5 Classic Heist Films of the 20th Century

John Huston’s film-noir classic is widely considered the blueprint for all modern heist movies. It has everything—the assembling of a ragtag team of washed-up outlaws, the detailed execution of the a jewel heist and its doomed aftermath—all shot in a gritty realism that defied the glitzy studio films of its day. The Asphalt Jungle also featured Marilyn Monroe in one of her first roles, and it was nominated for four Academy Awards.

The biggest draw of this heist classic is seeing the Rat Pack at its peak. Starring Frank Sinatra as criminal mastermind Danny Ocean, Ocean’s 11 follows a team of comedic co-conspirators. The ensemble cast includes Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Cesar Romero as they plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos on New Year’s Eve. The film was rebooted in 2001, leading to several sequels and a spinoff.

Michael Caine plays Charlie Croker, a scheming scamp from Swinging London who teams up with an imprisoned crime lord, played by Noël Coward, to knock over a convoy of armored trucks in Turin, Italy.

The Italian Job features one of the first depictions of a computer hacker on film (played by comedian Benny Hill), but the highlight is a chaotic chase scene involving three Mini Coopers defying every rule of the road. And the cliffhanger ending (literally) is one of the most infamous in film history.

In this genre-bending classic from director Sidney Lumet, Al Pacino plays Sonny, a Vietnam veteran who attempts to rob a New York City bank to pay for gender reassignment surgery for his boyfriend.

The fumbled robbery (inspired by a real crime) draws a crowd of gawkers and TV cameras, and the film becomes a meditation on fame, the media and the desperate lengths people will go to for happiness. Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for six Academy Awards and won for best screenplay.

Martin Scorsese's pitch-perfect mafia movie was based on Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family, a book chronicling the real-life misadventures of the Lucchese crime syndicate.

Though Goodfellas isn't traditionally considered a heist movie, its plot involves one of the most notorious U.S. robberies. In the film, low-level mobster Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) hatches a wild plan to steal more than $5 million in cash and jewels from Lufthansa Airlines. In real life, the mob pulled off the Lufthansa heist—the largest robbery in U.S. history at the time—but left a trail of murders in its wake.