Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema: The Heist

Synopsis

In this documentary exploring the heist genre from inception to modern iterations, renowned critic Mark Kermode uses clips from seminal titles to contextualise its construction. Divided into seven sections which each present tropes of the genre – The Mastermind; Assembling the Team; The Plan; The Law; The Heist; The Getaway; Things Fall Apart – Kermode takes examples from throughout cinema history to introduce key concepts and demonstrate how they have evolved over time. From noir thriller to crime caper, the heist film in all its forms is examined and explained, and not merely restricted to Hollywood, with the documentary including animated titles and cinema from around the world. 

Films featured within this documentary include:

The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Rififi (1955), The League of Gentlemen (1960), The Italian Job (1969), The French Connection (1971), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), That Sinking Feeling (1979), Point Break (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), Heat (1995), Dead Presidents (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), Bound (1996), Set It Off (1996), Entrapment (1999), Sexy Beast (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Infernal Affairs (2002), Inception (2010), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Night Moves (2013), The Big Short (2015), Baby Driver (2017), Good Time (2017).