Heist

Davit Mamet, USA, 2001, 111 minutes

"Everybody wants money! That's why they call it money!"

You get cool movies and then you get cool movies and THEN you get Heist. This movie has more great one liners than a bus load of other lesser flicks. Some of them don’t make ANY sense, but this matters not and in a way, makes the lines even better (listen for the one about sheep- I still have no idea what it means, but it is definitely cool). This movie has been criticised in the past for its lack of realism, but in my opinion you don’t got to the movies for realism. THAT you can get by walking outside in the real world. In Heist what you get is fantastic Mamet dialogue, a plot where you know more about whats going on than the characters and more twists than a bag of slinkies.

The basic plot is Moore (Gene Hackman), an aging masterthief is forced into doing one last job and to take on a younger partner. Sound familiar? Well, The Score had the same basic premise, however Heist carries it off a lot more smoothly. It's just a better movie (and as an added bonus it doesn’t have Marlon “I can eat more than Elvis, yes I can” Brando hamming it up). Danny DeVito plays a convincing Bad Man (once you forget about Twins and Junior) and along with Hackman, Ricky Jay and Delmore Leonard adds a lot of class and cool to this slick heist film. Don’t take it too seriously. Enjoy it and try and remember just a few of the numerous one liners. Who knows when they could come in useful?

As I mentioned, there may be a twist or two in this movie, so if you’re someone who gets confused easily, maybe you should stay at home and wait for your next plate of pureed bananas. But if you decide to come along (which you should) sit back, enjoy and be glad that this isn’t a Ken Loach movie.

Review by Karl “Carlito Baby” Byrne
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2002