The thieves became the clever ones, the funny ones, the wry, snappy, stylish ones the law and the guy being ripped off were out to stop their – and our – fun. In the Sixties, a campier, more playful sensibility in films like Basil Dearden's The League of Gentlemen invited us to allow ourselves to be charmed by the roguish, charismatic schemers liberating cash from people who could afford it. There's something deeper than that at work though. Since day one, they've had an absolutely platinum-plated structure, and the great thing about such a solid skeleton is it gives writers and directors a great platform to subvert and innovate while knowing that however far off base they go, it'll be there to keep things moving in the right direction. Since they grew out of film noir, heist movies have been one of film's most enduringly excellent genres. They go do the heist, unexpected bumps in the road threaten to knock everything off course, and we wait to see whether they get away with the loot. The mastermind emerges from the underground, schemes an entertainingly complex and clever scheme, finds his – almost always his – expert hired hands to carry out said entertainingly complex and clever scheme, lays it all out for them and for us.
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