Blend of comedy in Heist

For this blog posting I will be taking a look at the comedic mutation of heist films.  This seems to be a relatively new take on heist films, compared to how long they have been around, but many films have been able to pull both the comedic elements and the heist elements. 

I feel that the film Kelly’s Heroes (1970) does a great job with blending comedic elements into a war heist film.  This can be a tricky blend because the main goal of a comedy film according to According to Dirks “Comedy Films are ‘make 'em laugh’ films designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are light-hearted dramas, crafted to amuse, entertain, and provoke enjoyment. The comedy genre humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters. (Filmsite.org.)  Though when looking at a traditional heist film a lighthearted film is usually one of the last things that come to mind. 

The film Kelly’s Heroes takes place during WWII, when an American Lieutenant learns of a German bank behind enemy lines that has a large fortune of gold bars.  The men decide to had behind enemy lines with a small group and steal the nazi gold for themselves.  This heist film seems to incorporate the comedy portion into the film with its off the wall characters and dialog.  Although the men in the “gang” really don’t seem to fit the traditional heist roles on the surface, but after seeing the film you come to understand that they do.  The men are lead by Big Joe, hustler Crapgame, a strange hippie type character, and three tanks.  The dialog of the film along with the half crocked idea really adds to the comedy of this film. 

Another film that blends comedy into the classic heist genre is the film Tower Heist.  This film is a newer film, which released in 2011, but it still incorporates classic comedy/heist elements.  Although according to Sweany, characters must embody a certain amount of ambiguity, the plot must contain the right level of complexity and the story must be believable for a heist film to be successful.  But when you know that your going to see a movie that was defiantly marketed as a comedy and a heist you can almost know what to expect when your going to see this movie.  But since the major part of this movie was supposed to surround the actual heist, it seemed to miss the mark a little.

My expectations for this film were much higher before I actually saw the movie.  Just from the casting of actors like Ben Stiller, Eddy Murphy, Casey Affleck, and Mathew Broderick I figured that the dialog alone could carry the comedy through the movie while still having a believable heist story line.

Although this fan film blog believes that Tower Heist missed the mark on being able to make comedy/heist hybrid types of movies, I still believe that this is a great genre mutation for both comedies and heist films.  I believe that Kelly’s Heroes was able to prove that point.       

Works sited

"Cinematic Terms - A FilmMaking Glossary." Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <http://www.filmsite.org/filmterms11.html>.

Sweany, Sean . "Cinematic crime capers emerge as fresh film genre." The Observer. N.p., 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <www.ndsmcobserver.com/2.2755/cinematic-crime-capers-emerge-as-fresh-film-genre-1.265715 >.