Heist (film)

Heist is a 2001 crime thriller written and directed by David Mamet. The film's cast includes Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Ricky Jay, and Rebecca Pidgeon.

Tagline:

Love makes the world go 'round- Love of Gold.

It isn't love that makes the world go round.

Cast

Gene Hackman - Joe Moore

Danny DeVito - Mickey Bergman (as Danny Devito)

Delroy Lindo - Bobby 'Bob' Blane

Sam Rockwell - Jimmy Silk

Rebecca Pidgeon - Fran Moore
Ricky Jay - Don 'Pinky' Pincus
Patti LuPone - Betty Croft (as Patti Lupone)
Alan Bilzerian - Fast Food Customer
Richard L. Friedman - Counterman
Robert Lussier - Fast Food Cook

Mark Camacho - Jewelry Store Guard
Michelle Sweeney - Waitress
Elyzabeth Walling - Jewelry Saleswoman

Mike Tsar - Coffee Cart Man (as Mike Tsarouchas)
Jim Frangione - D.A. Freccia

Plot

Joe Moore (Hackman) heads a group of professional thieves, which includes Bobby Blane (Lindo), Don 'Pinky' Pincus (Jay), and Joe's wife Fran (Pidgeon). During a mid-morning robbery of a jewelry store, Joe's picture is captured on a security camera, leading him to choose an early retirement. That doesn't sit well with Bergman (DeVito), Joe's fence, who, after accruing a number of expenses in setting up another robbery, denies Joe and his crew their payment and presses them into taking on the other job -- the hijacking of a Swiss airplane carrying a large shipment of gold. With Bergman's hotheaded nephew Jimmy Silk (Rockwell) reluctantly brought into the fold, Joe and his crew agree to pull off the caper, but a series of shifting loyalties amongst thieves changes the whole complexion of their task.

Essentially a re-examination of Mamet's favorite device, the confidence game, the film was more of a success with critics than audiences. Roger Ebert is among the film's admirers, praising not only Mamet's trademark verbal constructions ("Everybody wants money -- that's why they call it money!") and restrained approach to on-screen gunplay, but also the care that the director takes in shaping the relationships between the principals.