American Madness

Intelligent Criticism in the Service of a Better Nation




Ocean’s 11, The Italian Job, David Mamet and the Great Unification of Brando, De Niro and Norton

Posted by Jason Ihle | 6 Comments

Here I continue with my project. But in trying to pare down my list to 50 films I realized there’s no reason at all I should limit myself to any particular number. If my goal is to make a list of my favorite films of the decade and perhaps to give a bit more exposure to some films that were not widely seen, then it simply doesn’t make sense to rack my brain over which ones to cut. So my final list will be something like 60-65 films.

In this edition, I focus on one of my favorite genres: the heist movie. My 90s list had Out of Sight, not a traditional heist film, but containing some elements. I also really enjoyed the Pierce Brosnan remake of The Thomas Crown Affair from 1999. From this decade I was taken in by Confidence which is, of course, more con than heist. Although it doesn’t make the cut for favorite films.

So here are 4 heist films from the past decade I really enjoyed. I own 3 of them.

Heist (2001) dir. David Mamet – The amazing Mamet dialogue combined with a heist movie? Wow! Gene Hackman is the leader of a team including Ricky Jay, Rebecca Pidgeon and Delroy Lindo forced into taking one final job. As usual, master of the bait and switch, pulls the wool over our eyes so you’d hardly be able to expect what’s coming. No, this isn’t the best heist movie or even the best Mamet film, but good fun nonetheless. It’s full of priceless gems of dialogue and two of the funniest lines ever written: “My motherfucker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him.” “Everybody needs money. That’s why it’s called money.”

The Italian Job (2003) dir. F. Gary Gray – As far as heist movies go, this one is lots of fun and fulfills all the necessary requirements of the genre. The team: expert planner Mark Wahlberg; driver and ladies’ man Jason Statham; computer expert Seth Green; and explosives expert Mos Def. They’ve got great chemistry working together as they enlist the help of Charlize Theron to go after Edward Norton, who betrayed them, stole their loot and left them for dead in the Alps. It’s got a fantastic chase sequence involving 3 Mini Coopers which was done entirely without the aid of CGI, employing the use of some 20 different vehicles. Director Gray decided that the automobile stunts would only involve things that Mini Coopers could actually do.

Ocean’s 11 (2001) dir. Steven Soderbergh – The ultimate heist movie and epitome of cool. Never seen the Rat Pack original, don’t really care to. George Clooney and Brad Pitt get a crew together to rob 3 Vegas casinos in one fell swoop. The team is brilliantly colorful troupe including comedic genius Bernie Mac, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan playing brothers who get on each other’s and everyone else’s nerves, and Carl Reiner as the aged pro and Elliot Gould as the dejected casino owner and financier. Soderbergh handles all the elements of the heist movie wonderfully – the setup and introduction of characters; walk-through of the scheme; execution; and the necessary pulling the wool over the eyes of the audience. Along the way he even manages to poke fun at the genre in sly ways, like when the whole crew turns up at Gould’s door together and he asks, “Did you guys get a group rate, or something?” The first sequel was okay, but suffers from a general failure to get the crew together in the same room for more than a few moments. The second sequel is largely forgettable.

The Score (2001) dir. Franz Oz – The union of three of the greatest actors of their respective generations – Marlon Brandon, Robert De Niro, Edward Norton – should have yielded one hell of a movie. Well, sort of. As has been proven time and again, a great cast is one of the last necessary things for a great movie. This is not a great movie, but it’s a pretty good example of a heist movie and great fun to watch these three masterful actors (there’s one scene with all of them together). This was Brando’s last screen performance.

Posted on February 15, 2010 in American Madness

Comments

6 Responses to “Ocean’s 11, The Italian Job, David Mamet and the Great Unification of Brando, De Niro and Norton”

  1. Josh Friedlander
    February 15th, 2010 @

    So, what’s the best heist movie ever?
    The Sting
    Sneakers
    Heat
    The Spanish Prisoner
    ???

  2. Jason Ihle
    February 16th, 2010 @

    I recently watched Sneakers again. I really liked it when I was 13, but this time found it remarkably forgettable. It’s got its amusing moments, but it’s so cheap.

    Look! The blind guy drives the van to save the day! Look! The lovesick kid finds a date with the CIA operative who busts them at the end. Also, it’s really dated. Released in 1992, the big prize is like a secret code that holds the key to controlling information in computers connected by dialup modems.

    Also recently saw The Sting again. It’s a hell of a movie, a great con. But can you believe it won the Best Picture Oscar? Seriously, the modern equivalent would be Ocean’s 11 winning best picture. A slickly made, well written, star studded heist movie that gets all the details right.

    For all the accolades bestowed on the 1970s as this golden age of American cinema, 1973 was a pretty weak year. The Sting’s toughest competition was probably American Graffiti. The Exorcist is a great example of a scare-you-shitless horror movie, but watching that again recently I can how flawed it is, although still very effective. I’ve never seen Cries and Whispers or A Touch of Class, so I can’t comment on whether they’re better than The Sting.

    Other 1973 films include Serpice (recently watched again – not as good as I remembered it, great Pacino performance, well-directed and written, but not great). What else from 1973? The Way We Were? Dear lord! Last Tango in Paris – Bernardo Bertolucci’s shockfest. Groucho Marx got an Honorary Oscar that year. That was the biggest deal at that awards ceremony, I’d say.

    Entrapment doesn’t make any list of mine.

    I love Heat, but it just turns into a big automatic rifle shootout on the streets of LA.

    I think the Soderbergh Ocean’s 11 would get my vote for best heist movie just because of its big balls. What cojones it must have taken to try to pull off a remake of a Rat Pack movie with a huge cast of stars wrapped in a convoluted con game to rob 3 Vegas casinos in one shot. And the result is a dryly comic, really well-made film. Just great pure filmmaking.

    I never saw Family Business, though, so you never know.

  3. Joel Friedlander
    February 16th, 2010 @

    May I suggest, not in chronological order, or in the order of my liking, the following heist films that I have really enjoyed:

    The Great Train Robbery (Sean Connery etc)
    Die Hard
    A Fish Called Wanda
    High Sierra
    The Lavender Hill Mob (Alec Guinness etc)
    The Pink Panther (Peter Sellers etc)
    Topkapi
    The Thomas Crown Affair (Steve McQueen)

    Topkapi was the first one that I remember.

  4. Jason Ihle
    February 16th, 2010 @

    It hadn’t occurred to me to consider Die Hard a heist film. I guess my preference for heist films is specifically for those in which the hero/s/protagonist/s are the thieves. So for me, Die Hard registers as an action film. I really enjoy it all the same.

    A Fish Called Wanda is brilliant, but not what I had in mind.

    I saw The Pink Panther a long time ago and it didn’t really connect.

    I haven’t seen the others on your list.

  5. Joel Friedlander
    February 16th, 2010 @

    The Great Train Robbery, which they call
    The First Great Train Robbery,” is outstanding. It is 31 years old but it is very immediately filmed. All three of the guys in my family watched the film endlessly.

    High Sierra is the film that made Humphrey Bogart a star. It is from 1941 and was filmed in the California mountains. It has the same feeling as “The Lady in the Lake,” by Raymond Chandler.

    The Pink Panther, Topkapi, and The Thomas Crown Affair are all from the 1960’s, but the original “Lavender Hill Mob,” was from 1951.

    You should really see The First Great Train Robbery.

  6. Jason Ihle
    February 18th, 2010 @

    Spike Lee’s “Inside Man” is pretty good, too.

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