Earliest Heist Movies and TV Shows
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1. Filibus (1915)
76 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Skypirate Filibus commits robberies from her airship, while a dedicated detective attempts to put a stop to it.
Director: Mario Roncoroni | Stars: Valeria Creti, Giovanni Spano, Cristina Ruspoli, Mario Mariani
Votes: 103
2. Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915)
65 min | Crime, Drama
After robbing a bank, a criminal is wrongfully pardoned from prison.
Director: Maurice Tourneur | Stars: Robert Warwick, Robert Cummings, Alec B. Francis, Frederick Truesdell
Votes: 203
3. Alias Jimmy Valentine (1920)
60 min | Crime, Drama
Director: Edmund Mortimer | Stars: Bert Lytell, Vola Vale, Eugene Pallette, Wilton Taylor
4. Long Pants (1927)
60 min | Comedy
Harry Shelby receives his first pair of long pants. He immediately falls in love with a cocaine-smuggling flapper named Bebe. When Bebe is imprisoned, Harry decides to rescue her. To do so,... See full summary »
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Harry Langdon, Gladys Brockwell, Alan Roscoe, Priscilla Bonner
Votes: 429
5. Asphalt (1929)
90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Joe May's sensual drama of life in the Berlin underworld is in many ways the perfect summation of German filmmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to ... See full summary »
Director: Joe May | Stars: Albert Steinrück, Else Heller, Gustav Fröhlich, Betty Amann
Votes: 1,323
6. Raffles (1930)
72 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A distinguished English gentleman has a secret life--he is the notorious jewel thief the press has dubbed "The Amateur Cracksman". When he meets a woman and falls in love he decides to "... See full summary »
Directors: George Fitzmaurice, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, David Torrence, Frederick Kerr
Votes: 756 | Gross: $1.00M
7. Outside the Law (1930)
79 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Fingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Mary Nolan, Edward G. Robinson, Owen Moore, Rockliffe Fellowes
Votes: 136
8. Der Raub der Mona Lisa (1931)
89 min | Drama
A painter working at the Louvre is struck by the Mona Lisa. When he meets a girl who he thinks resembles the painting and she wants him to become famous he has the idea of robbing the painting. Based on the 1911 real robbery.
Director: Géza von Bolváry | Stars: Trude von Molo, Willi Forst, Gustaf Gründgens, Fritz Odemar
Votes: 40
9. Central Park (1932)
58 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Gangsters posing as police officers offer a woman a chance to make money if she helps them out.
Director: John G. Adolfi | Stars: Joan Blondell, Wallace Ford, Guy Kibbee, Henry B. Walthall
Votes: 331
10. Million Dollar Haul (1935)
63 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Special Insurance-Investigator Dan Kennedy and his wonder dog, Tarzan the Police Dog, are called in to investigate the persistent robbing of a shipping-and-storage warehouse in Los Angeles.
Director: Albert Herman | Stars: Tarzan, Reed Howes, Janet Chandler, William Farnum
Votes: 10
11. You Only Live Once (1937)
86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon
Votes: 5,442
12. Rhythm Racketeer (1937)
84 min | Crime, Musical
Gangster Nap Connors tries to break into the London underworld and finds he has a double in Harry Grant. Forced to return to America by a feared hit-man, Nap uses his double to give him the perfect alibi for a jewel heist on board ship.
Director: James Seymour | Stars: Harry Roy, Princess Pearl, James Carew, Norma Varden
Votes: 19
13. Raffles (1939)
72 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Man about town and First Class cricketer A.J. Raffles keeps himself solvent with daring robberies. Meeting Gwen from his schooldays and falling in love all over again, he spends the weekend... See full summary »
Directors: Sam Wood, William Wyler | Stars: David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, May Whitty, Dudley Digges
Votes: 735 | Gross: $0.09M
14. Eva tropí hlouposti (1939)
85 min | Comedy
After several years abroad Michal Nor comes back home to his aunt Pa and his sister Eva who just came back from board school. Aunt Pa is having a birthday soon and Eva knows that she would ... See full summary »
Director: Martin Fric | Stars: Natasa Gollová, Oldrich Nový, Zdenka Baldová, Gustav Hilmar
Votes: 295
15. High Sierra (1941)
PG | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy
Votes: 14,589
16. The Big Shot (1942)
82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fearing life in prison for a fourth offense, convict Duke Berne pulls out of an armored car robbery, planned by his crooked lawyer, but he is framed for the robbery anyway.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, Richard Travis, Susan Peters
Votes: 738
17. Larceny, Inc (1942)
95 min | Comedy, Crime
Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers...
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson
Votes: 2,275
18. The Killers (1946)
PG | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker
Votes: 18,434
19. Desperate (1947)
PG | 73 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A young married couple flee both police and a gangster out for revenge.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr, Douglas Fowley
Votes: 1,890
20. Hollow Triumph (1948)
PG | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity - with unfortunate results.
Directors: Steve Sekely, Paul Henreid | Stars: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks
Votes: 2,232
21. White Heat (1949)
G | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Votes: 28,793
22. Criss Cross (1949)
PG | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An armored truck driver and his lovely ex-wife conspire with a gang to have his own truck robbed on the route.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally
Votes: 7,081
23. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
PG | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore
Votes: 23,335
24. Gun Crazy (1950)
14A | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A well meaning crack shot husband is pressured by his beautiful marksman wife to go on an interstate robbery spree, where he finds out just how depraved and deadly she really is.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky
Votes: 11,111
25. Appointment with Danger (1950)
90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When ruthlessly dedicated postal inspector investigates the murder of a co-worker, he finds that the sole witness, a nun, has been targeted by the killers.
Director: Lewis Allen | Stars: Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Stewart, Jan Sterling
Votes: 1,033
26. Armored Car Robbery (1950)
PG | 67 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
A well-planned robbery goes awry, with tough cop Cordell in pursuit.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, William Talman, Douglas Fowley
Votes: 2,291
27. Highway 301 (1950)
83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Led by a psychotic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey, Gaby André, Edmon Ryan
Votes: 448
28. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
78 min | Comedy, Crime
A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass
Votes: 12,239
29. Pool of London (1951)
85 min | Crime, Drama
When their ship docks the crew disembark as usual to pick up their lives in postwar London. For one of them his petty smuggling turns more serious when he finds himself caught up with a robbery in the City.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Earl Cameron
Votes: 580
30. Radio tekee murron (1951)
91 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Eager young radio reporter Teräsvuori stages a one-man burglary into the Helsinki Art Museum, recorded on tape for a later broadcast by his friend Laakso. Things go awry when a gang of real... See full summary »
Director: Matti Kassila | Stars: Hannes Häyrinen, Ritva Arvelo, Kullervo Kalske, Kunto Karapää
Votes: 288
31. Carson City (1952)
PG | 87 min | Western
When a banker finds his stagecoach shipments of gold from Carson City are vulnerable to holdups, he commissions the building of a railroad through the mountains.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, Raymond Massey, Richard Webb
Votes: 865
32. The Steel Trap (1952)
85 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Los Angeles bank assistant-manager devises a plan to steal money from the bank's vault and to flee to Brazil with his unsuspecting wife.
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, Jonathan Hale, Walter Sande
Votes: 934
33. Kipparikvartetti (1952)
80 min | Comedy, Musical
Director: Ville Salminen | Stars: Olavi Virta, Kauko Käyhkö, Auvo Nuotio, Teijo Joutsela
Votes: 62
34. Touchez pas au grisbi (1954)
94 min | Crime, Drama
An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
Director: Jacques Becker | Stars: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll, Vittorio Sanipoli
Votes: 6,516 | Gross: $0.13M
35. The Good Die Young (1954)
100 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In London, three otherwise law-abiding good men and their unscrupulous leader are about to commit a serious crime, but for different reasons.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart, Joan Collins
Votes: 760
36. Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An upright car mechanic falls in love with the girlfriend of a gangster. This forces him to participate in the criminal underworld.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly
Votes: 995
37. The Runaway Bus (1954)
78 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
When heavy fog prevents all aircraft from leaving London airport, a group of passengers take an airline bus to get them to an alternative airport. However, one amongst their number is the ... See full summary »
Director: Val Guest | Stars: Frankie Howerd, Margaret Rutherford, Petula Clark, George Coulouris
Votes: 497
38. To pontikaki (1954)
91 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A thief decides to change life when he meets and falls in love with a girl who sells flowers.
Directors: Giorgos Asimakopoulos, Nikos Tsiforos | Stars: Aliki Vougiouklaki, Mimis Fotopoulos, Giorgos Lefteriotis, Rika Dialyna
Votes: 196
39. Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
118 min | Crime, Thriller
Four men plan a technically perfect crime, but the human element intervenes...
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel, Janine Darcey
Votes: 25,831 | Gross: $0.06M
40. The Ladykillers (1955)
91 min | Comedy, Crime
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom
Votes: 25,514
41. Violent Saturday (1955)
PG | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Victor Mature, Richard Egan, Stephen McNally, Virginia Leith
Votes: 1,980
42. 5 Against the House (1955)
84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Four vets attending college on the GI Bill and a cabaret singer try to rob a Reno Casino and pull off the perfect crime.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore
Votes: 1,178
43. The Killing (1956)
PG | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Crook Johnny Clay assembles a five man team to plan and execute a daring race-track robbery.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen
Votes: 79,168
44. The King and Four Queens (1956)
PG | 86 min | Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
Opportunistic con man Dan Kehoe ingratiates himself with the cantankerous mother of four outlaws and their beautiful widows in order to find their hidden gold.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Clark Gable, Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols
Votes: 1,346
45. Bob le flambeur (1956)
98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey, Daniel Cauchy, Guy Decomble
Votes: 10,495 | Gross: $0.02M
46. A Strange Adventure (1956)
70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A trio of thieves make their getaway by kidnapping a young hot-rodder, and take over a mountain cabin for a hideout after overpowering its occupants.
Director: William Witney | Stars: Joan Evans, Ben Cooper, Marla English, Jan Merlin
Votes: 110
47. Flight to Hong Kong (1956)
88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Macao organized crime under-boss Tony Dumont rips the Syndicate off and disappears with a load of diamonds but the Syndicate men and the Hong-Kong police are chasing him around the world.
Director: Joseph M. Newman | Stars: Rory Calhoun, Barbara Rush, Dolores Donlon, Soo Yong
Votes: 138
48. The Man Is Armed (1956)
70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Crime drama in which a man unknowingly helps a gang pull off a big heist. The gang discovers that the man is more trouble than he is worth and as a result, things don't go as smoothly as ... See full summary »
Director: Franklin Adreon | Stars: Dane Clark, May Wynn, William Talman, Barton MacLane
Votes: 74
49.
You Are There (1953–1972)
Episode:
The Recovery of the Mona Lisa (December 10, 1913)
(1956)
Drama, History
Stars: Peter Brocco, Lawrence Dobkin, Ernest Sarracino, Vito Scotti
50. No Road Back (1957)
83 min | Action, Crime
A blind and deaf woman dedicates her life and sacrifices all she has for her son, a good-for-nothing troublemaker who gets mixed up with a criminal gang that tries to frame him for a robbery.
Director: Montgomery Tully | Stars: Skip Homeier, Paul Carpenter, Patricia Dainton, Norman Wooland
Votes: 89