Diksha Sundriyal
Based on the book of the same name, ‘The Italian Job’ tells the story of a crew that falls prey to the betrayal of one of its members. A safecracker puts together a team to steal gold worth millions of dollars from a bank in Venice. However, their insider man betrays them and after shooting the safecracker, leaves the rest of the crew for dead. Years later, the safecracker’s trusted partner brings the team together again, along with the safecracker’s daughter to exact revenge on the man who betrayed them.
There are a lot of things in the film that appeals to the viewer. Be it the high-octane action sequences, or elaborately planned robberies, the catching of the mole or the subtle humour, ‘The Italian Job’ is all the elements of entertainment packed into one. If you liked this film, then, understandably, heist movies are what appeal to you. In that case, here’s the list of movies similar to The Italian job that are our recommendation. You can find many of these movies like The Italian Job on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
15. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Lightfoot still hasn’t made it any big and is still a small-time drifter. One day, he, unintentionally, runs over a man. Turns out, that man was sent to kill Thunderbolt, a famous thief. By saving his life, Lightfoot earns his trust and discovers his story. Years ago, Thunderbolt had carried out a robbery with his crew, but due to some misunderstanding, everyone was led to believe that Thunderbolt has double-crossed them. They are the ones who sent a man to kill him. Lightfoot helps him gain back the trust of his crew that allows them to reunite. Lightfoot decides to use this opportunity to carry out a bank robbery of his own.
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14. The Grifters (1990)
Pulling cons on people takes an inherent skill, and if one gets quite good at it, then, let’s just say that the downsides escalate too. One of them is the morality of people and their priorities about the things they want the most. Lilly Dillon has been hustling money and has made her way in the world by conning people. In another city, her son, although small-time, does a similar thing. Years later, when she decides to check up on him, she doesn’t find him in a very good place and with a not so good girl. Things get more complicated and dangerous when Lilly gets entangled in a row between her son and his girlfriend. It doesn’t end well for some people.
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13. Drive (2011)
In this film, Ryan Gosling played the role of an unnamed man who works as a Hollywood stuntman, but at night, hustles as a getaway driver. He develops a close relationship with his neighbour, Irene and her son. But then, her husband is released from jail and brings trouble along with himself. He owes money to a group of people who threaten to kill Irene and her son if their money isn’t paid. The Driver, aware of this threat, decides to help the husband in robbing a pawn shop. But, unbeknownst to them, someone else has already botched their plan.
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12. Baby Driver (2017)
Planning a robbery takes intricate attention to detail. Everything has to have schemed to the minute. And the most important thing of all in any robbery is the escape route. You can take captives, you can extort the money, but if you don’t have a good getaway driver to rescue you from the crime scene, you might as well not rob anything. Ansel Elgort played the role of Baby, a young man who loves music, makes mixes and drives the crews of robbers to safety. No one drives like him, no matter how thick the traffic is or how close the police are in the car chase, Baby always finds a way. And this is exactly why Doc, the master planner of the robberies, will not let Baby go.
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11. Thief (1981)
Frank has had a very good career as a jewel thief. All the money that he has made through his heists, he has successfully funneled in his businesses that act as a front. He has fallen for his secretary and is thinking of settling down with her. But, one thing goes wrong in his latest heist and he gets entangled with a gangster who lures him to undertake the final heist. But, a gangster’s word is as good as a cat’s promise to not eat the rat. The gangster takes notice of Frank’s talents and decides to bring him into his employment. Will Frank be able to find his way out of this trap?
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10. Stander (2003)
This film is based on the real life of a police captain who changed his ways and became a bank robber. Andre Stander has a good reputation as the youngest captain in the force, is recently married and has everything perfect. An incident in the riots messes with his head and he realises the flawed ways of his system. On a whim, one day, he robs a bank and as he successfully escapes, he realises that he enjoys the thrill. And so, he embarks on a string of robberies until his fellow policemen see through his play and arrest him. However, this is not the end of heists for Stander. He plans even bigger things while his time in jail.
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9. Topkapi (1964)
Elizabeth Lipp harbours a fascination to own, and maybe later sell, the things that catch her attention. While visiting Istanbul, her eyes get fixed on Topkapi, the beautiful dagger of Sultan Mahmud I. It seems quite handy that her ex-lover is a master of planning elaborate heist. Together, they assemble a team of eccentric people, a mechanic, a mute acrobat and a muscleman, to make their plan work. However, no matter how fine a crew you’ve got, you will need a local person on your side who understands the way things work in the area. For this, they employ a local hustler. But, they don’t tell him everything and when he falls under the radar of the Turkish police, things become more complicated than they actually were.
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8. American Animals (2018)
The story of this film is based on a true event that took place in Kentucky in 2004 when a group of students stole valuable books from Transylvania University. The film uses the footage of the real people involved in or witnesses of the heist and, alongside, plays the serialised version of it with the actors. Spencer wants to find a purpose in his life and Warren wants some excitement. In order to fulfill their wishes, they decide to rob the rare book collection in the University’s library with the help of a few other people.
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7. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
There are many reasons that make people plan robberies and carry out heists. For Sonny Wortzik, the reasons are quite difficult to explain. Anyhow, he does plan a robbery of a bank and successfully breaches it. There is a slight problem where one of his accomplices loses his nerve and flees. But, things are under control. However, the timing of the robbery goes terribly wrong because the money has already been swiped from the bank in the routine of daily cash pick up and there are no more than a thousand dollars in the bank. Meanwhile, the police have been alerted of their actions, and Sonny and his accomplice have no choice but to hold the bank staff hostage and find a way to not get caught.
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6. How to Steal a Million (1966)
There are a lot of ways to deceive people and Charles Bonnet masters one of them. He is passionate about art and is himself quite good at it, too. He forges masterpieces and then sells them off as authentic at the prices that make him very, very rich. His reputation as a “collector” grows painting after painting. But trouble stirs when one of his paintings ends up in a famous museum. If any sort of inspection renders that painting as a forgery, then the career might as well be over for Bonnet. To save him from this doom, his daughter employs a thief to plan a heist into the museum and steal that painting.
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5. Heat (1995)
This film brought Robert de Niro and Al Pacino together as a criminal and an LAPD Lieutenant, respectively. When one of his heists goes wrong, Neil McCauley (De Niro) tries to find ways to extract as much profit out of the mess as he can. But, the deal turns sour when it turns out to be an ambush and McCauley barely escapes. He vows to settle the score with the man who double-crossed him. All this while, Vincent Hanna of the Major Crimes Unit is called in to investigate and catch the criminals behind the robbery. Now, Hanna will do everything in his power to catch McCauley and bring his crew to justice, and McCauley won’t rest until he has had his revenge.
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4. The Killing (1956)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, this film tells the story of a con man who plans one final heist before he can retire in peace with his lover. He employs the help of a corrupt cop, a sharpshooter, a window teller and a wrestler to steal the money from the money counting room of a racetrack. The success of a plan lies in the knowledge of the plan being limited to just a handful of people, the ones who will be directly involved in the heist. Apparently, the window teller does not understand that and passes on this information to his wife, in order to impress her about the money that is about to come. This turns out to be a fatal mistake for everyone involved in the robbery.
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3. Mission Impossible Series (1996- present)
In its essence, all ‘Mission Impossible’ films are heist films. They are elaborate plans carried out by highly trained agents with impossible technology at their disposal rather than criminals carrying out plans with homemade equipment. There is a target, there is planning, there is deceit, there is the escalating danger, and a whole lot of action (which just keeps getting ridiculously better with every installment). The central character, Ethan Hunt, has a team that he can always rely on, but there is always something, too, that either makes people distrust him or makes him wary of people. There is always a mole somewhere. And still, if you think that these points don’t prove this franchise’s compatibility with ‘The Italian Job’, then there’s nothing more to say.
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2. The Usual Suspects (1995)
Planning a heist is one thing, executing it is another, and dealing with the aftermath of the planning gone wrong is an entirely different matter. When a massacre on a ship leaves only two survivors, one of them is interrogated to find out exactly what happened there. The con-man starts to narrate his story through a series of flashbacks and the story becomes more complicated with the more details he pumps into it. ‘The Usual Suspects’ is one of the must-see movies of, perhaps, all time. With an excellent screenplay and brilliant performances from actors like Kevin Spacey (who won an Oscar), Benicio del Toro and Kevin Pollack, this film is one hell of a ride you don’t want to miss.
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1. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Quentin Tarantino started his career as a director with the story of six men who are a part of a robbery. The thing is, none of them knows each other’s real identity. And when the robbery goes awfully wrong and everything becomes a dense mess, none of them knows who they can trust. Each one of them believes that there is an undercover cop amidst them, but none of them can point a finger on who it actually might be. Told in Tarantino’s eccentric way of telling stories, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ deservedly finds its place amongst the cult classics and one of the best indie films.
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