Heist

TIFF [2001]

Full size poster

(USA 2001, 109 minutes)
Written and directed by David Mamet
Produced by Art Linson, Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens
Cast: Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, Rebecca Pidgeon, Danny DeVito, Sam Rockwell, Ricky Jay

Movie Review

"Heist" opens with a black and white Warner Bros. logo, acknowledging that studio's crime thrillers of yesterday, among them "Public Enemy", "Little Caesar", "The Maltese Falcon". It may look like a contemporary caper, but the film was clearly conceived in homage to those classics' honorable criminals, dishonorable actions, and, especially, hard-boiled vernacular:

•  "He's so cool, that when he falls asleep, sheep count him"
•  "Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"
•  "Why did the chicken cross the road? He didn't--the road crossed him!"
•  "I'm a real go-getter--what do I hafta go-get?"

Star Gene Hackman

Director David Mamet

Of course, "Heist" is written and directed by David Mamet, so it certainly SOUNDS different (those are some of the only lines I can freely quote here in a PG-rated forum) than any of those old late-night gangster flicks where the worst thing a guy could be called was a "mug". David Mamet is the master of turning profanity into poetry, and to anyone who thinks he's merely being a lazy "potty-mouth" (to quote Cartman's mom), let me tell you that the award-winning hyphenate's "colourful" opinionating at the official TIFF press conference kept the broadcasters busy with the "bleep" button.

Talk Back

Like Mamet's "House Of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner", the plot hinges on an elaborate caper where nothing is what it seems. No character is a chance passerby, no prop a mere bit of set dressing, whether it be a blueprint tube or a bottle of contact lens solution. But "Heist" is more commercial and less mannered than those earlier mind-benders, and should attract the same audience who thrilled to the Mamet-scripted "The Edge" and "The Untouchables". The cast will definitely help: Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, and Mamet repertory players Ricky Jay and Rebecca Pidgeon headline as a band of cunning, technologically-savvy thieves who reluctantly pull one last "thing" for crime boss Danny DeVito. The blue-collar "Impossible Mission Force" are forced to take on an additional member, hot-headed Sam Rockwell (as DeVito's nephew), and the plan to hijack a cargo plane of gold unravels from there, along many threads all intricately woven into a caper as intricately and perfectly structured as a Swiss watch (I acknowledge the Swiss, only because Ricky Jay gives them a hard time throughout the story).

Superficially similar to this past summer's "The Score", Mamet's "Heist" should make its own mark at the box office thanks to its superior ensemble and David Mamet's loose-tongued banter and taut direction. If criminals in real life were this quick-witted and resourceful, we'd all be in a lot of trouble and Fox would have a lot less programming.

And to producer Elie Samaha, all is forgiven now for "Battlefield Earth".

Heist photo gallery

- Robert L

Talk Back