Heist Movie

Heist
Rating:
Run Time: 107 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 2001
Directors: David Mamet
Genre/Type: Crime
Caper
Post-Noir (Modern Noir)
Crime Thriller
Producers: Art Linson
Andrew Stevens
Elie Samaha
Plot Synopsis by Karl Williams
Esteemed writer/director David Mamet fashioned this homage to the elegant, character-driven "tough guy" genre pictures of Warner Bros. in the 1930s and '40s, even using vintage scores in the soundtrack. Gene Hackman stars as Joe Moore, an accomplished thief whose career is jeopardized after he's caught on security cameras during a job. Broke, Joe and his associates Bobby (Delroy Lindo) and Pinky (Ricky Jay) are blackmailed by their longtime fence Bergman (Danny DeVito) into jacking Swiss gold bars from an airplane. As they plot the complicated score, Joe and his crew become suspicious of the relationship between Joe's young wife Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon) and Bergman's nephew Jimmy Silk (Sam Rockwell), who has been planted on the crew to keep an eye on them for his uncle. Betrayals and backstabbings are the order of the day as Joe gets closer to the payday of a lifetime. In an effort to reinforce the solid storytelling of classic crime dramas, Mamet eschewed the use of computers or high-tech gadgetry in the complicated plot. Heist (2001) co-stars Patti LuPone.

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You are the getaway driver and must out-run the cops on the highway. Use your arrow keys to navigate through the lanes, and be sure to destroy patrol cars for more points!

Cast

Actors Character Born
Gene Hackman Joe Moore Jan 30, 1930 in San Bernardino, CA
Danny DeVito Bergman Nov 17, 1944 in Neptune, NJ
Delroy Lindo Bobby Blane Nov 18, 1952
Sam Rockwell Jimmy Silk Nov 5, 1968 in Daly City, CA
Rebecca Pidgeon Fran
Ricky Jay Don "Pinky" Pincus
Patti LuPone Betty Croft Apr 21, 1949 in Northport, Long Island, NY
Jim Frangione D. A. Freccia

Back to the topReview

Review by Skyler Miller
After taking directorial detours with The Winslow Boy and State and Main, David Mamet returns to familiar territory in Heist, a solid but ultimately minor crime caper. Mamet's winding script stays ahead of both his characters and the audience, so you always know something they don't, they know something you don't, and Mamet knows more than anyone. The fun comes from watching the various betrayals unfold, and the double-crosses and double-double-crosses are genuinely surprising. But by the end, there's so much gratuitous twisting and turning that the movie runs dangerously close to Wild Things-style self-parody. However, it's great to see Gene Hackman in his first real starring role in years, and there's something comforting about the presence of Mamet standards Rebecca Pigeon and Ricky Jay, as well as the always compelling Delroy Lindo and Danny DeVito. The only real mistake is the casting of Sam Rockwell as the frustratingly lame Jimmy Silk. For a character that plays such as pivotal role, he lacks the power to go toe-to-toe with the rest of the cast and is never credible as a romantic interest for Fran. To his credit, Mamet successfully keeps his characters from feeling like pawns until the very end, when the chessboard is revealed and you begin to see every move in the calculated plot. The climactic confrontation feels like a cheat, as Mamet takes the easy way out by resolving the central conflict with guns instead of brains. It's a letdown that this otherwise smart movie ends with a traditional Hollywood shootout and one final twist that seems more arbitrary than astonishing.

Heist on TV

Zip Code: 10010 · Provider: Verizon Fios Freehold NY Plus-Digital (Jersey City) Edit
Dec 1 , 4:00 PM ET · The Heist  · Channel 422 · MOMAX · Duration: 105 min.
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