The Top 20 British Heist Movies

The Top 20 British Heist Movies.

Ealing Studios’ brilliant 1955 black comedy crime film delight The Ladykillers is number one and leads the way. 

(1.) The Ladykillers: Ealing Studios’ brilliant 1955 black comedy crime film delight is a deliciously funny film throughout, with a cast to die for. Bafta-winning writer William Rose dreamed the entire film.

(2.) The Lavender Hill Mob: This marvellous, splendidly quirky, constantly amusing Ealing Studios classic comedy caper is the only one of their famous comedies ever to win an Oscar.

(3.) Sexy Beast (2000) is extreme crime thriller stuff, but it is tense, fresh, funny and well judged. Ray Winstone does his London lowlife turn to great effect and Ben Kingsley manages to be shockingly nasty.

(4.) Widows: Steve McQueen’s 2018 cinema version of Lynda La Plante’s masterly 1983 British TV mini-series Widows is both a posh art film and an exciting mainstream heist thriller, but only just.

(5.) King of Thieves: The 2018 crime thriller stars national treasure Michael Caine as Brian Reader, who masterminds the infamous real-life Hatton Garden Robbery.

(6.) The First Great Train Robbery: All aboard the London to Folkestone express for Michael Crichton’s 1978 Victorian crime caper, with Sean Connery as the cracksman William Pierce and Donald Sutherland as the safe-cracker Agar.

(7.) The Hatton Garden Job: The involving and likeable 2017 crime thriller details what happened when four old blokes robbed an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area over the Easter holidays in April 2015.

(8.) Robbery: The tremendous 1967 British crime movie Robbery stars Stanley Baker as a tough guy who leads a gang of crooks in a great train robbery on the Glasgow to London overnight mail train.

(9.) Snatch (2000): Brad Pitt buys into writer-director Guy Ritchie’s street-cred allure for his eagerly-awaited 2000 follow-up to the 1998 Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.

(10.) Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998): Guy Ritchie’s London lowlife crime black comedy soars as a laddish comedy for all those who share its dangerously larky sense of humour.

(11.) The League of Gentlemen; The superlative 1960 heist caper film The League of Gentlemen stars Jack Hawkins as a disgruntled former British military officer who assembles a gang of disgraced military gentlemen for a daring bank job.

(12.) Layer Cake: Another day, another Brit crime thriller, but this one from 2004 is quite a lot better than most. Daniel Craig stars as a drug dealer who has made his pile and is planning to quit the cocaine racket.

(13.) A Fish Called Wanda: Star-writer John Cleese’s marvellous 1988 comedy gem is a hilarious fusion of old-time cosy fun and Eighties cynicism, of English eccentricity and American pizzazz.

(14.) The Drop: Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini are both excellent in the well shot, tense and atmospheric 2014 character-driven thriller.

(15.) Muppets Most Wanted: Disney’s The Muppets 2 movie is the properly daft tale of a Muppets world tour, a Kermit the Frog lookalike and his dastardly sidekick.

(16.) The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery: In the 1966 fourth episode, the school for scandal St Trinian’s is providing the cover for great train robbers. George Cole appears as Flash Harry for one last time, and Frankie Howerd, Dora Bryan and Reg Varney are the headlining stars.

(17.) The Long Arm: Ealing Studios’ 1956 British thriller film stars Jack Hawkins in one of his quintessential roles as a Scotland Yard detective superintendent investigating a series of safe-breaking jobs.

(18.) A Prize of Arms: The gritty 1961 realist British noir crime thriller film stars Stanley Baker as a dismissed army captain who plots revenge on the army by planning a daring heist of their payroll cash.

(19,) Payroll: Michael Craig and Billie Whitelaw star in the taut and tense 1961 British noir crime thriller film about a group of criminals who plan a wages robbery that ends in disaster.

(20.) Dangerous Cargo: The likeable 1954 British second feature crime thriller film is inspired by an attempted robbery at Heathrow Airport in 1952, and stars Jack Watling, Susan Stephen, Karel Stepanek, and Terence Alexander. 

(21). The Italian Job: Michael Caine stars in one of his most beloved roles as small-time criminal Charlie Croker in the 1969 classic Sixties crime caper film. Noël Coward steals his scenes as crook mastermind Mr Bridger.

(22.) Cash on Demand: Hammer Films’ most satisfying 1961 British black and white film noir crime thriller boasts a very fine performance from their big star Peter Cushing as an efficiency-obsessed bank manager made to help a suave but ruthless robber.

(23.) The Good Die Young: A strong cast with eight unusual stars contributes to Lewis Gilbert’s entertaining noir-style 1954 British crime thriller about a gang who plan a heist on the Royal Mail postal van carrying a large amount of cash.

(24.) Strongroom: Vernon Sewell’s commendably tense and tight 1962 British heist thriller film Strongroom stars Colin Gordon, Ann Lynn, Derren Nesbitt, and Keith Faulkner.

(25.) Daylight Robbery: The 2008 British crime film stars Geoff Bell as the mastermind of an outrageous plan to steal millions of pounds in used banknotes stashed in the underground vaults of the London Exchange Bank.

Also showing

Hatton Garden: The Heist. Director Terry Lee Coker’s 2016 British action film is based on the true story of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in Hatton Garden, London, in April 2015, carried out by a group of elderly career criminals. It stars Sidney Livingstone and Michael McKell.

Twist: Director Martin Owen’s 2021 British crime drama film  is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1838 novel Oliver Twist and stars Rafferty Law and Michael Caine.

The Bank Job: The 2008 heist thriller film stars Jason Statham. and is directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It is based on the 1971 burglary of Lloyds Bank safety deposit boxes in Baker Street.

The Vault

The Duke

The Great Train Robbery

My huge thanks to Michael Darvell.