Twelve Classic Diamond Heist Movies and Stealing Time by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs and Norman Birnbach
Subgenre: Crime, Heist, Thriller, YA (12 - 18 years)
About Stealing Time
When there’s no time left, you have to steal it!
New York, 2020. Tori’s world is falling apart. Between the pandemic and her parents’ divorce, what else could go wrong?
Plenty! Like discovering that a jewelry heist forty years ago sent her grandfather to jail and destroyed her family.
New York, 1980. Bobby’s life is pretty great—until a strange girl shows up in his apartment claiming to be a visitor from the future. Specifically, his future, which apparently stinks. Oh, and did she mention she’s his daughter?
Soon Bobby and Tori have joined forces to save the mystical gemstone at the heart of all their troubles. But a gang of thugs wants it too, and they’re not about to let a couple of teenagers get in their way.
Authors' Note:
Heist movies are about audacious, high-stakes crimes. Key
elements include elaborate planning, generally involving a gang that has to
learn to work together; a big score; suspenseful action; twists and often
betrayals.
While writing Stealing Time, our time-travel jewelry heist set in 1980, we (authors Tilia
Klebenov Jacobs and Norman Birnbach) discovered something fun! Our story was
based on the real 1964 crime in which Jack "Murph the Surf" Murphy
and his gang stole dozens of gems from the American Museum of Natural History,
including the famous Star of India sapphire. Turns out, Murph was inspired
by Topkapi, a 1964 film about stealing a jeweled dagger from a
Turkish museum. Because our target is a fictional yellow diamond called the
Desert Sun stolen from a museum, we watched the movie that inspired the crime
that inspired our book. We then watched dozens of diamond heist films to ensure
we captured key elements into our novel. Below is a summary of twelve classic
movie heists, which evaluates these movies based on the quality of the
heist and the diamonds that are being targeted.
12. Flawless (2007)
Miss Quinn (Demi Moore), the only female executive with the
fictional London Diamond Company (LDS), and Mr. Hobbs (Sir Michael Caine),
apparently the only janitor in the entire building, make an unlikely criminal
gang. They decide to rob a discrete amount of diamonds that LDS, a diamond
importer and cutter that controls the global market–think De Beers—wouldn’t
notice. Unusual for heist movies, Flawless has a social
conscience ahead of its 1960s setting, touching on glass ceilings for women
executives, blood diamonds, and privacy issues due to CCTVs (then considered
experimental for security).
Heist: Twists and turns and some logical
flaws. While we learn a little about the plans, we don’t see the actual heist.
Diamond: We see some rough (uncut)
diamonds before the credits: two large stones and an impressive necklace
worn in one scene by Moore, but that’s it. It’s almost as if the diamonds
themselves don’t matter.
11. King of Thieves (2018)
Over his prolific career, Sir Michael Caine has appeared in
at least a dozen heist or heist-adjacent movies—so many that it was unlikely
that only one would make this list. The real-life 2015 Hattan Gardens
heist—which captured England’s attention because the take was so large and was
conducted by a gang of elderly career criminals looking for one last
score—inspired two other movies. This one features Caine and Jim Broadbent, Sir
Michael Gambon, and Sir Tom Courtenay as the gang, nicknamed “Diamond Geezers”
or “The Over-the-Hill Mob”; their criminal pasts are depicted by way
of flashbacks cribbed from the actors’ old movies.
Heist: Complicated and often fun,
and adheres closer to the facts than the other movies on this list.
Diamonds: We see them several times
during the movie, and Caine’s character clearly knows valuable stones.
10. Locked Down (2021)
Linda (Anne Hathaway) and down-on-his-luck Paxton (Chiwetel
Ejiofor) have reached the end of their relationship but can’t separate because
the movie is set (and was filmed) during Covid. Much of Locked
Down’s first half is filmed via Zoom calls and meetings, where we
learn about the backstory to their failed relationship—and it’s a tribute to
Doug Liman, who also directed The Bourne Identity and Mr.
& Mrs. Smith, that these sequences are more interesting than most
Zooms. After Linda, a corporate executive whose responsibilities include
overseeing the safeguarding of Harrod’s merchandise during lockdown, finds out
that Paxton’s boss at the courier service has assigned him to transport the
fictional £3-million Harrod’s Diamond to a safe where it will likely stay
untouched for decades, they decide they need to steal it. The last third of the
movie moves quickly and intensely.
Heist: The heist is really about
non-career criminals tempted to steal rather than the clever strategies
required to steal a diamond. But the actual heist, involving a real diamond and
its replica, is fun.
Diamond: We see the pear-shaped
stone only briefly, and it looks impressive. The movie gets some aspects
right—like expensive diamonds are often purchased as rarely-displayed
investments—but gets one thing wrong: a diamond as famous as the Harrod’s
Diamond would be difficult to fence.
9. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
Down-on-their-luck brothers Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman)
and Hank (Ethan Hawke) rob their parents’ suburban jewelry store—and everything
goes wrong. Very wrong. The rest of the film depicts how the brothers got into
their terrible situation and, from multiple POVs, what happens afterward.
There’s not a single happy, likable character, but in his final movie, Syndey
Lumet raises the stakes and makes them pay.
Heist: Some heist movies are all about
planning and execution, glamourous locations and the banter among the crew.
This is not that kind of movie.
Diamond: Before the heist, Andy says the
jewelry should be worth a couple hundred thousand but, after briefly seeing
them in cracked display cases, that estimate seems high. They’re not worth
stealing but are so nondescript, they’d be easy to fence.
8. Thief (1981)
In his first feature, Michael Mann delivers a stylish,
compelling movie. James Caan delivers a great performance as Frank, a
safecracker who steals only cash and high-end jewelry and is looking for one
last score to build a life with Jessie (Tuesday Weld). But he’s caught between
a mob boss who wants him to continue pulling jobs, and a bunch of equally
brutal and greedy cops who want him to pay them off.
Heist: The complicated heist requires all
Frank’s skills—but the big score isn’t the end of the movie.
Diamond: We never see the diamonds.
7. Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Director John Huston’s Asphalt Jungle is
one of the first heist movies, and it brings all the goods: a just-released
ex-con looking for a score, a safecracker, a getaway man, muscle with a gun,
double-crosses and betrayals, and dirty cops. Oh, Marilyn Monroe making her
debut as the young mistress of a wealthy, married lawyer. Some aspects may
provoke laughter with modern audiences—the girlfriend of the muscle is named
Doll, and the security consists of an alarm and a single electric eye that the
bad guys roll under to evade. But the story ratchets the tension as it closes
tightly around the surviving gang members.
Heist: The plan to target a jewelry store
vault is complicated by 1950 standards.
Diamond: We see them briefly twice, once
during the robbery and once afterward. We’re not saying we would do it but
these pieces look more worth stealing than the ones in Before the Devil
Knows You’re Dead.
6. Heist (2001)
With a can't-miss cast including Gene Hackman, Danny Devito,
Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, and writer-director David Manet, Heist should
be better known. Perhaps it’s the generic title—like the studio wasn’t even
trying. Mamet, who excels at deception, betrayals, and funny, profane dialogue
(and that’s just Glengarry Glen Ross), brings his A game, and
viewers should have fun seeing who’s scamming who as DeVito and Rockwell force
Hackman’s Joe and his team to make one last score.
Heist: Two, one targeting jewelry, the second
targeting gold. Both are complicated, compelling, and intense.
Diamonds: We don’t get much of a look at the
diamonds, but there’s a lot—and we learn that the crew is smart, efficient and
clever.
5. Le Rouge Cercle (1970)
You can use standard heist elements—a recently released
ex-con, his ex-girlfriend now shacking up with an ex-friend who has risen
higher in the mob, betrayal, unethical cops, and a complicated plan to steal
diamonds—and still make a movie that’s more than the sum of its pieces. A
1970s-era noir—keep in mind, of course, that the French coined the term film
noir—Le Rouge Cercle should be better known. It’s stylish and
tough, with strong acting from Legion d’Honneur-winner Alain Delon as the
ex-con Corey and Yves Montand as Jansen, an alcoholic ex-cop (the same year he
appeared in the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) and
direction by Jean-Pierre Melville, a leader of the French new wave cinema. If
you’re used to the witty-but-lengthy monologues of Raymond Reddington (James
Spader) on The Blacklist, the minimal dialog in Melville’s script
will seem surprising and fresh.
Heist: Inspired by the Asphalt Jungle and Rafifi, Le
Rouge Cercle’s heist is conducted in real-time and in silence. Because it’s
French and partly takes place in Paris, there are unexpected flourishes, like
Montand’s Jansen, who shows up at the heist dressed in a tuxedo.
Diamonds: We see the gems initially when a
gang member cases the joint, and then later, during the heist. They do seem
worth the millions Corey says they’re worth.
4. Rafifi (1955)
This French-language classic, directed by American Jules
Dassin, features a just-released ex-con, his old gang, and their target: a
ritzy Paris jewelry store with “more alarms than a fire station” and a
state-of-the-art safe containing millions in jewelry. There’s also a love
triangle involving the ex-con, his ex-girlfriend and her new gangster
boyfriend. The film’s highlight: a gripping real-time heist sequence, a
30-minute stretch without dialog or music. This stylish film is filled with
drinking and smoking—c’est Paris, non?—betrayals and violence, including
to women, which while brief and off-screen, is disturbing.
Heist: This is a terrific,
complicated, edge-of-your-seat heist.
Diamonds: The jewelry is
old-fashioned and does not seem worth 240 million (the movie is not specific
about dollars or francs), but definitely worth stealing.
3. Topkapi (1964)
Directed by Jules Dassin in his second time on this
list, Topkapi established some of the tropes for caper movies:
exotic location (the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul), a fabulous target (a
historic emerald-encrusted dagger), a complicated plan, elaborate and daring
execution, double-crosses, and humor. Topkapi influenced the
creator of the Mission: Impossible TV show and director
Christopher Nolan—and Jack “Murph the Surf” Murphy.
Heist: Clever and fun to watch.
Diamond: Although the dagger is
covered in emeralds, not diamonds, it is still seems worth stealing.
2. The Usual Suspects (1995)
You don’t have to watch The Usual Suspects twice
to figure everything out, but you might want to, as the script is a masterclass
in misdirection. It’s about five crooks—including a munitions expert
and a sharpshooter—and the dogged Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri)
who is trying to catch Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) and finds out about the
mysterious mobster Keyser Soze. Kevin Spacey won Best Supporting Actor for his
role as Verbel. The Usual Suspects is a deconstructed heist:
the first scene essentially gives us the conclusion. But it’s
gripping and well plotted.
Heist: Clever and tense.
Diamond: The gang participates in
one score that nabs fake-looking emeralds. But the gems are not the point.
1. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Reservoir Dogs is funny and violent, filled with
talkative, pop-culture-obsessed wise guys (named for different colors, a
callback to The Taking of The Pelham One Two Three,
1974)—everything you'd expect from Quentin Tarantino. It’s not a true heist
movie because we never see the heist-gone-wrong. The target is a jewelry
store—which we never see—but the cops were onto the crooks, so what we get the
aftermath, as the gang tries to figure out who ratted them out.
Heist: We never see it, but the movie is
still gripping.
Diamond: We never see the gems either.
If you like heist movies, you'll love Stealing Time - a thrilling new YA release from Norman Birnbach and Tilia Klebenov Jacobs!
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About Norman Birnbach:
Norman Birnbach is an award-winning writer who has published over a hundred op-eds, short stories and articles. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, New York Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Militant Grammarian, and other literary journals.
Stealing Time, a 2024 Killer Nashville Claymore Top Pick, is his debut novel.
A native New Yorker, he lives outside Boston with his wife, three children, and dog, Taxi.
Website
About Tilia Klebenov Jacobs:
Tilia Klebenov Jacobs holds a BA from Oberlin College, where she double-majored in Religion and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Following an interregnum as an outdoor educator with the Fairfax County Park Authority in Virginia, she earned a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Secondary School Teaching Certification from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Despite lacking the ability to breathe fire except in the strictly metaphorical sense, Tilia has taught middle school, high school, and college. She has also won numerous awards for her fiction and nonfiction writing. She is a judge in the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and she teaches writing to prison inmates. Tilia lives near Boston with her husband, two children, and two standard poodles.
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