Pretty much the only non-documentary Spike Lee film of the last decade that I can call an unqualified success, Inside Man is a heist movie in which the stolen goods are untimately secondary. It's what the stolen goods represent that matters, in this case complicity with the Nazis. The film has great performances from Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster.
Michael Mann's Heat is not your typical cops and robbers story, though it might seem that way on the surface. It's such a technically strong film that the post-bank robbery shoot out scene was shown to Marine recruits as part of their training.
The ultimate buddy film. Part comedy, part action movie, a bit of drama, a bit of sex, and the unlikely source of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."
Dog Day Afternoon is ultimately less about robbing a bank and more about how the media creates folk heroes. Al Pacino and John Cazale are the robbers, in way over the heads, in one of director Sidney Lumet's best films.
"We rob banks." Bonnie and Clyde is the standard against which all other movies about bank robbers must be measured. The film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway is a thing of absolute perfection.
2 comments:
Norma, a great selection. For a more whimsical British version of this subject, check out Basil Dearden's "The League of Gentlemen" (1960), which I watched recently and really enjoyed. It can be found in the recently released "London Underground" box set.
LOVE dog day afternoon. what about Inside Man?
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