10 Almost Perfect Heist Movies, Ranked (2024)

Few things in life are inevitable, but included among the things that are would be taxes, death, and a shared inability among film fans to resist a good heist movie. Regarding the latter, they're just too satisfying. You might not ever want to rob a bank or some other institution, shady or otherwise, that probably kind of deserves it (let’s be honest), but you’ll sure as hell enjoy watching people do it on screen.

Even bad heist movies can be kind of fun, with an inherent satisfaction in seeing a crew assembled, a plan taking shape, a mission getting pulled off, and then the fallout being explored (sometimes there’s success, and, at other times, tragedy). But a near-perfect heist movie is something else altogether, and of those, the following qualify, standing as the best of the best for this kind of genre.

10 'Le Doulos' (1962)

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

There’s an effortless cool to old-school French gangster/crime movies, with some of the best of them having heists play a central role in the narrative. With Le Doulos, the heist stuff might not be as central or focused upon as a couple of soon-to-be-mentioned French films released within the same general era, but it’s still prominent enough to qualify as a heist movie in any event.

Generally speaking, Le Doulos revolves around an informant, a gangster recently released from prison, and the planning of a heist that looks as though it'll inevitably go wrong. It moves fast narratively and remains unpredictable to this day, which is impressive considering the film’s more than 60 years old, and so many other crime/thriller flicks of a similar flavor have been released since.

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9 'Fast Five' (2011)

Director: Justin Lin

Just like how the terms BC and AD are significant for the Gregorian calendar, so too are BFF (Before Fast Five) and AFF (After Fast Five) important for the Fast and Furious series. Before Fast Five, the series was largely about street racing with some crime/action elements, while after Fast Five, things became less about racing and more about ridiculously over-the-top action.

The series peaked emotionally with Furious 7, but Fast Five is the series at its best in every other way. It was a full-on heist flick that brought together various main and side characters from the previous four movies, the bunch of them forming a genuine team to execute a high-stakes heist. It’s thrilling, relentless with action scenes, and pushes things as far as it can without getting too comically silly (though there is also value to the added silliness found in subsequent series entries).

Fast Five

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Thriller

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Release Date

April 29, 2011

Director

Justin Lin

Cast

Vin Diesel , Paul Walker , Dwayne Johnson , Jordana Brewster , Tyrese Gibson , Ludacris , Sung Kang , Gal Gadot

Runtime

130 minutes

8 'Going in Style' (1979)

Director: Martin Brest

Forget about the pointless remake; 1979’s Going in Style is where it’s at, and continues to hold up as one of the most underrated bank robbery movies ever made. Naturally, the not-so-humble bank is the most frequent target found within the heist genre, with Going in Style standing out from the pack because of how old the robbers end up being.

They're men in their 70s who are all feeling a lack of excitement in their lives, and so they strike up a plan to rob a bank as a way to bring a sense of adventure back to their lifestyles. It technically does work in this regard, but also brings forth consequences that ensure Going in Style feels surprisingly somber. It works fantastically as a comedic heist movie early on, and then segues shockingly well into an exploration of the hardships of aging as it nears its conclusion.

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7 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Admittedly, if you need to see a great heist sequence before you consider a heist movie great, you may technically be let down by Reservoir Dogs, which is all about the before and after of a heist that goes disastrously wrong. It’s intricately written in the way you'd expect from something by Quentin Tarantino, and utilizes non-chronological storytelling extremely well.

Reservoir Dogs is also fantastically acted, refreshingly unpredictable, and continually fast-paced. It’s a blast of a small-scale heist movie that works exceptionally well – and stands out as unique – because it stays away from certain formula rules many heist films abide by. It’s certainly one of the most distinctive movies about a criminal plan to score big, and manages to feel pretty much perfect while brazenly doing its own thing.

Reservoir Dogs

R

Crime

Thriller

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Release Date

September 2, 1992

Director

Quentin Tarantino

Cast

Harvey Keitel , Tim Roth , Michael Madsen , Chris Penn , Steve Buscemi , Lawrence Tierney

Runtime

99

6 'Drive' (2011)

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Perhaps a little like Reservoir Dogs (in spirit, not in style/pacing), Drive does its own thing as a heist movie, and also feels like something of an arthouse film at the same time. It’s a film that’s more concerned with a getaway driver who takes part in a robbery than the robbers, and centers on his fight for survival after the robbery in question goes disastrously wrong.

It’s a movie with a unique vibe, and benefits from having an enigmatic, solitary, and somewhat tragic protagonist. Drive is a slow burn but in a way that really works and stays engaging throughout. It’s really about the style more than the substance, but that style is so perfect and hard to resist that the rather simple plot shouldn’t bother many, if any.

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5 'Inception' (2010)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Putting a science fiction spin on the heist movie formula to great success, Inception is one of the many beloved films Christopher Nolan has directed. Unlike your standard heist movie, Inception is about implanting something rather than stealing it, and the film gets more unconventional in the sense that what needs to be implanted isn't a physical object; it’s an idea.

The film goes to great lengths to establish how this mind-bending story works (it boils down to a need to implant an idea in one person’s subconscious, which involves infiltrating dreams), which is perhaps the only thing that weighs it down a little. But the exposition is still somewhat interesting, and it paves the way for some spectacle that’s both awe-inspiring and creative throughout Inception's second and third acts.

Inception

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Mystery

Sci-Fi

Thriller

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Release Date

July 15, 2010

Director

Christopher Nolan

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio , Ken Watanabe , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Marion Cotillard , elliot page , Tom Hardy

Runtime

148

See Also

How Jennifer Morey Survived A Brutal Knife Attack & Rebuilt Her Life

4 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975)

Director: Sidney Lumet

Dog Day Afternoon mostly qualifies as a heist movie, though it foregoes having anything by way of scenes depicting a plan taking form, instead exploring a bank robbery that wasn’t well-planned. Also, unlike other bank robbery movies that show a robbery going wrong, Dog Day Afternoon isn't so much about the fallout/consequences as it is about showing the tension in what feels almost like real-time.

Unlike Reservoir Dogs, it’s all about the robbery and shows very little outside of it. The bank robbery at the center of Dog Day Afternoon attracts the media and becomes a spectacle, with various hostages being taken and a continually unnerving standoff unfolding. It’s a film that keeps the tension high throughout, with Al Pacino’s forceful performance helping immensely in this regard.

Dog Day Afternoon

R

Drama

Crime

Biography

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Release Date

December 25, 1975

Director

Sidney Lumet

Cast

Al Pacino , John Cazale , Penelope Allen , Carol Kane

Runtime

125 minutes

3 'Rififi' (1955)

Director: Jules Dassin

Another high-quality French gangster/heist movie, Rififi is a genuinely essential watch for anyone who likes heist movies, given its influence and the fact that it perfected the heist movie formula so early. Narratively, it’s what you'd expect from a movie of this kind, with the structure being similar to many heist films that were made after 1955… but it feels like Rififi executed various genre staples first.

It's endlessly satisfying, regardless of how many heist movies you’ve seen, with the robbery sequence itself being the standout part of Rififi… but the prelude to it and the exploration of its fallout also prove thoroughly gripping. It’s excellent stuff all around, and a pretty much timeless movie that will continue to enthrall and inspire for as long as people find cinematic heists interesting (which, in all honesty, will probably be forever).

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2 'Heat' (1995)

Director: Michael Mann

A genuine 1990s masterpiece in every sense of the word, Heat unfolds over the course of almost three hours and earns every minute of its epic runtime. It centers on a master thief trying to pull off an ambitious bank robbery as well as a determined detective who wants to thwart his plans, setting off a game of cat and mouse that involves numerous other characters and subplots.

It’s fantastically acted across the board, and also soars thanks to its heist sequence, which itself is one of the best action scenes ever filmed (no exaggeration there; it really is that good). Heat pushes the heist movie to its absolute limits, and works as a spectacular epic at the same time, proving to be one of the most essential and deservedly beloved crime films of the 1990s, without a doubt.

Heat

R

Action

Crime

Drama

Where to Watch

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Release Date

December 15, 1995

Director

Michael Mann

Cast

Al Pacino , Robert De Niro , Val Kilmer , Jon Voight , Tom Sizemore , Diane Venora

Runtime

170 minutes

1 'Le Cercle Rouge' (1970)

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Le Cercle Rouge is an immensely patient film, which is a more appropriate word than “slow,” as far as this particular movie is concerned. It takes its time in gradually establishing characters on both sides of the law, with a handful of criminals coming together to execute a complicated jewel heist in a scene that lasts a very long time and plays out in a strikingly minimalist way.

The set-up is quietly gripping and the exploration of the heist’s fallout is also compelling and rather explosive, but the heist itself in Le Cercle Rouge will probably never be topped. It feels like the kind of movie that approached Rififi and said, “Hold my beer,” then did what that film did even better. Le Cercle Rouge is an all-time great crime movie, and a showcase of some iconic French actors – most notably Alain Delon and Yves Montand – at their best. It’s truly about as perfect as heist films can conceivably get.

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