Greetings, all! It has been some time now since I posted thoughtfully (some might say I have never done that) and so I have returned to offer my humble insight into what makes a Heist film a, well, a Heist film.
First off, I want to affirm what Dane Cook has already suggested, that every man wants to, at some point in his life, take part in a heist. This is definitely true. (And be warned: Cook does not filter for the family listening at home.)
Perhaps that is what drives some people to make heist films. (By the way, try to type the word heist. Go ahead and do it. I guarantee you will start to type a different word, which will be revealed at the bottom of this post. Let no one say I can't offer cliffhangers to my readers.) And so I offer you four of them, in the hopes that you have seen at least one: Confidence (2003), The Italian Job (2003), Matchstick Men (2003), and Ocean's Eleven (2001).
These films teem with tropes of the genre. First of all, there is a score to be settled, and the bad guy is always easy to dislike. In Ocean's Eleven, we all want to dislike Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) because he is obsessed with money and treats women as objects. Easy enough. In The Italian Job, Edward Norton's character has betrayed the rest of the team, and so the team plots their former mate's demise. All very straightforward.
Oddly, the main characters of these films are rarely painted in a negative light. I say this is odd because nearly all of them are criminals. In Matchstick Men, we empathize with Roy (Nic Cage) even though he is filching money from well-mannered people. In Confidence, Jake Vig (Ed Norton, doing his best Ben Affleck impression) is a professional grifter, or con man. Yet we love him. This is not to say such men are not portrayed as complicated, conflicted men. Surely Danny Ocean is not perfect. But we root for them. That's crucial. More than that even, we want to be them, nevermind the unseen consequences.
The final trope I would like to take up is that of the attractive female woven into the plot of all four of these movies. This gets a bit tricky with Matchstick Men, for reasons I would rather leave unmentioned for fear you will see the movie (I endorse it wholeheartedly), but it is most certainly clear in the other three. These women are portrayed as independent and a touch saucy, and they are also most capable. Yet just as important, they are attractive, and this means they bring out either the best or the worst in the adjacent men. Usually this leads to a poor decision somewhere along the plot line, but they also feature in the conclusion quite prominently. In Oceans, Danny jeopardizes the plan because of Tess, but ultimately he wins fair maiden's heart. The same is true in Confidence.
The basic outline of these films is strikingly predictable, which to me limits their potential to be considered great films (perhaps The Sting standing as an exception). But, they are wonderful entertainers, at least for men (who are clearly the target audience). They fulfill fantasies: The protagonists look good in a suit, they gamble successfully and end up with a beautiful woman. They provide an escape, in more ways than one, and that makes them an easy hit for both the film makers and the audience members.
If you haven't had your fill of heist-talk, I've created a VoiceThread to further discuss these films.
Also, I think this trailer for Confidence serves as a solid example of how these films are advertised. Also, consider the glamorization of the heist in the Ocean's Eleven trailer.
Answer: "Hesitate," or some derivation thereof
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Lesson Plan: Why We Love the Heist
Objective: Students will identify and compare the elements of heist movie plots and characters. Ultimately, they will understand the purpose behind these tropes in the greater context of the genre.
Materials:
- Access to a number of heist films
- A means to watch these films
- A pen, pencil or word processor
- A list of heist film tropes
Procedure:
This can be accomplished a number of ways. This is but one. Open a discussion of what students know about heist movies. Make a list of examples on the board. Ask them to brainstorm with their classmates (in groups) about what makes a heist movie a heist movie. If desired, you could assign each group a certain aspect: the protagonist, the antagonist, the love interest, the plot, the resolution, etc. Ultimately, they will build up to a presentation about either this aspect or the entire heist genre as a whole.
Assuming the groups all brainstormed on specific aspects, ask them to report this to the class by writing in the characteristics on the board. Then, ask students to take home a film from the teacher's collection (he's very trusting, but just in case the DVDs are all labeled because he's not THAT trusting), and they will need to identify the elements of a heist in that particular film. The class could create its own worksheet/framework for this based on the elements described in the class discussion.
After a sufficient amount of time has passed, students can share these presentations with the class. They could be assigned a certain aspect of the film on which to focus, and they should prepare a clip that exemplifies the tropes of their aspect. (Alternatively, they could consider how a film diverges from these tropes.) What purpose do these tropes serve in the greater context of the genre? How does this trope limit the genre?
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