Twelve Classic Diamond Heist Movies and Stealing Time by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs and Norman Birnbach

  



Release Date: November 19, 2024

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.

This time-travel jewelry heist will keep you guessing till the end!

  1. Denver Post"The novel’s dialogue, descriptions, and details all sparkle. And its exploration of how past experiences can shape present lives adds depth and poignancy. Good for YA audiences, but a fun read for adults, too."
  1. Kirkus Reviews: "Fans of time-travel narratives will find much to love here...the characters are distinctive enough to keep this work feeling fresh. A delight...a classic...well rendered.” (Four of four stars.)
  1. Hidden Sci-Fi: “A delightful time-traveling caper that seamlessly blends science fiction, mystery, and family drama…A true gem, offering an engaging and heartwarming adventure that will resonate with readers of all ages.”
  1. New York Times Bestseller M.J. Rose: “Stealing Time, a whip-smart, time-travel novel, is as clever and inventive as it is fascinating and compelling. Filled with facts about gemstones, quantum physics, nostalgic scenes of 1980s New York City, a zany female thief and her cohorts, and heartwarming family scenes, this is a tale for readers from fifteen to ninety. Highly recommend!” 

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.

HeistComplicated 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.

HeistThe 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 noirLe 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.

HeistThis is a terrific, complicated, edge-of-your-seat heist.

DiamondsThe 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.

HeistClever 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.

HeistClever 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!

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble Apple Books 


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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