DOCSLIB.ORG

Heist/Caper Films Definition/The Basics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Heist/Caper Films Definition/The Basics Heist/Caper Films Definition/The basics: A heist film’s plot revolves around a group of people trying to steal something. This “thing” can be money, jewels, secret files, priceless art, or other valuable objects. The crime involves intricate planning and challenges so a simple hold-up or mugging is not part of the heist genre. If presented as a comedy, these are identified as “caper” films. The heist film is a sub-genre of the crime genre. History: The earliest heist film is “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) but the genre was defined by “Rififi” (1955), a French film directed by American Jules Dassin. This is the film that set the “rules” (see “elements”, below) that became typical of heist movies. In spite of its French origins, these films are dominated by American releases. Heist films continue to be popular, for example, 2017’s “Baby Driver” and “Logan Lucky”. Related Genres: Crime; gangster; car chase; western; comedy. Elements of a Typical Heist Film Usually, there is a three-act plot: 1. Planning the heist. 2. Executing the heist. (Often called “pulling” a heist.) 3. The aftermath. Within those three acts are common plot markers. Act One: Ø The deal/objective is made clear. What is the group trying to steal? Ø Recruitment. A number of people are brought together, each with different skills. (See “Heist Archetypes”, below) Ø Planning. The group takes care to consider all dangers and obstacles and map their strategy/methods. Ø Sometimes, at this point, characters may have self-doubt as they reflect on the plan and ask, “Why am I putting myself at risk?” They’ll consider leaving the group but will be enticed to return. Act Two: Ø The group performs the job. The planning in Act One serves as foreshadowing for this part. The audience knows how it is “supposed” to go but may have clues of flaws in the plan. Ø The crime is usually performed in costume or disguise. Ø There will be unforeseen obstacles or a member of the group may fail their part. Some may be caught or die. Ø Either the object is successfully stolen or there is failure (possible plot twist here) Ø The group escapes solo or in pairs. Some may be caught or die. Act Three: Ø The group reunites at a preset meeting place. (The hideout.) Ø If successful, the spoils are divided. (More common in capers.) Ø In serious heist films, the crime is usually unsuccessful so fingers are pointed and blame is laid as group members turn against each other. Ø More members may die or are captured. Ø One lone member survives with the spoils or simply escapes to tell the tale. Heist Character Archetypes The Leader (often the protagonist) Confident, intelligent, coercive. Great at planning (or thinks they are). Sexist as it is, the Leader is almost exclusively male. The Brain - This character is the most intelligent and knowledgeable of the group but lacks the other traits of the Leader. Other skills vary according to need. May be a computer whiz or terrific at building complicated gadgets. The Keymaster - Able to open locks, doors, safes. Very nimble and quick with hands. Good at evading traps. Probably jailed as a youth for petty crimes like pickpocketing. The Driver - Cool, calm, calculated. The character required for the getaway/escape. Able to make vehicles defy physics. Often has skills with engines. The Inside Man - A person who works inside the target location who gives valuable information to entering or avoiding traps. The Kid - A younger member who often joins the gang late in the planning stages. Brings humour and enthusiasm but is often a danger because of overconfidence. The Girl - Flawless beauty who knows it. Uses appearance and sexuality to manipulate dumb-struck men. Often married to or dating another member. Sometimes is a “femme fatal” who causes friction between gang members. Alternatively, might be the one morally good person in the gang who escapes alive and free. The Muscle - A powerful brute who uses fists before brains. Not too bright but is loyal. Used to put fear into adversaries. Rarely escapes alive. The Wild Card - Has odd habits but is capable of thinking “outside the box”. Incredibly lucky. If not ridiculously charming, this character is often psychotic to the point of frightening other criminals. Prone to actions questioned by other gang members and the audience. Rarely survives Act Two. -------------------------- Significant Heist/Caper Films Rififi Bob Le Flambeur The Killing The Lavender Hill Mob Dead Presidents Bottle Rocket Mission Impossible Oceans 11, 12, 13 The Usual Suspects Inception How to Steal a Million Fast & Furious A Fish Called Wanda Dog Day Afternoon The Italian Job Thomas Crown Affair Logan Lucky Point Break Man on Wire Ronin The Great Muppet Caper .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Literariness.Org-Mareike-Jenner-Auth
    Crime Files Series General Editor: Clive Bloom Since its invention in the nineteenth century, detective fiction has never been more pop- ular. In novels, short stories, films, radio, television and now in computer games, private detectives and psychopaths, prim poisoners and overworked cops, tommy gun gangsters and cocaine criminals are the very stuff of modern imagination, and their creators one mainstay of popular consciousness. Crime Files is a ground-breaking series offering scholars, students and discerning readers a comprehensive set of guides to the world of crime and detective fiction. Every aspect of crime writing, detective fiction, gangster movie, true-crime exposé, police procedural and post-colonial investigation is explored through clear and informative texts offering comprehensive coverage and theoretical sophistication. Titles include: Maurizio Ascari A COUNTER-HISTORY OF CRIME FICTION Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational Pamela Bedore DIME NOVELS AND THE ROOTS OF AMERICAN DETECTIVE FICTION Hans Bertens and Theo D’haen CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CRIME FICTION Anita Biressi CRIME, FEAR AND THE LAW IN TRUE CRIME STORIES Clare Clarke LATE VICTORIAN CRIME FICTION IN THE SHADOWS OF SHERLOCK Paul Cobley THE AMERICAN THRILLER Generic Innovation and Social Change in the 1970s Michael Cook NARRATIVES OF ENCLOSURE IN DETECTIVE FICTION The Locked Room Mystery Michael Cook DETECTIVE FICTION AND THE GHOST STORY The Haunted Text Barry Forshaw DEATH IN A COLD CLIMATE A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction Barry Forshaw BRITISH CRIME FILM Subverting
    [Show full text]
  • Vision, Desire and Economies of Transgression in the Films of Jess Franco
    A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Journeys into Perversion: Vision, Desire and Economies of Transgression in the Films of Jess Franco Glenn Ward Doctor of Philosophy University of Sussex May 2011 2 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:……………………………………… 3 Summary Due to their characteristic themes (such as „perverse‟ desire and monstrosity) and form (incoherence and excess), exploitation films are often celebrated as inherently subversive or transgressive. I critically assess such claims through a close reading of the films of the Spanish „sex and horror‟ specialist Jess Franco. My textual and contextual analysis shows that Franco‟s films are shaped by inter-relationships between authorship, international genre codes and the economic and ideological conditions of exploitation cinema. Within these conditions, Franco‟s treatment of „aberrant‟ and gothic desiring subjectivities appears contradictory. Contestation and critique can, for example, be found in Franco‟s portrayal of emasculated male characters, and his female vampires may offer opportunities for resistant appropriation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir
    1 Murder, Mugs, Molls, Marriage: The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir Noir is a conversation rather than a single genre or style, though it does have a history, a complex of overlapping styles and typical plots, and more central directors and films. It is also a conversation about its more common philosophies, socio-economic and sexual concerns, and more expansively its social imaginaries. MacIntyre's three rival versions suggest the different ways noir can be studied. Tradition's approach explains better the failure of the other two, as will as their more limited successes. Something like the Thomist understanding of people pursuing perceived (but faulty) goods better explains the neo- Marxist (or other power/conflict) model and the self-construction model. Each is dependent upon the materials of an earlier tradition to advance its claims/interpretations. [Styles-studio versus on location; expressionist versus classical three-point lighting; low-key versus high lighting; whites/blacks versus grays; depth versus flat; theatrical versus pseudo-documentary; variety of felt threat levels—investigative; detective, procedural, etc.; basic trust in ability to restore safety and order versus various pictures of unopposable corruption to a more systemic nihilism; melodramatic vs. colder, more distant; dialogue—more or less wordy, more or less contrived, more or less realistic; musical score—how much it guides and dictates emotions; presence or absence of humor, sentiment, romance, healthy family life; narrator, narratival flashback; motives for criminality and violence-- socio- economic (expressed by criminal with or without irony), moral corruption (greed, desire for power), psychological pathology; cinematography—classical vs.
    [Show full text]
  • Liff-2020-Catalogue.Pdf
    Welcome Introduction from the LIFF 2020 Team While we greatly miss not presenting LIFF 2020 in venues, we’re delighted to share the line-up on our new streaming platform Leeds Film Player. We return with our regular programme sections for new films – Official Selection, Cinema Versa, Fanomenon, and Leeds Short Film Awards – all curated with the same dedication to diverse filmmaking from the UK and around the world. A huge thank you to everyone who made this transformation to streaming possible and to everyone who helped us plan and prepare for LIFF 2020 being in venues. We hope you enjoy the LIFF 2020 programme from home and we can’t wait to welcome you back to venues for LIFF 2021! Presented by Leading Funders Contents Official Selection 6 Cinema Versa 26 Fanomenon 42 Leeds Short Film Awards 64 Leeds Young Film Festival 138 Indexes 152 Sun Children 2– LIFF 2020 Opening film 3 Team LIFF 2020 LYFF 2020 Team Team Director Director Chris Fell Debbie Maturi Programme Manager Producer Alex King Martin Grund Production Manager Youth Engagement Coordinator Jamie Cross Gage Oxley Film Development Coordinator Youth Programme Coordinator Nick Jones Eleanor Hodson Senior Programmer LYFF Programmers Molly Cowderoy Martin Grund, Eleanor Hodson, Sam Judd Programme Coordinator Alice Duggan Production Coordinator Anna Stopford Programme & Production Assistant Ilkyaz Yagmur Ozkoroglu Virtual Volunteers Lee Bentham, Hannah Booth, Tabitha Burnett, Paul Douglass, Owen Herman, Alice Lassey, Ryan Ninesling, Eleanor Storey, Andrew Young Volunteer Officer Sarah
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Introduction Crime Film and the Messy City Many a commercial film or television production is a genuine achievement besides being a commodity. Germs of new beginnings may develop within a thoroughly alienated environment. —Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film ❧ n 1974, Vincent Canby wrote a piece for the New York Times, titled “New York Woes Are Good For Box Office,” that puzzled over the Ispate of films that had been made in the city over the last few years. What confused Canby was why so many recent films that portrayed New York so unfavorably—he cites Serpico (1973), The Super Cops (1974), Law and Disorder (1974), Mean Streets (1973), Death Wish (1974), For Pete’s Sake (1974), and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)—were seemingly so popular: New York is a mess, say these films. It’s run by fools. Its citi- zens are at the mercy of its criminals who, as often as not, are protected by an unholy alliance of civil libertarians and crooked cops. The air is foul. The traffic is impossible. Services are diminishing and the morale is such that ordering a cup of coffee in a diner can turn into a request for a fat lip. (1) 1 © 2018 State University of New York Press, Albany 2 Welcome to Fear City Pointing out that New York has been a mess for much of its history, Canby was less fretful about the negative portrayal of the city in these films than curious as to why, at this moment, the mess of the city had become a subject of interest.
    [Show full text]
  • The Last Heist Revisited: Reimagining Hollywood Genre in Contemporary
    The last heist revisited: reimagining Downloaded from Hollywood genre in contemporary Argentine crime film http://screen.oxfordjournals.org/ RIELLE NAVITSKI In the context of a resurgence in film production in Argentina over the past decade, the internationally acclaimed art house films by nuevo cine at University of Georgia on September 8, 2014 argentino (New Argentine Cinema) directors such as Lucrecia Martel and Pablo Trapero have been overshadowed at the domestic box office by releases which reenvision Hollywood-style crime genre narratives in a local context. Many of the local productions that have had the greatest popular success – Fabián Bielinsky’s intricately plotted Nueve reinas/ Nine Queens (2000), for example, and Marcelo Piñeyro’s graphically violent Plata quemada/Burnt Money (2000) – capitalize on the dizzying plot twists, dynamic action sequences and highly colloquial dialogues of 1 1 See Foster Hirsch, Detours and Lost the heist film and neo-noir genres, drawing on the styles cultivated by Highways: a Map of Neo-Noir directors such as Bryan Singer, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino (New York, NY: Limelight, 1999), and Ronald Schwartz, Neo-Noir: in Hollywood during the 1990s and early 2000s. the New Film Noir Style from This diverse group of recent Argentine crime films, which I will Psycho to Collateral (Lanham, MD: collectively refer to as the ‘new policiales’,2 has given a new twist to Scarecrow, 2005). ‘ ’ ‘ ’ 2 The term implies a police conventional narrative tropes such as the perfect crime , the last job , and procedural, but is often used to ‘the big score’. Bielinsky’s Nine Queens and his 2005 follow-up El aura/ refer to a broad range of mystery The Aura focus respectively on an intricate scam and an elaborate casino films and thrillers.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 25 Film Genres
    Chapter 25 Film Genres Objectives: The chapter aims to define and understand the term genre; and to help learners get familiar with some major genre theories. Key words: genre, genre bending, genre blending Background Rick Altman, ‘In the genre world, every day is Jurassic Park day.’ Genre is a French word and means a category or a type, a collection of instantly recognizable stylistic features. It is addressed as a system for organizing production as well as groupings of individual films which have collective and singular significance. You must have come across video libraries (or even book shops) where DVDs and CDs are shelved according to their categories: ‘classics’, ‘drama’, ‘action’, ‘crime’, Sci-fi and ‘horror.’ From the commercial point of view, genres are important because there is a demand for these categories. Classification of films into genres has always helped the film industry to produce and market films. The use of the term in cinema studies is fairly recent, though it has always been used to describe works of high art and literature.Genre is a popular term for those interested in films. For example, a person interested in, say, ‘Western’, or ‘Gangster’, may not be interested in ‘Rom-Coms’. Someone who prefers ‘Musical’, or ‘Chick flicks’ may not necessarily be interested in ‘Thrillers’, ‘Courtroom Drama’, or ‘Chinese Martial arts’. But very often it is not so simple. Genre often refers to expectations of audiences and also to their predictions about the ending of the film (a gangster hero must die, for instance; a ‘teen’ flick should end on a promising note for the protagonist, etc.).
    [Show full text]
  • Genre, Justice & Quentin Tarantino
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 11-6-2015 Genre, Justice & Quentin Tarantino Eric Michael Blake University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Theory and Criticism Commons Scholar Commons Citation Blake, Eric Michael, "Genre, Justice & Quentin Tarantino" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5911 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Genre, Justice, & Quentin Tarantino by Eric M. Blake A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies With a concentration in Film Studies College of Arts & Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Andrew Berish, Ph.D. Amy Rust, Ph.D. Daniel Belgrad, Ph.D. Date of Approval: October 23, 2015 Keywords: Cinema, Film, Film Studies, Realism, Postmodernism, Crime Film Copyright © 2015, Eric M. Blake TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................. ii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • From Alien Shores #4 August 2013 Letters of Comment May Be Sent to [email protected] from Alien Shores Is a Back Numbers Press Production
    In This Issue: Danger 5 Lost Girl Yellow zone Nine Tail Fox Django Servant of the Jackal God The Sword Big Sky Modesty Blaise Van Canto Delain Solomon Kane Nacho Vigalondo Pericles David Koresh Superstar And... ØBattlelore Page 62 ØDelain Page 49 ∏The Great Magician David Koresh Ø Page 34 æLost Girl Superstar Page 54 ∏Yellow Zone Page 73 Page 19 ±Modesty Blaise ØVan Canto Page 91 Page 63 æNine Tail Fox ÆPericles Page 68 Page 96 ∑Nacho Vigalondo Page 50 ØThe Sword ∏Django ∏Solomon Kane Page 27 Page 75 Page 103 ©Bauhinia Heroine Page 32 About This Issue ß Page 3 Big Sky Page 8 Letters of Comment Note: ®Servant of the Jackal God Page 6 Click on the title Page 87 of an article to be taken to it. Click on the globe coliphon at the end of any article to return to æDanger 5 the contents page Page 10 From Alien Shores #4 August 2013 Letters of Comment may be sent to [email protected] From Alien Shores is a Back Numbers Press production. From Alien Shores is published whenever editor Jack Avery gets around to it. All contents copyright individual creators unless otherwise noted. Welcome to the fourth issue of insensitive discussing an event that left edies about fighting Nazis. There’s a From Alien Shores. This was supposed a lot of people dead. It was probably limit to how much of the 3rd Reich I to be a “leftovers” issue to clear out a fair cop, and so it was something I want in my zine, even if they are be- the inventory before the upcoming wanted to work on before publishing ing mocked.
    [Show full text]
  • The Structure of Repetition in the Cinema: Three Hollywood Genres
    The Structure of Repetition in the Cinema: Three Hollywood Genres Inbar Shaham Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language, and the Arts Abstract The structure of repetition, as Meir Sternberg (1978) defines it, consists in the repeated presentation of a fabulaic event along the text continuum. It has three types of component members: (1) forecast (e.g., command, scenario); (2) enactment (represent- ing the forecast’s objective realization, as communicated by an authorized narrator); and (3) report (about an enactment, a forecast, or another report, all delivered by some character). This research examines the repetition structure in cinematic narrative: specifically, in heist, adventure, and military operation films. Throughout, the argu- ment proceeds with special reference to these genres, as well as to the cinema’s medium, practice, and conventions in general, often citing literary parallels or precedents for comparison. It examines the different elements that serve to (re)compose the repetition structure for certain ends; the types of member brought together within the structure; their size, number, forms of transmission, order of appearance, representational pro- portion, and possible interrelations (overlap, partial overlap, contradiction, expansion or summary of a previous member). Above all, the analysis relates these interplays themselves to the structure’s functions at the level of plot, meaning, and rhetoric, notably including their generic variations, as exemplified by the three focal genres. This article is based on parts of my doctoral dissertation, “Repetition Structure in the Cinema: From Communicational Exigency to Poetic Device” (Tel Aviv University, 2010). For details, see the appendix. I would like to thank Meir Sternberg for his generous and invaluable guid- ance in all stages of this research, from a BA seminar through an MA thesis and a PhD dissertation to this present publication.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Film Noir
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge American Popular Culture American Studies 1-27-2005 The Philosophy of Film Noir Mark T. Conard Marymount Manhattan College Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Conard, Mark T., "The Philosophy of Film Noir" (2005). American Popular Culture. 19. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_american_popular_culture/19 Conard The Philosophy of Film Noir Continued from front flap FILM/PHILOSOPHY The Philosophy Opening with an examination of what The constitutes noir cinema, the book of Film Noir interprets the philosophical elements Edited by Mark T. Conard consistently present in the films— “The Philosophy of Film Noir is an intellectually seductive, hard- Foreword by Robert Porfirio themes such as moral ambiguity, reason boiled romp through a world of moral murkiness, femme fatales, versus passion, and pessimism. The Philosophy contributors to the volume also argue and desperately lonely protagonists. The philosophers in this A drifter with no name and no past, that the essence and elements of noir easy-to-read collection provide us with a colorful backdrop for driven purely by desire, is convinced have fundamentally influenced movies seeing the dark films with clearer eyes.” of by a beautiful woman to murder her outside of the traditional noir period. husband.
    [Show full text]
  • Transatlantica, 2 | 2015 Exploitation Cinema and the Lesbian Imagination 2
    Transatlantica Revue d’études américaines. American Studies Journal 2 | 2015 The Poetics and Politics of Antiquity in the Long Nineteenth-Century / Exploiting Exploitation Cinema Exploitation Cinema and the Lesbian Imagination Anne Crémieux Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/7869 DOI: 10.4000/transatlantica.7869 ISSN: 1765-2766 Publisher AFEA Electronic reference Anne Crémieux, “Exploitation Cinema and the Lesbian Imagination”, Transatlantica [Online], 2 | 2015, Online since 14 July 2016, connection on 29 April 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ transatlantica/7869 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/transatlantica.7869 This text was automatically generated on 29 April 2021. Transatlantica – Revue d'études américaines est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. Exploitation Cinema and the Lesbian Imagination 1 Exploitation Cinema and the Lesbian Imagination Anne Crémieux At the heart of the exploitation movie is the issue of the destructive nature of female sexuality (Zalcock, 2001, 59) 1 The sexism and homophobia of most exploitation films is unmistakable. Lesbian vampires and gay hitchhikers are obviously meant to be warnings against homosexuality. Yet to modern audiences no longer worried about the once very real fears that would turn into very real rejection, such camp storylines can now be enjoyed as pure fantasy and even convey a form of empowerment. 1 After all, the hitchhikers in Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971) may be slimy hijackers, but they are also unashamedly flamboyant on their way to San Francisco with their broken-down car that says “just married,” and they carry a gun in case somebody does not like it.
    [Show full text]