5 heist movies based on true events

Stories about hustlers impress us with their audacity and cunning multiple moves.

It’s as if, as we watch, we become the same clever adventurers who are ready to risk everything for the sake of a huge jackpot. In ordinary life, we would hardly dare to rob a bank or steal confidential data of a large organization.

And few people have the necessary skills for such a dangerous craft. Yet the guardians of the law, despite their despair in the movies, do not sleep. Of course, storytellers tend to embellish stories, but few people know that some of them actually happened.

We’ve put together five important movies based on true events.

“American Animals”, dir. Bart Layton (2018)

This movie doesn’t fit into the canon of heist movies like Snatch or Ocean’s 11. The plot is based on a real event that occurred in 2004 at Transylvania University in Lexington (USA). For the sake of an experiment, an art student persuades his comrades to steal one of the most expensive books in the world. We are talking about John James Audubon’s atlas “Birds of America,” which, according to rough estimates, cost about $12 million. The logic is simple: The book is protected only by the librarian. But their raids lead to unexpected results.

“Instigators”, dir. Jared Hess (2015)

“The Ringleaders”, a true crime comedy about four new criminals, is based on the true story of the robbery of the Loomis Fargo bank in North Carolina (USA) in 1997. The raiders then managed to steal $17.7 million. The funny thing was that all these absurd moments actually happened because Ghent, one of the kidnappers, became a consultant for the film after being released from prison. In the story, David, the driver of a vehicle carrying cash, his girlfriend Kelly and two of their friends steal money from the safe without any plan, forgetting to turn off the cameras. And now the dashing foursome is trying to get away from the chase. It is interesting that on the eve of the shooting, a robbery occurred again in the same bank – this is really a coincidence. Starring Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis.

“Elite Society”, dir. Sofia Coppola (2013)

The crime drama is actually inspired by a story that happened in the Hollywood Hills. Five flamboyant young people illegally enter wealthy mansions where celebrities live as a joke. Those who stop by to visit Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan fill their pockets with valuables: the girls steal branded clothes and jewelry, the boys steal money. The thieves managed to loot more than $3 million.

“Bonnie and Clyde”, dir. Bruce Beresford (2013)

This film can be accused of romanticizing crime, because the couple in love continues to excite representatives of pop culture to this day: songs and films have been made about the love of Bonnie and Clyde. In 2019, the crime drama “Chasing Bonnie and Clyde” was released; In 2016, the ninth episode of the first season of the TV series “Out of Time” was dedicated to the couple, and in 2013 the mini-series “Bonnie and Clyde” was released with Emile Hirsch and Holliday Granger, but starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as Arthur Penn. s movie, Bonnie and Clyde, is still a classic. The real story takes place in the 1930s, during the Great Depression in the United States, when crime increased due to poverty. The film generally shows the robberies committed by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in detail, but what remains behind the scenes is their lives before they met and the fate that befell them after their arrest. But Bruce Beresford’s miniseries has more action, shootouts and theft details.

It is “Catch Me If You Can”. Steven Spielberg (2007)

Based on the autobiography of the same name, the film adaptation of Catch Me If You Can tells the con story of Frank Abagnale Jr., played by a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Even though today the investigation and journalists are questioning some facts, this does not reduce the interest in his person in any way. Abagnale began embezzling money from the age of 15; His first victim was his father, who sent him to a reform school. However, in the movie, it is obvious that DiCaprio’s character learned his check-drawing skills from his father. According to the narrator, Abagnale disguised himself as a doctor and a pilot.

When the FBI caught the criminal, they were truly surprised that he was accused of harming people. “My victims were big companies. “I was a kid robbing a place,” he said. Abagnale also invented photographic memory, high IQ, and the FBI’s admiration for the book’s con artist’s abilities. His escape from the Atlanta prison also turned out to be a hoax. But it is true that in his criminal past he has repeatedly escaped the FBI’s tenacious clutches.