Heist movies have always been fun to watch, not just because of the excitement that we get when a plan comes together in a film but also because of the planning, morally ambiguous character, and again we get happy when a plan comes together. There are many heist movies out there but only a few leave a lasting impact, so here are the best 7 heist movies led by women.
7. The Bling Ring
Synopsis: From Academy Award-winning writer/director Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring tells the story, based on actual events, of a group of teenagers obsessed with fashion and celebrity that burglarize celebrities’ homes in Los Angeles. Tracking their targets’ whereabouts online, they break-in and steal their designer clothes and possessions. Reflecting on the naiveté of youth and the mistakes we all make when young, amplified by today’s culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession, we see through the members of the ‘Bling Ring’ temptations that almost any teenager would feel. What starts out as teenage fun spins out of control and leaves us with a sobering view of our culture today.
6. Spring Breakers
Synopsis: From visionary director Harmony Korine comes a bold new vision of the seasonal American ritual known as “spring break”—the bacchanalia of bikinis, beach parties and beer bongs that draws hordes of college students to the Florida coast and elsewhere each year. Brit (Ashley Benson), Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) are best friends anxious to cut loose on their own spring break adventure, but they lack sufficient funds. After holding up a restaurant for quick cash, the girls head to the shore in a stolen car for what they discover is the party of a lifetime. They’re thrown in jail—but quickly bailed out by Alien (James Franco), a local rapper, drug pusher and arms dealer who lures them into a criminal underbelly that’s as lurid as it is liberating for a close-knit gang of girlfriends who are still figuring out their path.
5. Ocean’s 8
Synopsis: Five years, eight months, 12 days…and counting. That’s how long Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) has been devising the biggest heist of her life. She knows what it’s going to take—a team of the best in their field, starting with her partner-in-crime Lou Miller (Cate Blanchett). Together, they recruit a crew of specialists: jeweler Amita (Mindy Kaling); street con Constance (Awkwafina); expert fence Tammy (Sarah Paulson); hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna); and fashion designer Rose (Helena Bonham Carter). The target is a cool $150 million dollars in diamonds—diamonds that will be around the neck of world-famous actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), who will be centerstage at the event of the year, the Met Gala. The plan is rock solid, but everything will need to be flawless if the team is going to get in and get away with the ice. All in plain sight.
4. Set it Off
Synopsis: Deal with this: The only breaks you get are the ones you take. Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise star as four African American women living in a Los Angeles housing project who–pushed to the edge–resort to violence to escape poverty in this searing, intimate and action-packed look at real life on America’s mean streets. Now get out of the way as the ladies Set it Off.
3. Jackie Brown
Synopsis: Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) supplements her meager income as a stewardess by smuggling cash into the U.S. for gunrunner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), until the day an ATF agent and an L.A. cop bust her at the airport. The cops pressure her to help them bring down Ordell, threatening prison if she refuses. With a sympathetic bail bondsman, Jackie arrives at a bold plan to play the opposing forces against each other. Ordell’s confederates, Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) and Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda) who have agendas of their own, complicate matters. By appearing to cooperate with both sides, Jackie attempts to outfox them both and walk away with a half million-dollar payday.
2. Widows
Synopsis: From Academy Award®-winning director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) and co-writer and bestselling author Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”) comes a blistering, modern-day thriller set against the backdrop of crime, passion and corruption. “Widows” is the story of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities. Set in contemporary Chicago, amid a time of turmoil, tensions build when Veronica (Oscar® winner Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) take their fate into their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. “Widows” also stars Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Lukas Haas and Brian Tyree Henry.
1. Thelma & Louise
Synopsis: Somebody said get a life…so they did. In Ridley Scott’s adventurous road picture, two friends–unhappy housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) and strong-willed waitress Louise (Susan Sarandon)–leave responsibilities behind to take a weekend fishing trip in the mountains in their 1966 T-bird convertible. But…at a roadside honky-tonk, where they stop to “blow off steam,” a man tries to rape Thelma. Louise reacts by shooting the creep with a .38, and this action turns them into dazed and confused fugitives. Now the subject of a nationwide hunt, they regain their determination and recklessness. The film concludes at the Grand Canyon with an indelible image of their final declaration of freedom.
