According to Wiki, a ‘caper film’ is like a heist film, but with comedic elements. Let’s include both ‘caper films’ and ‘heist films’ here.
I’ll start it off with two:
The Italian Job (1969)
Sexy Beast
Here’s a list.
“The Sting” isn’t on that list, but I’ve always thought of it as a caper film.
From the list, I loved the two Alec Guiness, Ealing Studio ones, “The Ladykillers” and “The Lavendar Hill Mob”
I thought the Muppet Caper was great.
I didn’t read the list, but “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” should be in any mention of best caper films of all time.
“I’m comin’, mama”
Inception was very much a heist/caper film. Ocean’s Eleven on peyote.
I’ve always liked The Anderson Tapes.
There’s also Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.
The Great Train Robbery: “Find me a dead cat.”
Quick Change
I don’t think of Sexy Beast as either a heist film (by my recollection, the heist at the end was a very small part of the movie), or having comedic elements (it seemed more like a psychological thriller thanks to Ben Kingsley’s tremendous performance).
And here I thought I was the only one who remembered this movie! I thought the trick they used was a pretty good one.
Here’s another heist film: The Inside Man.
Personally, I thought parts of it were hilarious. Especially Kingsley’s character. Here’s Wiki’s description of ‘heist films’. Sexy Beast has the elements of one: One last job, the gathering of conspirators, the planning of the heist, the unravelling of the plot at the end… It didn’t really strike me as a psychological thriller.
The Sting is the first film that came to my mind.
The remake of The Italian Job (Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland) was great, even if it did amount to a feature-length commercial for the Mini Cooper.
And I’ll say it - the modern Ocean’s Eleven. Could watch it every day.
Perhaps this is more a straight comedy than a caper fim, but a diamond theft is at the heart of The Pink Panther - athough again, it’s less about the theft and more about Clouseau’s foiling of same, so it might not count.
I liked The Maiden Heist, quirky but fun. Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman and William H. Macy and Walken’s character is the sanest.
The Wrong Trousers - won an Academy Award, and also has one of the best chase scenes in cinema, IMNSHO.
I have the original and the remake on DVD. I’ve only watch the remake once. Not that I didn’t like it, but the original is so much better. (But then, I’m a sucker for '50s & '60s films of certain genres.)
Bravo. :D:D:D
How To Steal A Million is one of my favorites - Peter O’Toole at his most beautiful, Audrey Hepburn at her most bony, and some wonderful character actors (Hugh Griffith, Jacques Marin, Moustache). Entertaining and funny, with a moral.
Roddy
I love The In-Laws.
“Serpentine Shelly. Serpentine!”
Rat Race
From that list, some stand outs for me are A Fish Called Wanda, Inception, and Snatch…