On Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in a spectacular feat some are calling “the heist of the century,” four thieves managed to steal around $102 million worth of jewelry from the Louvre in just seven minutes. Even more impressive? One of the most famous museums in the world was robbed in broad daylight, and the museum’s outdoor security cameras largely failed to capture the break-in. It all sounds like a heist movie, doesn’t it?
Although the above depicts a real event, fictionalized heist movies have been captivating audiences since “The Great Train Robbery,” released in 1903 to considerable commercial success. This movie depicts a heist, however many consider “The Asphalt Jungle” to be the first true heist movie, as it better conforms to the standard beats of the genre.
The typical components of a heist movie involve the assembly of an unlikely crew by a cunning and enigmatic leader. “They’ll rob a bank, they’ll steal some jewelry … you have one techie guy and then you have people that are incognito. They do this elaborate planning for many months to complete the heist,” Berkeley High School junior Samishka Chitnis said, “They almost get caught every single time, but obviously they don’t.”
But what makes heist movies so alluring? Is it their suspenseful quick-paced feel? Is it their characteristic witty banter? Is it the elaborate and clever plans that keep the audience and the bad guys guessing? Perhaps, it is all of these things. “I think they’re a combination of a lot of other fun things from movies. You have good team dynamics and there’s usually some amount of comedy … but it also has high stakes and lots of different characters with different levels of morality,” BHS junior Bria Matubrew said.
The crew usually targets a large, corrupt institution — whether that be a casino, museum, or bank. Importantly, the films paint the protagonists as “Robin Hood” types who are stealing something from someone who did not deserve their wealth in the first place. Even though usually the protagonists of the movie are committing a crime, the audience always ends up rooting for them anyways. BHS freshman Ruby Guerreiro-Ramos explained, “I’ve noticed that with most heist movies, they’re doing something bad, robbing something or whatever, but it’s against someone who was already doing something worse.”
Guerreiro-Ramos mentioned both director Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” and director Louis Leterrier’s “Now You See Me” franchise. In “Ocean’s Eleven” the crew is robbing a casino owner who has little guilt about murdering for vengeance. In “Now You See Me,” a crew of magicians rob the bank account of a wealthy owner of an insurance company that denied insurance to many after Hurricane Katrina. The crew then redistributes the stolen money to those who were ripped off. Guerreiro-Ramos spoke of the typical antagonists of a heist movie. “They’re rich or they have power, and there’s nothing we can do. And I think (heist movies) give a sort of sense to people that you’re not alone,” Guerreiro-Ramos said.
In a world where it is easy to feel trapped and powerless in a corrupt system, it’s nice to be able to imagine a ragtag team of unlikely heroes pulling off elaborate schemes and fighting back. But most of all, heist movies offer an escape from reality. Matubrew said, “(Viewers) are never going to plan these big heists and steal from museums … but the movies portray (the heists) in such a fun way that it makes it feel like we’re like a part of it even though we won’t be able to do it.”
American audiences are not the only ones who seek this escape. The heist genre has become a fixture of national cinema. Chitnis enjoys not just American heist movies like “Now You See Me”, but also the Spanish and French TV Shows “Money Heist” and “Lupin.” Chitnis said, “It’s a very inclusive genre, actually. Because a lot of people from a lot of places everywhere make (heist content) and I love that. It’s amazing.”
Heist films occur in our world but the feats the characters pull off seem nearly impossible. Yet they are still just barely attainable; with the right people, the right resources, and incredible luck they could occur in the real world. Take this October’s Louvre heist for example, which has captured global attention. It was a scene right out of a movie.