The Greatest Films About Robbery
Cinema's most compelling explorations of theft, heist, and the criminal underworld.
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1
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The definitive heist film — a meticulous jewellery robbery assembled by a criminal mastermind and executed by a crew whose human frailties doom it from within.
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2
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
A mild-mannered bank clerk who has spent years overseeing gold bullion shipments devises an audacious plan to smuggle stolen gold out of Britain.
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3
Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
An ageing gangster who has pulled off the perfect gold bullion robbery finds his peaceful retirement shattered when his partner is kidnapped.
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4
Rififi (1955)
Four criminals execute a seemingly flawless jewellery heist in Paris — thirty minutes of pure cinema, conducted in absolute silence.
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5
The Killing (1956)
A paroled thief assembles a crew to rob a racetrack on the day of a big race.
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6
Bob le flambeur (1956)
An honourable ageing gambler with a code of his own hatches a plan to rob the casino at Deauville.
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7
Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
A gang of bumbling Roman amateurs attempts to rob a pawnshop through the wall of an adjoining apartment — with catastrophically comic results.
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8
Pickpocket (1959)
A young Parisian man drifts into a life of pickpocketing, finding in its precision and transgression a strange spiritual release.
14 more films in this collection
The full ranking of 22 films, with reviews, quotes and trivia for every entry, is available inside the Film Canon app.