'King Of Thieves': Bank Heist Film Deposits A Great Cast But Withdraws The Style
This British heist film, based on a true story, assembles Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent and other venerable actors but lacks the stylistic flourish that great caper movies demand.
There's a charming little subset of heist films about elderly men pulling off bank jobs, often out of boredom, and the authorities struggling to reconcile these crafty old geezers with the much younger hoodlums they might have expected. Just last year, Robert Redford evoked his Sundance Kid days by playing a genteel stickup artist in But the tradition goes back as far as the 1951 Ealing Studios classic about a whimsical gold-smuggling scheme, about glum retirees and widowers looking to improve their diminished lifestyle. (The latter was remade to lesser effect in 2017 with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin in the lead roles.)
