants to redefine himself— much like Affleck, who at the time was trying to reestablish himself as a serious Hollywood player after misfires like _Gigli_ and _Jersey Girl_. But a threat to his lady love (Rebecca Hall) — who he happened to meet while taking her hostage — sends him on one last very dangerous job. The nun masks are a nice touch, too. ### _The Bank Job_ (2008)  The Bank Job Lionsgate **Director:** Roger Donaldson **Why it’s great:** At this point in his career, Jason Statham is [best known as an action star](http://time.com/3904863/jason-statham-spy-james-bond/ "undefined"). But when he pauses running between fistfights to utter some dialogue, he makes a pretty great robber, too. The film is inspired by a real 1971 bank robbery during which a group of thieves broke into a bank vault full of safety deposit boxes. The story dominated the headlines for a week before completely disappearing from the British media. Why? The movie spins its own conspiracy theory: Statham’s Terry Leather finds dirty pictures of Princess Margaret that are being held by the mob as blackmail material in one of the safety deposit boxes. Her Majesty’s Secret Service wants to destroy the photos, the mob wants to retrieve them and Leather just wants to survive. The film pays homage to _The Asphalt Jungle_, _The Italian Job_ and _Ocean’s 11_. ### _Inside Man_ (2006)  Inside Man Universal **Director:** Spike Lee **Why it’s great:** Spike Lee’s most mainstream film to date makes the list thanks to excellent performances from Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer. Owen’s career criminal is caught mid-bank robbery, but when Washington’s detective arrives on the scene it becomes clear that the bank robbers planned for a hostage situation all along. Everyone’s a little bit sleazy: the good guys a bit bad, the bad guys perhaps good. The plot takes perhaps one too many twists, but Lee’s style — and love for the New York landscape — takes the film to great heights. ### _The Italian Job_ (2003)  The Italian Job (Remake) Paramount **Director:** F. Gary Gray **Why it’s great:** The _Italian Job_ remake pays homage to the original with those omnipresent Mini Coopers but otherwise has little to do with the 1960s film. This movie is more about revenge than the take: The heroes announce to the villain early on that they plan to steal his loot in order to avenge the death of one of their own, a twist on your typical heist film. The film boasts an all-star cast of Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def and Donald Sutherland, who exchange barbs with a delightfully slimy Edward Norton as they gaze over beautiful Italian vistas. ### _Ocean’s Eleven_ (2001)  Ocean's Eleven Warner Bros **Director:** Steven Soderbergh **Why it’s great:** Let’s admit it: The original Rat Pack version of _Ocean’s 11_ was probably a lot of fun to make. But it’s a lot less fun to watch now. Soderbergh cleverly reimagines that film as a brain teaser trilogy that resists the too-many-twists trap. Stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt assemble a ragtag team to bring down a casino — and win back Clooney’s ex, Julia Roberts. Capitalizing on his stars’ charm, Soderbergh’s _Ocean’s_ trilogy set the gold standard for the modern heist film. The first installment remains the best, though _Ocean’s 12_ is an interesting meta-commentary on how hard it is to make sequels in Hollywood. (It also contains that much loved-and-loathed scene in which Julia Roberts’ Tess pretends to be Julia Roberts.) ### _Snatch_ (2000)  Snatch Sony **Director:** Guy Ritchie **Why it’s great:** The high-energy movie about London’s underworld starring Brad Pitt, Jason Statham and Benicio Del Toro involves a boxer with an inscrutable accent, seemingly Orthodox Jewish jewelers, Russian gangsters and a priceless diamond. Yes, it may feel similar in style and tone to the director’s first movie, _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels._ But _Snatch_ proved that Ritchie is adept with the genre, especially when he’s cooking up names like Franky Four Fingers and Bullet-Tooth Tony. ### _The Thomas Crown Affair_ (1999)  The Thomas Crown Affair (Remake) MGM **Director:** John McTiernan **Why it’s great:** The suave remake starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo offers a cooler caper: Brosnan’s titular thief steals a $100 million Monet from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in broad daylight — and then later decides to return it in a similar fashion — a move worthy of James Bond himself. But the sexual tension between Brosnan and Russo has less heat than Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway’s romance. This version is more roguish than it is pessimistic, which perhaps is all that a good film about grand larceny should be. ### _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels_ (1998)  Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Summit Entertainment **Director:** Guy Ritchie **Why it’s great:** Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut is full of slapstick violence, bizarre misunderstandings and, yes, guns. A group of four friends (Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher and Jason Statham in his first film role) find themselves on the wrong side of a psychotic porn king when one of them loses a card game. To get out from under the debt, they decide to rob some local gangsters. The pace quickens, the plot gets rather complicated and everything that can go wrong does. Ritchie’s film is a loving Tarantino tribute, but with even more gags. ### _Set It Off_ (1996)  Set It Off New Line Cinema **Director:** F. Gary Gray **Why it’s great:** Too few heist movies feature female bank robbers. Thankfully, _Set It Off_ gives us four, played by Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise. Deeper than your average action flick, the movie explores how racism, sexism and classism conspire to create dire circumstances for four close friends living in Los Angeles. They decide to start committing crimes in order to better the lives of their families. They don sunglasses and wigs to pull of their heists — and yes, that scene in _Girls Trip_ is a callback to this early Pinkett Smith-Latifah partnership. ### _Bottle Rocket_ (1996)  Bottle Rocket Columbia **Director:** Wes Anderson **Why it’s great:** Wes Anderson’s first movie was a heist movie, co-written with his longtime collaborator Owen Wilson, though with all the singular flourishes you might expect from the whimsical director. Brothers Owen and Luke Wilson star as wannabe robbers who get in over their heads when they try to team up with a real criminal (James Caan). Anderson uses the dimwitted charm of his two main characters to begin to work out what will become his signature style. ### _Heat_ (1995)  Heat Warner Bros **Director:** Michael Mann **Why it’s great:** Yes, this is the movie that brought Al Pacino and Robert De Niro together onscreen for the first time. But _Heat_ is so much more than a meeting of titans in a memorable diner scene. The L.A. action scenes are spectacular, the supporting cast — including Val Kilmer — engaging and the emotional lives of the characters full. De Niro’s career criminal Neil McCauley instructs his crew to pull one last heist, despite the fact that they know they’re under surveillance by LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Pacino). It’s a dark movie about the cost of violence that touches on how tenuous relationships can be. ### _The Usual Suspects_ (1995)  The Usual Suspects Gramercy Pictures **Director:** Bryan Singer **Why it’s great:** Though more a mystery than a true heist movie, _The Usual Suspects_ makes the list thanks to its fabled twists. Five seasoned criminals meet in a police lineup — seemingly by happenstance — and decide to pull a job together. But in the process they unknowingly scam a fearsome criminal, Keyser Söze. The robbers eventually find themselves in a massive shootout, and only Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), survives. As police probe him for information about Söze, the film sets up an ending that’s impossible to predict. Spacey won an [Oscar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy%5FAward%5Ffor%5FBest%5FSupporting%5FActor "undefined") for the role. ### _Reservoir Dogs_ (1992)  Reservoir Dogs Miramax **Director:** Quentin Tarantino **Why it’s great:** _Reservoir_ _Dogs_ is classic Quentin Tarantino: profanity, nonlinear storytelling, extreme violence — like, cutting off someone’s ear extreme. The film follows a six criminals — Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr Brown, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink and Mr. White — who join together for a stick-up that goes terribly wrong. The dialogue is as sharp as the knives, and the iconic imagery of those black ties and black sunglasses unforgettable. The film premiered at Sundance and helped earn Tarantino his rabid following. ### _Point Break_ (1991)  Point Break 20th Century Fox **Director:** Kathryn Bigelow **Why it’s great:** Kathryn Bigelow’s early cult classic pits Keanu Reeves’ FBI agent — the perfectly named Johnny Utah — against Patrick Swayze’s surfer-turned-bank-robber Bodhi and his crew. But don’t let their surfer bro lingo fool you: The stakes are high, thanks to the surfers’ apparent death wish. At one point someone jumps out of an airplane _without a parachute_. Such actions scenes help rescue a plot with as many holes in it as Reeves’ bulletproof vest, rendering the movie an adrenaline-pumping fan favorite. ### _A Fish Called Wanda_ (1988)  A Fish Called Wanda MGM **Director:** John Cleese and Charles Crichton **Why it’s great:** It’s no surprise that _Monty Python_ veteran John Cleese created the funniest heist movie in cinematic history. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a seductress who teams up with a group of robbers to steal a bunch of diamonds. She flirts all the men into submission while she plots to make off with the jewels herself. The madcap mission goes predictably and hilariously awry, resulting in two dead dogs and a gobbled-up goldfish. Cleese plays an excellent straight-man while the thieves played by Kevin Kline and Michael Palin take unhinged to a new level. ### _Dog Day Afternoon_ (1975)  Dog Day Afternoon Warner Bros **Director:** Sidney Lumet **Why it’s great:** Based on a true story, Lumet’s film follows a Vietnam veteran named Sonny (Al Pacino) who tries to hold up a Brooklyn bank in order to fund his lover’s sex reassignment surgery. But there’s no money in the safe, and Sonny finds himself taking hostages. He becomes a news sensation, an arc that Lumet uses to explore how the media and public can turn an average person into a celebrity — for better or worse. The tense film was ahead of its time in style and subject matter: Shot in a documentary-like manner still employed by filmmakers, _Dog Day Afternoon_ is an early example of a mainstream Hollywood project that aimed to depict a gay character with complexity and compassion. ### _The Sting_ (1973)  The Sting Universal **Director:** George Roy Hill **Why it’s great:** When it comes to charisma, it’s hard to top the original dynamic duo: Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Coming off the success of _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_, the two reunite to play a small time con man (Redford) who seeks out a legendary swindler (Newman). Together, they plan to execute an elaborate sting that will rob a mob boss (Robert Shaw) of his riches, thus avenging the death of their mutual friend. Set to ragtime music, the movie introduces a series of lovable, dapper criminals as they construct and populate a fake underground gambling hall to trap their prey. _The Sting_ is totally unpredictable, but also utterly rewatchable: Redford and Newman’s chemistry buoy the film from intriguing puzzle to unassailable classic. The movie won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1974 Oscars. ### _The Italian Job_ (1969)  The Italian Job Paramount **Director:** Peter Collinson **Why it’s great:** This stylish movie features a young Michael Caine as a Cockney-accented lothario who travels to Italy to boost some gold. His means of getaway: Red, white and blue Mini Coopers that have since British cultural icons. The cars and Caine’s famous line — “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” — have cemented the film’s place in cinematic history. And the movie ends on what’s either a frustrating or brilliant note: [A literal cliffhanger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZCaSyid4m0 "undefined"). ### _The Thomas Crown Affair_ (1968)  The Thomas Crown Affair United Artists **Director:** Norman Jewison **Why it’s great:** The caper-romance flick is the ultimate in 1960s nostalgia. Steve McQueen stars as Thomas Crown, a bored millionaire who orchestrates a bank robbery in Boston just for kicks. Faye Dunaway plays the insurance investigator assigned to find the mastermind behind the crime. They’re both ridiculously attractive and thus bound to fall into bed together. Their game of cat and mouse culminates in an erotic chess match. (Yes, really.) On the surface, the movie is all glamor — games of polo, drives on the beach and smirking behind sunglasses. But Norman Jewison infuses the film with a layer of cynicism when the two narcissists facing off against each other realize that their lives are utterly empty. ### _The Killing_ (1956)  The Killing United Artists **Director:** Stanley Kubrick **Why it’s great:** The early Stanley Kubrick movie is a triumph in filmmaking. A career criminal (Sterling Hayden) decides to pull one last job before retiring. Kubrick sets up the heist by telling the story from one robber’s perspective before retelling it from another robber’s point of view and so on. By the time the action starts, we’re familiar with the motives of the many desperate men involved in the job. It’s a storytelling trick that has influenced the likes of Quentin Tarantino and won Kubrick acclaim before he ever made _A Clockwork Orange_ or _2001: A Space Odyssey_. ### _Rififi_ (1955)  Rififi Getty Images **Director:** Jules Dassin **Why it’s great:** Many [film critics credit director Jules Dassin](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-rififi-1954 "undefined") with inventing the modern heist film with _Rififi_, and Dassin only took on the French film after he was blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era. The movie features one of the most famous scenes in movie history: In a 28-minute sequence, the robbers break into a jewelry store and steal diamonds in total silence. The wordless scene is so meticulous in its details that [some countries banned the movie](http://calitreview.com/32688/100-greatest-gangster-films-rififi-27/ "undefined") for fear that criminals would use it as an instruction manual. But _Rififi_ made its mark in other ways. The story captures the euphoric highs of executing a robbery and the heart-rending lows of when everything inevitably goes wrong. _The Killing_ and _Reservoir_ _Dogs_ are among the movies that have borrowed elements of the fabled film. ### _The Asphalt Jungle_ (1950)  The Asphalt Jungle MGM **Director:** John Huston **Why it’s great:** _The_ _Asphalt_ _Jungle_ was the first major film to present criminals as basically good people who just happen to steal, a thread picked up by _The Sting_, _Ocean’s 11_, _The Italian Job_ and many other heist movies. Capitalizing on the trend of neorealism, the movie unspools in a gritty urban environment. Though the job goes off without a hitch, a series of double crossings lead to the criminals’ own undoing. 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