Reviews
New York Times - ...Tight, snug and lovingly constructed....Mr. Mamet allows his eye to follow his ear and never lets his camera get in the way of the actors....It would be hard to imagine an actor more intelligent than Mr. Hackman..., USA Today - ...[Featuring] a rock-solid Gene Hackman role and performance..., Total Film - ...The set-ups are impeccably orchestrated and the acting's full bodied..., Variety - ...Clever....Hackman brings the material considerable authority with a subdued, wily turn..., Los Angeles Times - ...Mamet loves language, but he also admires the guys-doing-stuff beauty of well-executed, precisely timed physical maneuvers. Hackman and DeVito, in particular, savor their roles like medium-rare steaks..., Rolling Stone - ...Mamet gives the plot more twists than a bag of pretzels....HEIST delivers the kick of a job well done..., Premiere - ...HEIST is an old-fashioned caper-flick about honor and the lack thereof....Mamet's direction is more fluid than it's ever been...
Additional Information
Written and directed by David Mamet, HEIST is a crime thriller that follows aging master thief Joe Moore (Gene Hackman) as he plans one last robbery before literally sailing off into the sunset. What seems like the perfect heist gets complicated, however, when Joe's "business" partner, Bergman (Danny DeVito), insists that his shifty nephew, Jimmy Silk (Sam Rockwell), join the crew--consisting of Joe's young wife, Fran (Rebecca Pidgeon), and longtime associates Bobby Blane (Delroy Lindo) and Don "Pinky" Pincus (Ricky Jay). A tense battle of wits and wills ensues, leading to plenty of twists and turns before the grand finale.
HEIST works wonderfully as a fast-paced, slight-of-hand caper flick. By focusing on dialogue over violence, Mamet allows his excellent script and remarkable cast to shine. Hackman (who seems incapable of giving a bad performance) and Lindo are particularly outstanding and carry the film as deftly as their characters plot their crime. Although the one-last-robbery tale has been told hundreds of times before, it's rarely been told better than this.
