If movies have taught me anything about robbing a bank, it is imperative that your entire crew wears matching getups to both conceal their identities, inspire fear and impart a sense of style. Some classic examples:
Heat - McCauley’s crew wore business suits, balaclava masks (later sunglasses), automatic rifles and giant duffle bags to carry the cash.
The Town - Wicked creepy nun costumes with latex masks
Inside Man - Blue painter’s jumpsuits and white masks (also incorporated into the escape plan).
Sugar & Spice - The girls wore their cheerleading costumes with plastic masks.
and of course…
Point Break - The Ex-Presidents each wore a mask of an ex president
Any others?
As in the finale to The Full Monty one deft movement has them off to reveal our completely different getaway gear, baffling police and arousing innocent bystanders.
It seems to me that there’s actually a good reason to do this: It makes it harder for the people at the bank / any cops showing up to know how many robbers there are, or where any given robber is at a particular time. Confused and disoriented police and bystanders are more complacent police and bystanders.
The hijackers wore matching caps, false moustaches, identical trenchcoats, gloves, glasses, slacks (and I believe boots), and had phony names based on colors, Mr. Gray, etc., and had the same machine guns.
Just to show off my esoteric knowledge, the matching-costumes tactic became well-known after the 1950 Brink’s Robbery (I don’t know if the tactic was used earlier but it probably was). The Brink’s robbers did it so the guards wouldn’t know for sure how many robbers were involved. I think they went so far as to make the ones who went into the building all the same height.
