I had a chance to check out “The Bling Ring” the other day (review pending), Sofia Coppola’s movie about a young gang of celeb obsessed thieves, and it put robbing and thieving on the brain.
Who’s your favorite thief in film? Do you go high-minded and say Robin Hood? Or do you head for a slick pro like Neil McCauley? How about the Reservoir Dogs gang? How about a petty thief like Warren from Empire Records, LOL, or someone classic like Cary Grant’s John Robie?
From the common crook to big time embezzlement, movies about stealing and robbing have been made again and again and again. From “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” to “The Great Train Robbery” to “Goodfellas” to the “Oceans” series, they never seem to tire of making movies about people who steal.
So who’s YOUR favorite thief?
Let us hear it!
Fogs' Movie Reviews 
Bonnie and Clyde is a good one. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that until I read the comments. They are some of the most iconic thieves ever and that’s one of my favorite movies.
But the first thing that came to mind was Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in How to Steal a Million (don’t remember character names but they’re not that important anyway). They are not actually thieves but in the film Hepburn thinks O’Toole is a thief and hires him to help her steal her own statue so no one figures out her dad (played by Hugh Griffith) forged it. O’Toole is actually an insurance investigator but he goes along with her plan because it’s Audrey Hepburn. Man I love that movie; best guilty pleasure movie out there. So they are my answer!
You’re making me want to check it out, I’ve never seen it. LOL Sounds like a blast.
Bonnie and Clyde, I’ve seen though, of course. Shocking movie for its time… kind of violence et al that we take for granted in movies nowadays of course. 😮
ooo that would be awesome. My sister is the only other person I know that’s seen it (see saw it before me actually). It’s not that deep or anything but it sure is entertaining. Reader recommendation?
Yeah, I love that ending in Bonnie and Clyde. Gives a lot of closure. Though I do kind of hate the guy that set them up!
If you’re down for doing it as a Reader’s Rec, yeah, Melissa, I’d love to watch it. Should I put it in the queue?
Man I have to go with a team Nicolas Cage as Memphis Raines and Angelina Jolie as Sara ‘Sway’ Wayland in Gone in 60 Seconds along with Heath Ledger as the Joker. He was such an inspired thief!
Heh. Surprised no one’s mentioned the Joker til now. He definitely did have a pretty sweet heist in TDK. Gone in 60 seconds has gotten some love today too, which is nice. 😀
Favorite thief in most recent memory: as much as I disliked the ending and the way it was handled, I loved the Four Horsemen from Now You See Me. All four actors, esp. Woody Harrelson were having a blast with their roles. Also, Isla Fisher is one hot thief. 😉
Favorite in any movie ever: damn……hmmm…………that might have to go to Michael Caine/Noel Coward as the coolest professional thieves of all time. Charlie Croker and Mr. Bridger are just tough to top in my book.
Fisher is outrageously attractive, have you seen the new season of Arrested Development? My word… 😯
My main thinking on Now you See Me is how much better I wish it was though. Such a cool premise. 😦
I still haven’t seen the original “The Italian Job”, although apparently today’s thread is trying to push me to it. LOL I may just check it out!
No i still need to watch ANY arrested development. . . i know, i know. hahah that’s bad. and I now really want to go back and watch the original Italian Job again. Forgot how much fun that is!
I’ll have to check it out one of these days. Meanwhile, Arrested Development is hysterical as I’m sure you’ve heard… check it out when you get a chance! 😀
I love heist/caper movies, so this is a tough one to narrow down…
Michael Caine comes into play at least twice, with the original The Italian Job and the original Gambit, with Shirley MacLaine. Great odd-couple pairing in that one.
DeNiro in Heat is great. I’m sure I need not persuade you.
George Clooney as Danny Ocean (at least in 11; I haven’t seen 12 or 13 yet, actually.) Wasn’t a fan of Sinatra’s version.
And got to give some respect to Harry & Archie (Kurt Douglas & Burt Lancaster) in Tough Guys. Can’t beat a couple of geriatrics deciding to perform the last train robbery in America to prove they’ve still got what it takes.
I REALLY should have watched the original Italian Job before starting this thread. LOL 🙄 If Netflix had it on streaming I swear I’d go watch it today.
Nope, you’re right, fully sold on Heat 😉 😀 I like the Oceans 11 remake, better as well.
I haven’t seen Tough Guys, though. I think you’ve brought that up before… not sure why I think that. Could be the case though.
Yeah, I have. It was one of the first films I reviewed.
Ah HA! … ok, then. LOL 😉
Not withstanding prior comments, I would add a decent film of JGL’s called The Lookout with Jeff Daniels in a supporting role.
Old school, I’d go with the Pink Panther where not only does the inspector upstage the thief but also Peter Sellers upstages David Niven.
I enjoyed the Lookout, that’s a pretty cool flick.
Clouseau! LOL I love everything Clouseau. I’m surprised crime didn’t triple under his watch! LOL
At the risk of looking like a dumb blonde or liking one for that matter, *lol……I am still sweet on Marley Shelton playing Diane Weston in the 2001 film Sugar and Spice. I love the Betty’s robbing a small bank in a grocery store — super funny!
I know the film of which you speak, I have to admit I’ve never watched it though. That’s the one where the cheerleader squad turns into a gang of thieves, right? Fun premise…
Harry Lockhart from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ❤
Not just because he's played by Robert Downey Jr…but that does help 😉
Are you the one that has the huge crush on him? Someone I’ve run across has like all his movies on DVD, etc… tried to connect the dots, but couldn’t.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a fun movie, btw. 😀
Haha yep that’s probably me! I have 24 of his DVDs…although I’m not such a huge fan now, the novelty wears off in the end 😛
It is, one of my favourites! 😀
Mckey Rourke as Charlie and Eric Roberts as Paulie in Pope of Greenwich Village. Awesome characters – not so good as thieves …In my opinion Fogs it’s a MTESS.
It may indeed one day become one 😉 “Charlie! They took my thumb! ”
Indeed, though, not the brightest criminal masterminds… 😉
Well, the very first that comes to mind is Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief. He really defined the gentleman-thief.
Next might be David Niven’s Sir Charles Litton, from The Pink Panther fame.
3rd place I’ll give to Catherine Zeta Jones and her catsuit in Entrapment. 😀
Oh, and honorable mention to Hudson Hawk and “6-0-0 Side by Side!”
Catherine Zeta Jones and her catsuit DO deserve honorable mention, and its nice to see them getting recognition today. LOL
I dig To Catch a Thief and of course, the Pink Panther as well… even though to me, those movies are all about Clouseau of course.
You can keep Hudson Hawk. LOL
Hudson Hawk is a very weird movie. When I try to watch it, I hate hate hate it (Mostly for Sandra Bernhard). But when I think about it, I somehow think I love it. (Mostly for Danny Aiello)
Neil McCauley from Heat and Val Kilmer’s character too. One of my favorite DeNiro roles.
It was on some pay channel earlier, LOL. I caught a couple of minutes of it due to this thread today… 😉 Great flick.
Gotta go with Billy Bob in Bad Santa. Yea, he stole stuff from safes, but he also ate the kid’s advent calendar chocolates. Greatest thief ever.
Not a great Santa, though. I think parents are gonna have some complaints… LOL
Yea, well, he’s on his fucking lunch break.
I’m going to go with Robin Hood as my favorite. My favorite version of the story is the BBC series that was on a few years ago. 🙂
Robin Hood has so many great incarnations over the years that it’s hard NOT to mention him, right? I never saw the BBC version though, sorry to say 😦
I’ll take your word as to it’s quality. : D
The BBC version is pretty good. A little campy at times, but it’s fun and witty. 🙂
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Bling Ring.
to answer your question, I like Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood.
and Michael Caine in The Italian Job.
and I def have to give a second vote to Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment!
I’m not sure if I’ll get my review up for the Bling Ring today or tomorrow, but I liked it quite a bit.
It’s a third vote for Catherine Zeta, actually, LOL, she was mentioned earlier as well 😉
I ABSOLUTELY should have watched the original Italian Job before starting this thread! LOL
Butch & Sundance………………HULLO!
I know, right? They were so great. Surprised more people haven’t cited them today. 😯
I’m gonna have to say that Robin Hood was the first thief that came to mind. So I guess him. I do enjoy his stories a lot and have since I was a child. The new Russell Crowe one is fun, as is the Errol Flynn one, but I think I love the Kevin Costner one the best.
Ha! You do know that that one is probably the most maligned of the bunch, right? 😀 Not that it’s bad, I like it too… but people hammer on the fact he didn’t even try a British accent 😀
I AM sick to death of that song though. LOL
I know. Everyone hates that movie. It goes in my guilty pleasures list. I still love the song….:-)
The whole Inception team comes to mind, probably Eames or Arthur, who can both pull off a job without losing their heads.
And I know we’ve mentioned lots of good thieves, but my favorites as a kid were the two bumblers from 101 Dalmations (Hugh Laurie !!!!), who were TERRIBLE at their jobs but hilarious to watch!
And I’m a big Guy Ritchie fan, so don’t even get me started on all the tricksters he’s got in his films, there are too many to pick from! 😀
LOL, talk about some bumbling thieves! I love Guy Ritchie movies too (at least back when he was making crime comedies as opposed to just doing Sherlock Holmes) but the crooks in his movies are always low life screw ups 😀
Inception is a nice answer… talk about a unique type of thieves!
Neil McCauley.
Who’s he? LOL. Just kidding, yeah, he’s pretty much the consummate thief, isn’t he?
The whole gang in The Italian Job will always be one of my favorites, but Johnny Depp in Public Enemies is also one to keep in mind. I can only watch it once in a very blue moon but it’s a good story nonetheless with some great acting!
I definitely should have seen the original Italian Job before throwing this question out there… although, not 100% sure you’re referring to the original. 😉
I’m probably a broken record here but got to be Bobby De Niro in Heat 🙂
He hasn’t been the redundant choice that I expected him to be here this week, but he did just score two votes in a row. LOL 😀
Errol Flynn,as Robin Hood of course. Although I think of him as a hero, he does need to be broken of his thieving ways.
How about Burglar Baggins? I did not see him being mentioned by anyone.
Filthy sneaky little thiefses…. LOL. Yeah, I guess no one did mention him yet! He tooks the PRECIOUS!!