What Heist Movies Taught Me About Filmmaking

A video about heist movies, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, and me.
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[@patrickhwillems]

Okay...what's the best heist movie ever made?

[@obidable1328]

Patrick (H) Willems The white Chair by Martin Granton

[@luizLPMCR]

Inside Man

[@scottpatonlevin2686]

Rififi

[@Ganondward]

Fast Five?

[@porcupineracer2]

I liked Heat a lot. Does that count?

[@TheSalts]

I can''t wait for your deep thoughts on the Spy Kids trilogy

[@Stark-Raving]

I think you mean quadrilogy

[@TheSalts]

We don't speak of Spy Kids 4

[@liquidamusica]

loved this thread

[@theaddictofgaming9174]

@@TheSalts why not? It's great.

[@lord_vwphaeton1883]

@@theaddictofgaming9174 You mean so bad it's good?? Nope. It's not good. Not even in that way...

[@JD43232]

Ocean's 11 (2001) i can watch over and over because of how it is shot, acting, story, colour palets. such a slick cool movie with style. and the cast is awesome

[@mellowmelee5024]

The Mission Impossible heists are probably my favorite. When you have a great team, you have to trust them to do their job. Unless you hired a double agent or someone wearing a ridiculously convincing mask.

[@ajerqureshi6411]

Even Ghost Protocol covered the idea pretty well as pretty much all the high-tech gadgets featured in the film either didn't work, had an obvious flaw in them, and every attempt at improvising usually lead to yet another problem. But as stated by Ethan Hunt, the one thing that worked effectively was the team.

[@mskcrc]

@@ajerqureshi6411 My least favorite part of the most recent reboot (Ghost Protocol onward) was when Ethan has the tracker injected into him, and goes on that crazy chase sequence, only to disappear into a manhole and magically land in his teammates' awaiting boat. What a silly deus ex machina that was, even if it's set up with the "we injected you with the tracker so we can find you later" mechanic. Just silly, bad writing.

[@daredevil6145]

@@mskcrc It was *Fallout*

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

I love the Ocean's trilogy so much. I am very pleased by this great metaphorical journey into the heist film. Thank you.

[@J3nLai]

except the 12.

[@998clan]

Don Cheadles English accent tho :/

[@ronocgrrl]

If a heist film is a metaphor for filmmaking, what does a heist film where the characters fail represent or Reservoir Dogs where the heist isn’t shown and consists of the aftermath of a heist represent. I feel this video could be a very good thesis to many branching paths

[@amsheel9921]

ronocentertains maybe it represents that a single screwup can derail the whole film (e.g. bad editing, bad cinematography, etc). Or it could mean that it failed because of external influence (studio interference).

[@tatehildyard5332]

Or it could be that Tarantino just came up with a way to subvert the heist genre in a way that kept location costs low.

[@ronocgrrl]

Tate Hildyard i mean that is the case but where’s the fun in that

[@DanPurcell]

I love that not only did you psychoanalyze the work of Rodriguez and Soderbergh, but also your own work. I think that's indicative of how fabulous of a storyteller you are -- the conclusions you arrive at are more fundamental to you than the external questions you pose to filmmakers you admire -- great storytelling work on both yours and Elsie's parts in this video! :D

[@federicorodriguez1886]

On this theme or heist movies as metaphors for flim production, I have to recommend you something. Los Simuladores (The Simulators). It's an Argentinian TV show, from the early 2000s. It's very low budget for American standards, BUT, it's incredibly well executed. The show runner /creator is the director for Wild Tales (also an Argentinaian film, but this is from a couple of years ago, and it had international recognition). About Los Simuladores: on each episode a person with a problem (be it, a kid that is about to flunk a test, or the president with marital problems), comes to the Simuladores for help. They are 4 men with individual skills (and charming personalities) that craft a "simulation" in real life to solve the problem of the person. And yeah, it's pretty much about film-making and the power of fiction to change people for the better.

[@eugenepoon]

Logan Lucky's writer is very likely a pseudonym and is Soderbergh himself. Her IMDB page is pretty much a blank slate aside from Logan Lucky.

[@jamesroulstonmooney759]

Eugene Poon he did the same thing with High Flying Bird

[@jarrettfinney4882]

Let me just say, I genuinely appreciate your ability to learn. Like you make me look at myself and think “hmm, maybe I don’t pay as much to my situation anymore and try to learn from it.” Which causes me to make a concentrated effort to do so. So thank you! It really helps a lot!

[@runnysmokey4765]

forgot about hobbit 1-3, best heist movie all time i mean they steal gold from Smieg

[@UmbrellaGent]

*Smaug

[@cartervandenberg4771]

*smegma

[@marcofranck3014]

Smeagol*

[@motor4X4kombat]

a heist movie that tries to hard to be a lord of the rings wannabe despite being in the same universe from lord of the rings..... is really that hard to make a single side film like ant-man in an universe were big events like civil war or infinity war exist? why marvel is the only one that knows how to do this while other studios fail miserable at this?

[@runnysmokey4765]

motor4X4kombat smerg is like Terry Benedict and thorin is like Danny ocean

[@elstcman5]

This is one of the most important videos you've made. It's so personal and so real. As a fellow do-it-aller, the clarity you gave to the "fantasy" of collaboration means so much. It's that longing, coming from a place of mistrust in collaboration, which makes the team heist so beautiful to see.

[@ishbanyadav]

*Wow, this was pure enlightenment*

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

That Au Claire de Lune piano at the end was brilliant.

[@taxibullheat]

Your parents are great. You are great. Your whole team is great.

[@loganchapman1345]

Would you count the fantastic Mr. Fox as a heist film

[@asghr9885]

DEATHSTROKE621, Most Definitely

[@sunsetman22]

and it also has Clooney in it

[@tq1238]

It's interesting to see a video where you talk about the process, since you were actively talking about the process while making the video. It's as if it was intended. Also, another thing that is really interesting is the fact that your closing statements are that people need to collaborate and delegate. That's the same advice Taylor Ramos, Tony Zhou's collaborator for Every Frame A Painting, gave on the article where she and Tony where discussing their process. This is what she said : "There’s a common myth in the arts - the lone genius, usually a man, creating everything by himself. For the most part, neither of us has found it to be completely true. Look up most cases of a lone genius, and you’ll find a footnote about some unacknowledged helper. Here’s how we work: Tony usually researches, writes and edits alone. But I do everything else: I edit every draft, watch every version, watch all the clips, do the flash cards, and build the thesis. I am the first and last audience that sees everything before it goes out. And the closest description we’ve ever come up with is that he is the editor, and I am the editor’s editor. If you look at the picture below, you’ll see Tony edited version 1 of the Chuck Jones video by himself. Then we worked together for 7 days to create version 7 (the final). The yellow boxes are the only parts that stayed the same, and even those sections got moved around." Link to the picture, which is "Tony's first draft of the edit compared with their mutual final draft" : cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*1SQVsZ5ooG6IKTkh-L-jAQ.jpeg "But most of all throughout this process, I’m a sounding board. Tony and I often build a thesis by arguing the points with each other. Except for a handful of videos, that has basically been our process for three years. We’re not saying that this system will work for everyone, but having two sets of eyes has worked really well for us."

[@jessicajginting]

The second you mentioned the metaphor my brain just went !!! I definitely got that lightbulb reaction you had in 2009, and now everything makes (so much better) sense

[@extremeanimationstudios1118]

You should post your thesis film!!! I’d love to see it!

[@lucainvernizzi9715]

Getting the right people and doing something while sharing responsabilities is a metaphore for half of the stuff humans do, tho...

[@Fyrtenheimer]

Yep! A lot of things you're able to do day-by-day are because there were millions+ people involved to make that happen. Driving, buying food, buying supplies, walking at the park, acquiring your pet, living in a house, etc.

[@coalsgrey3484]

It's almost like this video praising non-pretentious directors is immensely pretentious.

[@ripconman4265]

I get it for inception, but I just can't endorse the broader idea of heist movies as metaphors for filmmaking. Gathering a group of highly specialized individuals and organizing them to perform a single feat is called "doing a group project," and can therefore be analagous to the making or accomplishing of any moderately complicated thing or task. Making a film is one of many such tasks, but it's very presumptuous to assume that all heist films refer to that one task. Each film requires something beyond this basic structure to prove that they are analagous to whatever it is that makes filmmaking unique from other projects that require teams of specialists. I don't know enough to speak to what those unique qualities may be, but inception is the only one of these movies that I can personally buy as intentionally covering that ground.

[@illegalblade517]

“Cristopher Nolan’s BWAAAAAHHHHH”

[@hellojari07]

its hard to work as team, but thats when the best things get done

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

It's so good to see your old love for Rodriguez that you expressed in the The Faculty episode coming back in this epic life story.

[@mr.universe250]

This video is a process just like heist movie. I give you credit for keeping CGI to a minimum and being the lead actor and director at the same time. You are a genius.

[@csblakeley]

Best Heist films: Ocean's 11, The Spanish Prisoner. Oh but have you seen Leverage, the best heist TV show?

[@DaveKatague]

As a one man band who’s been stung so many times with horrible collaborators I can truly feel your beliefs behind your decisions 😂

[@novalenedailey-payne4151]

This is such an awesome video, and, kinda, a wake up call. Or... future wake up call? I have, without realizing it, always wanted to be a Rodriguez and Soderbergh. I have a huge interest in film making. It started years ago when I first watched Bryan Fuller's Hannibal and got it into my head, "my, wouldn't it be awesome to be a DOP?" Then it morphed into, "and a director... why not a script writer as well? I should learn editing, too." Then I read Rebel Without a Crew back in 2015, and my life changed. At the end of the book, when he talks about when "are you a filmmaker," and the answer is, when you decide to be. You don't need a film under your belt to know you're a filmmaker. That was the most life changing advice to some kid who never had picked up a camera in her life - and still hasn't, but knows someday she will. On another note, I've always known that I am a terrible collaborator - without, well, ever actually collaborating. It's, actually, nice to know that there are other filmmakers like me, and know /how/ they're doing it. Even if being a total control freak over my future films isn't the best path to making a movie, it's nice to know I'm not alone in wanting more control over my films.

[@theshawshankinception1220]

In the Inception Shooting Script Book, his brother Jonathan asks Christopher Nolan if that’s what he was doing. Nolan said he had not thought about that while making it.

[@austinschollaert6424]

Great video! One of your best in a while

[@maxwellb.4453]

What I really enjoy about your videos is your nuance and multi-layered thinking, good job brotha

[@3333218]

But that's exactly what making any piece involving group work is! You're missing the forest for the trees on that one.

[@WorldWideWong]

I think the TRUE point of this video was to explain why Shark Boy and Lava Girl is the best heist movie of all time! lol jks. don't @ me

[@NadellaYT]

I agree

[@endlessvoid7952]

Joking or not, you're not wrong...

[@djnosleeves85]

Patrick your are officially the Vsauce of movie style break downs 🙏

[@ryanlane3225]

This might be my favorite of your videos so far, which is crazy cause I thought you could never hit my heart like the Paddington vid did. But you’ve done it again. Rock on man.

[@GR-dd7op]

I love watching your video essays and I’m definately enjoying your recent attempts to make them more unique. Most of the time i haven’t watched the movies you talk about, I just enjoy you explaining them. Keep up the great work.

[@GR-dd7op]

And I like hearing about how movies are made. I especially love hearing about people doing awesome things with a low budget

[@kevinandrewsphoto]

One of your best videos Patrick. I see how much work you do in these videos and it’s becoming really special.

[@amamdawhatever]

Thank you!!!! This so needed to be said! As a Cinematographer, my very profession is based on collaboration and too many directors are glamourizing the idea of the one-man band.

[@FEARisCOLD]

Out of sight, such an underrated movie.

[@ajerqureshi6411]

I think heists movies are actually a pretty solid genre to start with when you start filmmaking. I mean, aside from the points made here about how close of a metaphor heists are to the filmmaking process, heist movies in generally have a very solid blueprint of conventions and guidelines everybody can recognize and also do on the cheap if necessary. You have a goal (often a precious jewel or painting or large amounts of money), you have a group of people trying to accomplish that goal, and you have several things that could go wrong the characters need to overcome. And its easy to make unique and original, with many things the characters can try to steal, many locations you can use, security systems/obstacles. Heck if you're really clever you can combine the heist with a completely different genre.

[@romgildar2986]

Thank you for the ending. A powerful massage. I love the last 5 minutes.

[@zicyzacbonanza]

I think that idea of beautiful collaboration is why the I love the X-Men comics and the Fast and Furious series. No one person needs to be the coolest and best guy ever and you get to see people's specialities linking together to make something awesome.

[@TheRatedKK]

Hey Patrick! Just want you to know that your videos are awesome! This video was really eye opening for me. thank you so much. Been watching your stuff for over a year now.

[@jm82337]

Feel like the analogy for the beginning of your film career was a heist movie with people who were incompetent liabilities. Teamwork isn't helpful in those cases. It's like 1+ (-1)=0. But collaboration with competent teammates enables synergy so that 1+1=3 (greater than the sum of its parts if that makes twisted sense). Bottom line: find the right collaborators (competent ones).

[@becomewhatyoumean6716]

Patrick, this is great. Brilliant insights into the processes of two great filmmakers, capped ofd with your own moment of epiphany. This is brilliant storytelling that is simultaneously: educational, inspirational, and entertaining. Well done, mate.

[@brandoncox8993]

Beautiful video. Very insightful. Great call out to Rififi, arguably the film which set the template for what we consider a heist film today. If you haven’t seen it, Le Cercle Rouge (1970) is a nice slow burn in the same spirit.

[@corbinbishop1991]

Awesome video Patrick. I wish they showed stuff like this in film school. Very informative and in depth, loved it!

[@tentacle9]

Loved this one. Super inspirational.

[@MrFreshmaker]

I loved this one Patrick! I stepped into making movies last year. And of course I do it for the love of cinema en making great stories. But there is also the reason that I too have problems with collaboration and with movie making you have to collaborate. I force myself now working with different people and learn to trust them. And also thanks for this video, because I learned a little bit more about Soderbergh.

[@MoviesorWhatever]

This was brilliant! Never thought about heist films in that way, but it makes a lot of sense now why certain directors are drawn to them

[@TheBeird]

I guess Alita Battle Angel will show if Rodriguez got his ambition back or not. Those big eyes though . . .

[@ChristopherPolack]

I respect your own honesty about collaborating.

[@rorybrown3149]

I've been watching your videos for a while and haven't commented until now.... Great work. Keep it up.

[@uptown3636]

Great video! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Tom Cruise Runs a Marathon. I mean Mission: Impossible.

[@AriefLeuvenardi]

The classic Mission: Impossible TV series are essentially heist stories. The team was a bunch skills actors, a muscle man (like a stuntman), and an engineer/ electronic expert (like vfx specialist). So there you go...

[@chrisoffersen]

Really glad I subscribed to this channel

[@Tempus0ptic]

They should make a heist movie where the security guards are SO good at doing their jobs they make the professional robbers look like incompetent amateurs. Because heist movies always looks at things from the thieves point of view, but never the guards. It's basically kinda like a parody of heist movies where they point out all the plot holes and unrealistic scenarios that can go down when pulling off a crime with so many complexities.

[@2adamast]

The multiple perspective part (Rashomon) in some heists is about filmmaking. You have the book, what convinced the producers, the script, what the director has in mind, what the actors think they are doing, the test movie, the movie, the director cut, ...

[@FarhanH1]

Great video Patrick. Loved the heart and personal touch to it.

[@TheLockon00]

Love Soderbergh. Ocean's 12 is my favorite of the trilogy. No regrets.

[@WaylonSimpson]

Geezuz man! You keep getting better! Oh and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels doesn't entirely fit the heist movie genre but I would put it in as one of my favourites.

[@blokey8]

So by extension Rogue One's heist could be said to be about how every new Star Wars film bar TLJ got made. You go in without any real plan but with people who are mostly very good at their jobs, wing it the entire way whilst changing tack at several points and essentially succeed... but make a colossal mess and leave a trail of discarded casualties along the way.

[@Locadel2003]

The score & heist 2001 are brilliant underrated heist movies. Also the town & Italian job from 2003 are very good. And Going in style was hilarious. Point break & die hard with a vengeance are both excellent fun movies but they aren’t totally heist movies. Oceans 11 is still my favourite

[@mastajdawg]

I'm really digging the new material guys. keep it up!!!

[@samuelbarber6177]

The 1969 film, The Italian Job also makes the whole ‘heist as a metaphor filmmaking’ thing clear in a scene where the main character literally has a pitch to present to a potential investor. He even says “The Americans’ll buy it, they can recognise young talent.”

[@endlessvoid7952]

Great content as always, Patrick. Keep up the detailed and insightful work!

[@Memo2Self]

I love "Topkapi," John Woo's "Once A Thief," and the opening of "Return of the Pink Panther," but I'd also say that the episode of "Mission: Impossible" where the cat was used to steal the jade figure was one of the most thrilling - and beautifully-plotted - heist stories I've ever seen.

[@duaelfilms]

This is one of your most brilliant videos! Thank you for making this. You inspire me as much as all of the directors you talk about. PS Can't wait for the next video!

[@virginiadowling9134]

Best vid so far! So inspiring

[@christophersykora3601]

My favorite video of yours. Fantastic!

[@petitio_principii]

People are very apt at finding those "metaphors" when they're really finding are their own analogies. It makes it feel more cool if things have layers of hidden meanings, but Occam's razor suggests that the simpler explanation is the preferable one, that is, most commercial movies won't have deep metaphors resulting from the industrial writing-by-committee process.

[@SlipstreamFirst]

As someone who both publishes written work and works in film, I will agree that it's difficult to collaborate sometimes. The issue isn't "flaking out", it's punctuality. My biggest gripe with the people I work with is timeliness. They always act like they have a summer to do the work rather than the few weeks I have. I have been forced to cut people I once considered friends from by craft because they don't appreciate deadlines.

[@cfd6201]

Yes! I love the Patrick Explains videos!

[@punggung666]

Does the Doctor Manhattan style of flashback have a name? I get that feeling a lot here.

[@Silverdude001]

What I love most about your videos is that, unlike most video essays (which often are a fifteen minute execution of the thesis in the video title) I have no idea to what places you will take me when I click on the title.

[@TK_Brainslug]

great video as usual, when you said one man film making team I loled so hard. And the ending hilarious

[@collinsmith7078]

Thanks for another great video Patrick!

[@skocko2t778]

What you say about endorsing most roles in a filmmaking process brings up memories from film school. Makes me want to share with you the motto of my directing teacher (that'll be a rough translation) : "A director who doesn't edit his film himself is an author being translated in a foreign language."

[@AustinIuliano]

I think Patrick should make a badge or pin that says "I got punch/shot in a Patrick Willems movie."

[@cmbaz1140]

digital effects in media are like spice in cooking...

[@katfud9864]

Absolutely fascinating. Loved this.

[@deninakonecni9039]

Great structure to the video Patrick. Refreshing flow without it feeling disjointed or schizophrenic.

[@MrShaunhunter]

This was an awesome video, keep it up!

[@f12mnb]

Great entry - many heist films and their source material - caper stories is about trust and professionalism - see the books by Richard Stark (pseudonym of Donald Westlake) about his anti-hero Parker. In nearly all cases the caper does not go as planned, and there is a double cross or complication. Your observation about collaboration hits this point but may be just the surface .

[@TheTonyCostaShow]

Hey man your videos are fascinating!

[@TimothyHalleran]

These videos are fantastic. Great job!

[@FloStudios]

I'm bad at collaborating for the same reason. I was in the majority of cases unable to find reliable collaborators. It actually killed my love of film in college, or at least my love of making films, and I gave it up for years. I'm only now getting back into it. Now that I'm an age where I have more professional peers, I'm hoping collaboration will work out better, and that I can do a better job in the hiring and casting process to get good collaborators.

[@pagano60]

Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" is also a heist film.

[@ProfessorWalnut]

bro I was just trying to watch some youtube because I miss school because it's summer and you really made the first shot literally north quad

[@JoanieDoeShadow]

One of the most important tasks & talent a director has is building a team made of the right people placed in the right place. Also I really liked Sharboy & Lavagirl, it felt like a "Never ending Story" or "Return To Oz" for my little brother's generation.

[@tezzag818]

Have you seen the Spanish series La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) which is wonderful. They commit a heist in the Spanish Mint.

[@Charmedsas1]

Tyler Perry be like : "i don't know what you're talking about"

[@tibetanCircle]

Well crafted video indeed!!

[@tubesomething]

If heist movies are really about a director filming a movie, then who are the main characters in films like Baby Driver and Drive, where they're usually not involved in making the plan but are pivotal to the success, and are always smart and aloof? Could it be... film critics?

[@ThinlySlicedFilms]

Excellent video, loved it.

[@encryptedwolf7623]

I LOVE heist movies!!!

[@elasticharmony]

I love heist films, and think you could be right; once upon a time they had to end in failure but today they always succeed. Similar to digital equipment and web education, films are allowed to be made correctly before not.

[@nerosine9]

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. - Bruce Lee

[@Bhetol]

Nice little nod with ending the video with Claire de Lune!

[@cowman1violin]

Aaayyy fellow Obie I knew I liked your videos for a reason