Gangin with some friends tonight and we're all thinking of thriller and heist movies. It's my turn to pick the film of the night, problem is I don't watch movies all that often and I don't want to accidentally pick something shitty.
Suggestions please!
Seconded on Heat. A great example how older movies had such masterful pacing compared to what we get today.
Then: takes its time, long diner / loading dock scenes to establish tension + characters, explosive payoff
Now: thou shalt have no fewer than seven action sequences, each shall be no more than eight minutes apart least the audience literally die
Actually thought of that one but most of the group's already seen it and we're looking for something new. But thank you!
not the most action packed but Michael Mann's Thief is so slick and stylish. It's like the epitome of cool, and stars the GOAT James Cann. Also has some good working class vs boss themes
Le Cercle Rouge is a French heist movie by the great crime movie director Jean-Pierre Melville. It's very tense and engaging, and stars the absolute coldest mother fucker to ever grace the screen, Alain Delon.
Thrillers:
Watched Blue Ruin recently and really enjoyed it. Very simple revenge cycle plot.
Burning has a similar vibe to Blue Ruin. One of those movies that sticks with you. Absolutely haunting
Calibre is a thriller about trying to cover up a hunting accident in an isolated town
Brian De Palma's Blowout is a paranoid thriller. My fav of his films and feature Travolta at his absolute best
Pig with nic cage is a deconstruction of revenge thrillers, and a very beautiful movie
As for heists:
The original Italian Job is an obnoxiously/charmingly British heist movie with Michael Cane
Baby driver is quality Edgar Wright stuff (cw: Kevin spacey)
The Hot Rock is a fun 70s heist movie with Robert Redford
Is Dog Day Afternoon a heist movie? Idk. Watched that again a few weeks ago and remembered how good it is. My pic for best movie of the 70s
Logan Lucky and Hell or High Water are both really good heist movies. The latter is about planning a bank heist to pay back the mortgage that same bank is foreclosing on, lol
Logan Lucky is fun and Hell or High Water is excellent and really affecting.
I remember absolutely loving this movie when I watched it long long ago. Not sure how it holds up, but I really should see it again soon.
American Animals is a about a real life art heist and would be perhaps too wacky if it wasn't true. It's a good time though.
Sexy Beast is a great British gangster film about a guy roped into a heist by his boss despite wanting to just retire.
Widows is fantastically directed by Steve McQueen and focuses on three widows who's husband's botched job leaves them in debt to criminals and decide to try and do a heist of their own.
Dog Day Afternoon is a stone cold classic bank job movie and a pressure cooker of tension.
The Bank Job is a 70s British retro piece with Jason Statham with an interesting item at the centre of the plot best not revealed.
The Taking of Pelham 123 is one of my all time favourites, partly because the script is so tight. Go for the 70s one though instead of the remake which is just ok.
Three Kings I haven't seen in a while but was made between the Iraq wars and is about three soldiers trying to get out of the country with Saddam's gold. I remember it being somewhat satirical and thematically feels like a comment on the lengths and amount of terrible shit the US is willing to do to loot other countries. They basically remade it but tacticool and more hoo-rah as Three Frontiers.
A Place Beyond The Pines got largely overshadowed by Drive (which I also like) due to some surface similarities like Ryan Gosling playing a motorcycle stunt rider and getting sucked into heist. It deserved better though and is really a sort of multi-generational drama about masculinity and poverty disguised as a crime film.
I remember laughing my ass off at the It*lian Job. Michael Cain is so great.
The Score (2001) (cw: this clip has an r-slur)
I dunno as long as you can laugh along with Brando's performance it's a fun movie and the heist has a neat technical aspect
