Heist (film)

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Heist

Heist poster
Directed by David Mamet
Produced by Art Linson
Elie Samaha
Andrew Stevens
Written by David Mamet
Starring Gene Hackman
Danny DeVito
Delroy Lindo
Sam Rockwell
Rebecca Pidgeon
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography Robert Elswit
Editing by Barbara Tulliver
Distributed by Morgan Creek Productions
Buena Vista International
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) 17 May 2002
Running time 109 mins
Country United States of America
Canada
Language English
IMDb profile

Heist is a 2001 crime thriller written and directed by David Mamet. The film's cast includes Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Ricky Jay, and Rebecca Pidgeon.

Tagline: Love makes the world go 'round... Love of Gold.

[edit] Plot

Joe Moore (Hackman) runs a ring of professional thieves, which includes Bobby Blane (Lindo), Don "Pinky" Pincus (Jay) and Joe's wife Fran (Pidgeon). During a daylight robbery of a jewelry store, Joe's picture is captured by a security camera, leading him to choose an early retirement.

This doesn't sit well with Bergman (DeVito), who is Joe's fence. After accruing a number of expenses in setting up another, much more complicated robbery, Bergman decides to withhold payment to Joe and his crew for their share of the jewelry job. He insists they go through with the other job -- the hijacking of a Swiss airplane carrying a large shipment of gold.

Bergman further insists that his hotheaded nephew, Jimmy Silk (Rockwell), be a part of the heist. Joe reluctantly accepts him into the fold, But a series of shifting loyalties amongst thieves changes the whole complexion of their task, including Jimmy's personal interest in Joe's wife.

A violent gunfight on Joe's boat brings the film to a climax, revealing who has double-crossed whom and which thief ends up with a fortune in gold.

[edit] Reaction

Essentially a re-examination of Mamet's favorite device, the confidence game, the film was more of a success with critics than audiences. Roger Ebert is among the film's admirers, praising not only Mamet's trademark verbal constructions ("Everybody wants money -- that's why they call it money!") and restrained approach to on-screen gunplay, but also the care that the director takes in shaping the relationships between the principals. [1]

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films Directed by David Mamet
House of Games (1987) • Things Change (1988) • Homicide (1991) • Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (1996) • The Spanish Prisoner (1997) • The Winslow Boy (1999) • Catastrophe (2000) • State and Main (2000) • Heist (2001) • Spartan (2004) • Redbelt (2008) • Joan of Bark: The Dog that Saved France (2008)