Heist (2001)
Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.
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Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
A Major Disappointment
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
his name was David Mamet..stimulating the natural flow of saliva in my mouth..firstly and foremost; this is not an attack on Mamet himself but more so a indication that people overextend sometimes in life. I felt this was an overextension of Mamet's abilities as a director and as a piece of writing; it felt rushed. I wont go into how and what the movie is about because the name alludes to it but I will say personally I wouldn't waste my time. I will point out several problems I encountered to support my opinion. the plot had more holes than fishnet tights, characters had zero depth, it felt to me that the 'job' had about as much risk as stealing a pen at work. positives would be the casting and the film's length - any longer and I would have given it the boot.it's worth noting that I don't usually review films because I wouldn't contribute in any meaningful way and I normally don't read reviews because the medium of film is completely subjective however if you encounter my 'review'; don't take my word for it because what movie have I directed/written?.. I have however watched many films and I am qualified to say this film is, as my best friend would say when he sees a unpleasing woman - a stinker. this movie also proves something of a theory of mine. Mamet wasn't God but a Man after all.go watch House Of Games instead.to finish with quoting the great Mamet - "You can't bluff someone who's not paying attention"
You'll lose count at all the twists in David Mamet's "Heist," starring Gene Hackman, Rebecca Pigeon, and Danny DeVito.One distraction here is that when I first saw Hackman and Pigeon, I thought Pigeon was Hackman's grandfather. Then I found out she was his wife. There's only a 35-year difference.Gene Hackman plays the leader of a gang robs jewels and fences them with Mickey (Danny DeVito). Mickey stiffs the gang on their latest heist in order to get them to steal a shipment of Swiss gold. As an added negative, he wants his nephew (Sam Rockwell) to go along with them.The crimes themselves are clever, but there are so many twists in this story -- and you have no idea what's a real circumstance and what's a machination by the Hackman character and just seems like it's happening, but isn't. And you won't know at the end of the movie, either.The performances are fine, except I didn't think Rebecca Pigeon registered much. I don't think it was that good a role. Danny DeVito probably had the best one as the mean as dirt fence.I loved House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner; this one doesn't come up to either one of those.
This isn't about any heist plot but who gets to keep the girl.Actually the problem is that it puts all its energy into being the first which is merely passable because we've seen something like it so many times, glossing over the second which is the real narrative engine that drives the story, the girl emblematic of a life with her far away from all the crap of 'normal' life with its bartering and betrayal. The aging conman has built a deep bond with her but will it last or snap? The young accomplice hungers for her. All the switcheroos, conning and acting roles about this tension over the viewer: do we think she's gone over? Does she have control of what she feigns or is she being swept?Alas this appears in the film as 'subtext' instead of the main study.The ending has a wonderful bit of ambiguity. Did he have everything planned to the last possibility of betrayal? Or did he luck out by the dumb chance of not having finished painting over all the gold bars? Hackman knows he must look torn and numbed by this uncertainty as he leaves, unsure himself if driving off with the ability to buy a new life but not the girl to share it with is in the end either much luck or plan worth having planned.
David Mamet writes slick,psychologically dense drama. GlenGary GlenRoss, Redbelt, House of Games, etc. Heist is in the same vein as his other movies: complicated plots with even more complicated characters in them, in which nobody's motives are what they seem and nothing is as it appears. Slight spoiler The movie is about a robbery gone somewhat south. Gene Hackman, who is in charge of the crew, has to do another assignment for a crooked low-life played beautifully by Danny Devito (they should have a separate Oscars category for him called "Sarcasm"). Crosses, double crosses, and triple crosses ensue, laced with the cool witty dialogue and psychological insights for which Mamet is so well known. The casting is perfect: everyone is spot on although I thought the character that played Jimmy Silk was a bit thin. The ending will stay with you, and as Gene Hackman drives away you'll realize that he really "isn't a man who ties his shoes w/o a backup plan." It is the type of movie you almost need to see twice and even then you'll wonder who knew what and who did what intentionally.