Great Caper/Heist Films

This noirish tale of a heist features an incredible group of actors, including some, like Sam Jaffee, who would find themselves blacklisted for their politics. It's a rather dark and cynical tale, in keeping with the noir atmosphere.

Ealing comedy, starring Alec Guinness. Guinness is a quiet, competant man who shepherds gold shipments for a bank. However, he is being pushed out of the job; so, he concocts a plan to steal the gold on his last run. He assembles a rather odd group of criminals and pulls off the perfect crime, until he loses the gold! Hilarity ensues as Guinness and his partner try to retrieve the gold and elude the police. Audrey Hepburn makes a small cameo in the film.

Legendary French crime film, with an intriquite robbery at the center of the plot. This is also a dark tale and was highly influential, both for its style and for its heist scenes.

Alec Guinness stars in another Ealing comedy, where a group of criminals masquerades as an orchestra to throw an old woman off the scent, while they plan a robbery. Of course, things go wildly wrong. Herbert Lom appears, long before he would be plagued by Clouseau. The film was remade by the Coen Brothers, with Tom Hanks.

No so much a caper film, though it involves a cat burglar. Cary Grant is a retired thief who is hired to catch another thief who is targeting jewels owned by Grace Kelly's mother. This Hitchcock piece is a classic love story, but also an excellent thriller.

One of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films, complete with a heist at the center of the plot. This is another noir film, but stylishly shot.

French crime thriller about a down on his luck crook, who plots to rob a casino on Grand Prix weekend. From Jean-Pierre Melville, a master of crime films.

An Italian caper farce.

Not as well known on this sode of the "pond;" but, it's an exciting film. Jack Hawkins leads a group of WW II army veterans in a scheme to rob a bank delivery, using military precision. All of the men have found that civilian life is far less exciting than their war days and each one is easily persuaded. The film is filled with great character actors, including a youngish Richard Attenborough.

Edward G. Robinson leads a group of criminals as they plot to rob a Monte Carlo casino. Made around the same time as Ocean's Eleven, but with more skilled actors.

The Rat Pack star in this infamous film, where they try to rob multiple Las Vegas casinos. The acting is rather broad, but it's played straight. It's better than Robin and the Seven Hoods, as the Rat Pack films go.

Blake Edwards' wild comedy features Peter Sellers in his first appearance as the hapless Inspector Clouseau. David Niven plays the jewel thief, Sir Charles Lytton, a sort of modern Raffles, who is after the Pink Panther diamond, which is in the company of a North African princess. This one is a bit less slapsticky than the films of the 70s, basing the comedy more on character. Other actors would play Clouseau, until Sellers and Edwards were enticed to return to the series, including Alan Arkin.

Not really a caper film, but it shares the same elements, as we watch an elaborate plan unfold to dig a series of tunnels to aid a mass escape of Allied POWs. The film is based on a true story and features great character performances from an all star cast.

An interesting cast of international actors, including Peter Ustinov and Maximillian Schell, headline this film, about an attempt to steal a jewelled dagger from the Topkapi Palace, in Istanbul. Ustinov is the odd man out in this gang. The intricate nature of the break-in would heavily influence the tense scenes of the Mission Impossible series.

Gert Frobe is the criminal Auric Goldfinger who plots to steal the gold in Ft Knox. James Bond, who already has had a run in with Goldfinger, is assigned to investigate gold smuggling by the villain. Along the way, he discovers Goldfinger's true plans. The best of the Bond films, more crime story than spy thriller, though at grandiose levels. Honor Black is the infamously named Pussy Galore.

Jeam Marais stars in a dual role as the supercriminal Fantomas and the journalist Fandor. Fantomas plots to steal a fortune in jewels from a museum, right under the nose of Inspector Juve.

Fun Italian caper film, about an international team of crooks, led by a genius professor. The gang is stealing gold from a Zurich bank, right under their noses. Plenty of fun and more than a bit of sizzle from the female lead, Rosanna Podesta. Of course, there are double-crosses upon double-crosses. Followed by a sequel.

Each week, the IMF crew would pull off some elaborate con or theft, often involving infiltrating secure areas, or creating false realities. Discovery is always just around the corner. It was great in the early years, but lost much of its charm when it became less about spies and more about fighting "the syndicate."

Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn star in this romantic comedy. Hepburn's father is an art forger, carrying on a family tradition. The family is in danger as their priceless statue, on loan to a museum, is about to be valued for insurance, which will reveal that it is a fake. Hepburn blackmails O'Toole, who had broken into her home before being caught by Hepburn, into helping her find a way to steal it. Along the way, the two fall in love. Eli Wallach and Kenneth Griffith round out the cast.

Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine plot to steal a jade bust from Herbert Lom, in North Africa. The film starts with the robbery, which goes off like clockwork, only to be revealed to be Caine's imagination. he soon finds that reality is far different, starting with a rather talkative Shirley MacLaine. The film is a lot of fun and there is also a nice romance at the center.

The Seven Golden Men return and are blackmailed into aiding the CIA to depose a Carribean dictator. Guess which one? Along the way, they hijack a shipment of gold meant to finance the dictator, leading to a battle between factions that has to be seen to be believed. Not quite as good as the first film but still very entertaining.

Edward G Robinson is a retired professor who masterminds a robbery of a Brazillian diamond company. The heist is carried out by an international group, including Klaus Kinski. Janet Leigh is a woman who is romanced to gain a key, to get access to a vault. Great caper, topped off with a surprise ending.

Jim Hutton stars in this lightweight, but entertaining comedy. Hutton works at the US Mint, in Washington and has accidently taken a bag of money (believing it to be horrible fudge) home and destroyed it in a garbage disposal. He enlists the aid of a retired worker, a deaf safecracker, a conniving Milton Berhle, ice cream salesman Bob Denver, Joey Bishop, and Victor Buono to break into the mint, print enough money to make up the discrepancy, and a little more to cover expenses. However, greed takes control and things go haywire. Along the way, we have sunken boats, pregnant basset hounds, and a wild chase through Washington. At the center is a charming romance between Hutton and Dorothy Provine.

Steve McQueen is a wealthy man who likes to pull jobs on the side. Faye Dunaway is an investigator who is looking to trap him. Along the way, a romance develops. Noted for its scenes of a seductive chess game and the theme song, The Windmills of You Mind, which is more recited than sung (and which I hate with a passion). The film would be remade with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, directed by John McTiernan.

Robert Wagner stars as a thief who finds himself stealing for the government in theis tv series.