First I should explain what exactly a heist film is about. According to CI5472 Teaching Film, Television, and Media, A heist film typically involve a gang’s attempt to pull off a highly challenging robbery of extensive wealth or executing a forgery or art thief requiring a lot of careful planning. In the actual heist itself, there are often suspenseful moments in which it seems as if things will go awry, which they sometimes do, only to have the heist succeed, but then, once they acquire their wealth, they are no longer satisfied because the thrill of pulling off the heist is behind them.
The heist genre has been around a lot longer than you might actually think. One of the first heist films every created is a film called The Great Train Robbery, which was released in 1903! Although this film was only about 12 minutes long, it really changed how directors looked at film films. From the camera work, to the final scene where the character fires a shot right at the audience.
There seems to be reoccurring themes and icons within the heist genre. Although every director is able to put his or her own spin on things certain themes keep coming up. 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. Because of these prerequisites, caper films are usually either horribly bad or delightfully entertaining.
Now I’d like to give you a great film example in this genre. The first film is Steven Soderbergh’s Oceans 11. This movie portrays the essential elements within the heist genre, the master mind has a motive, he assembles the right men for the job, the film seems believable, and there are many obstacles that the team has to overcome. Oceans 11 works was a successful heist film because of many factors including the casting, the grand allure of classic Las Vegas, and the director. The film starts off with the main character Danny about ready to be released for prison. He claimed that the reason that he committed his crime was because his wife had left him for another man. That other man happened to be Terry Benedict who owns three Las Vegas casinos. While serving his sentence, Danny plots up a way to get back at Terry for stealing his wife and creates a plan to rob all three of his casinos at one time because they all use one vault. Shortly after Danny is paroled from prison and reunites with his right hand man Rusty who helps him find the right people for the job and the right person to fund it. As the film goes on the team is able to develop and execute Danny’s plan to perfection. At the very end Danny is reunited with his wife Tess and they live happily ever after. Or so you would think. After he reunites with Tess he is followed by two of Terry’s men. So the viewer can almost immediately sense a sequel. In which this case they were able to make two sequels.
Works Cited
"CI5472 Teaching Film, Television, and Media." Twin Cities - University of Minnesota. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/teachingmedia/module7/Suspense%20ThrillerSpyHeist.htm>.
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 >.
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