For this fan blog post I am going to talk about the different ways the heist genre is used. The heist genre really seemed to hit the scene in films early, and then in the 1950’s-1970’s the heist genre seemed to make a transformation over seas and change the traditional heist mold.
In 1903 a film called The Great Train Robbery really set the ground work for what we now know as the heist film. According to an article from Rotten Tomatoes, Edwin S. Porter's landmark 12-minute short was one of the first narrative films, and it utilized some groundbreaking cinematic techniques (cross-cutting, non-static camerawork) to tell the tale of a railway heist and its bloody aftermath.
Although since then there have been many other memorable heist films; The Unholy Three (1925), Raffles (1930), and High Sierra (1941), there seemed to be a change around the 1960’s with in the American heist genre. According to Palmer, The heist genre found greater life in Europe were several key texts modified its conventions. In France Italy
Now when viewers look back at more recent heist films, you may be able to make certain connections. In the Oceans movies the main character Danny is an ex-con who is nobble, yet downtrodden. He plays the same role as the fearless leader in all three of the films, but usually always has a hidden objective because of events happening in his life.
Another movie that uses the mutation of the heist genre is a 2011 film called Tower Heist. This film is really able to emphasize the comic dimensions while being wrapped up in a classic heist story line.
Works Cited
"A hundred years of heist films." Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1207149-taking_of_pelham_1_2_3/news/1825803/a_hundred_years_of_heist_films/>.
Palmer, R. Barton. The philosophy of Steven Soderbergh. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2011. Print.
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