5
minute read
Heist films are the ultimate guilty pleasure, a scheming world of cons and quips with the audience along for the ride as accomplices.
George Clooney’s celebrity-packed Ocean’s 11 (2001) rebooted the genre. The billion-dollar franchise - spinning off three sequels at last count - may be a superstar take on the casino heist theme, but there are plenty of other legendary films.
SPYSCAPE counts down some of the ‘jobs’ you may want to stream right now.
10) Five Against the House (1955)
Five Against the House is a neo-noir drama involving four college friends briefly detained by Reno police in connection with a casino robbery. Their minds soon turn to plotting the perfect heist and the intellectual game becomes deadly serious. Siren Kim Novak (star of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo) steals the show as a nightclub singer. If you like black and white films, you’ll also want to check out the classic Bob le Flambeur (1956). (YouTube, Amazon Prime)
9) Casino Jack (2010)
Kevin Spacey stars as a Washington lobbyist convicted of stealing funds from an Indian casino. Following his arrest, he’s on parole and working in a pizza parlor but Casino Jack may not be down for long. (Amazon Prime)
8) 3,000 miles to Graceland (2001)
3,000 miles to Graceland’s top cast includes Christian Slater (Mr. Robot), Kurt Russell (Escape from New York), and Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) in a plot to rob the Riviera Hotel during International Elvis Week in Las Vegas. The film got rave reviews from Amazon viewers (4.5 stars) but Rotten Tomatoes’ audience gave it a big ‘meh’, so stream and enjoy the music. It’s now or never. (Amazon Prime, Hulu, Vudu, Apple TV, YouTube, Microsoft, Google Play)
7) Ocean's 11, the original (1960)
Before George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s inspired 2001 film, there was the original Ocean’s 11 starring brat packer Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean along with his crew Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford. Danny and 10 friends from WWII decide to rob five of the biggest Las Vegas casinos in a single night but does their master plan have a flaw? (Amazon, Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft)
6) 21 (2008)
This breezy, retro film sees MIT student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) scrounging to pay his university tuition when he joins a group led by a professor (Kevin Spacey) who wants to use his students’ mathematical abilities to hit the jackpot in Las Vegas. Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) plays the casino enforcer. (YouTube, Google Play, Amazon)