June Videos --The Caper Film

 

The Score, starring Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando. Directed by Frank Oz.  2001. (Library Call Number: PN1995.9.C66S36 2001.)

     Four films on the theme of robbery are featured for June. In The Score, DeNiro plays master thief Nick Wells, who’s ready to retire until his partner (Marlon Brando in his last film appearance) pleads with him to make one last, big score: a priceless European scepter, locked away in a safe. There are only two problems: the vault is in the high-security Quebec Customs House and Nick has to work with an arrogant—and undependable—newcomer.
 

A Fish Called Wanda, starring Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin and John Cleese. Directed by Charles Crichton. 1999.  (Library Call Number: PN1995.9.C55F56 2006.)

In the hilarious A Fish Called Wanda, Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis are crazy Otto and sexy, devious Wanda, part of a gang of diamond thieves.  They double-cross their partners, Ken and George, but George has already hidden the diamonds and won’t divulge where they are. What follows is laugh out loud mayhem of the Monty Python kind, not surprising with two of the former Pythons on screen.

The Bank Job, starring Jason Statham and David Suchet. Directed by Roger Donaldson. 2008.   (Library Call Number: PN1995.9.S87B36 2008.)  

In The Bank Job, Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is offered up entry to safe-deposit boxes in a small Baker Street bank.  He and his low-level crew steal millions in cash and jewelry, unaware that the boxes also contain the property of a vicious gangster and state secrets that the government will go to any lengths to protect. David Suchet, known for playing Hercule Poirot on PBS' Mystery, gives a remarkably different performance as vicious gangster Lew Vogel.

The Heist starring Pierce Brosnan and Tom Skerritt. Directed by Stuart Orme. 1989. (Library Call Number: PN1995.9.J8H45 1989.)

     And in The Heist, Pierce Brosnan, in one of his best efforts on screen, is Neil Skinner, fresh out of jail after being framed for robbery by his best friend—who also used the occasion to steal Skinner’s girlfriend. Out for revenge, the ex-con plots to steal the daily take of the racetrack where his friend runs security--and avoid the police detective still hounding him--in a game of double- and triple-cross.