Heists That Go Wrong

Ten perfect plans, ruined by the people executing them.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A crumpled clown wig and a red rubber nose on the seat of a stalled taxi stuck in New York traffic.

    10. Quick Change

    Howard Franklin and Bill Murray · 1990

    Murray robs a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown and gets out clean. The problem is New York, which refuses to let him reach the airport. Murray's only directing credit, and a box office disappointment. The robbery is easy. Leaving Queens is the heist.

  2. Four sets of car keys and a pile of cash on a kitchen table in a Los Angeles apartment at dusk.

    09. Set It Off

    F. Gary Gray · 1996

    Four Los Angeles women, pushed past the end of their rope, start robbing banks and are briefly better at it than the police. The last job falls apart in the worst way. Made for $9 million, it was New Line's top grosser of 1996. Queen Latifah owns it.

  3. A yellow jumpsuit, a small handful of fireworks and a hand-drawn heist plan on a motel bed in Texas.

    08. Bottle Rocket

    Wes Anderson · 1996

    Wes Anderson's first feature and the Wilson brothers' acting debut. The crew robs a bookstore, then a cold storage plant, where the safecracker cannot crack safes. It made about $560,000. Scorsese called it one of his favorite films of the 90s, which helped later.

  4. A shattered glass jewelry case in a small suburban shop, a plastic toy pistol lying on the carpet beside a real one.

    07. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

    Sidney Lumet · 2007

    Two broke brothers decide to rob their parents' jewelry store, which is a plan with one fewer step than it needs. A real gun shows up where a toy should be, and so does Mom. Lumet's last film, and Ebert gave it four stars. A family business.

  5. A jukebox glowing in an empty roadside diner at night, a half-finished cup of coffee and a pouch of jewels on the counter.

    06. The Asphalt Jungle

    John Huston · 1950

    The jewel job works until an alarm trips, a gun drops, and a crew member takes a bullet. The mastermind is caught because he stayed to watch a girl dance at a diner. Four Oscar nominations and an early Marilyn Monroe. Know when to leave.

  6. Abandoned canvas money bags and spent brass casings on a sunny downtown street between bullet-riddled parked cars.

    05. Heat

    Michael Mann · 1995

    Pacino and De Niro, finally in a scene together, then a $12.2 million bank job that ends in a downtown Los Angeles firefight people still study. The crew is meticulous. The hire they should not have made, Waingro, is not.

  7. An umbrella hanging open upside down beneath a hole in a plaster ceiling, catching falling dust, in a dark Paris jewelry shop.

    04. Rififi

    Jules Dassin · 1955

    A blacklisted Dassin made it in France and won Best Director at Cannes. The break-in is half an hour with no dialogue or music, and it is flawless. Then the safecracker pockets one ring for his girlfriend. Never steal a souvenir from your own heist.

  8. A battered suitcase bursting open on an airport tarmac, banknotes swirling into the propeller wash of a waiting plane.

    03. The Killing

    Stanley Kubrick · 1956

    A racetrack robbery planned to the second and told out of order, by a 28-year-old Kubrick with Jim Thompson on dialogue. Everything works until a wife talks and a suitcase meets an airport. Tarantino has said Reservoir Dogs was his take on it.

  9. A small bank's open, empty cash drawer on a sweltering summer afternoon, a handful of bills and an electric fan on the counter, police lights outside the window.

    02. Dog Day Afternoon

    Sidney Lumet · 1975

    Based on a real 1972 Brooklyn bank job where the armored truck had already taken the cash, leaving about $1,100. Pacino turns a botched robbery into a street rally with one word: Attica. Frank Pierson won the Oscar for the script. The bank did not.

  10. A row of black suit jackets and skinny ties hanging on a rusted warehouse rail, a single bloodstained bandage on a wooden crate below.

    01. Reservoir Dogs

    Quentin Tarantino · 1992

    A diamond job we never see, told entirely through the bleeding aftermath in a warehouse. Tarantino skipped the robbery partly for budget reasons, which is the most honest thing a heist movie has ever done. Also settled nothing about tipping.

Honorable mentions

  • A coach bus teetering on the edge of an alpine cliff, gold bars sliding toward the open back door.

    The Italian Job

    Peter Collinson · 1969

    Michael Caine pulls off the gold job in Turin with three Mini Coopers, then ends the film on a bus teetering over a cliff, the gold sliding toward the drop. 'Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea.' The sequel was never made. He is still thinking.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A cat burglar's grappling hook tangled in a velvet rope beside a toppled bust and a cappuccino.

    Hudson Hawk

    Michael Lehmann · 1991

    Bruce Willis co-wrote the story about a cat burglar who times heists by singing songs. The budget reportedly rose toward $70 million, it made $17 million at home, and it won three Razzies including Worst Picture. Everything went wrong, starting with greenlighting it.

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