7 Art Heist Movies and Shows to Watch as the Louvre News Unfolds

A seven-minute heist in broad daylight from the most-visited museum in the world is like something straight out of a movie.

For French authorities and officials at the Louvre, the daring robbery by four suspects on Oct. 19 is all too real as they work to try recover eight pieces from France’s crown jewels that they say were taken.

The cinematic nature of the heist, which authorities said involved using a truck with a basket lift, cutting tools and a pair of scooters, gave it some of the elements of a classic heist movie.

“Heist movies where you root the most for the team are when it’s against a faceless institution,” Paul Caiola, co-host of the movie podcast That Aged Well, tells TODAY.com. “We all know what the Louvre is, and we can romanticize this team thanks to movies and pop culture. We go to a different place because the victim is not a human. I’m sure security guards didn’t have great time afterward, but that’s not who we think about when we think about the heist.”

The real-life drama brings to mind several films and shows that depict classic works of art or priceless jewels being snatched by a cunning crew.

The best heist films and shows also usually have certain ingredients in common.

“You have some Robin Hood-type lead played by a movie star like George Clooney, Sandra Bullock or Robert Redford — someone the audience always loves,” Caiola says. “Then you put them against a bad guy the audience wants to root against, or a faceless institution.”

The feeling of the common man or woman taking from a powerful institution or person is also alluring.

“The bills, the jewels, the gems, the artworks: they are stowed away behind gates, doors, walls; shielded by locks, safes, impenetrable glass; protected by lasers, surveillance cameras, and motion detectors. Since ordinary people are always denied access to them, this exclusion allegorizes a key experience of modernity: being distanced from the centers of wealth and power,” Julian Hanich of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands wrote in “On Pros and Cons and Bills and Gates: The Heist Film as Pleasure” in 2017.

Once the two sides are established, next up is the crew.

“We all love found family, and watching people with a particular set of skills joining up to pull off a heist is thrilling,” Caiola says. “Then you ultimately get to watch how they do it. How are they going to get Tom Cruise past that pressure-sensitive floor in ‘Mission Impossible’? What movie magic is going to get Catherine Zeta-Jones past that laser net in ‘Entrapment’? “

It can’t just be some smash-and-grab, either.

“It has to be complex, with plans within plans, which takes us away from ourselves and gives us that sense of escape,” Caiola says. “Then when it’s over, what’s the fallout? Do they get away with it?”

While there are a host of classic heist films like “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Town” where the crew is going after cash, these are focused on stealing precious artworks or valuable jewels.

They also are a little more artsy and refined than a wild Indiana Jones adventure in search of the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.

There also is a new film that was released on Oct. 17 called “The Mastermind” with “Challengers” star Josh O’Connor that may quickly join the pantheon. It’s inspired by a 1972 robbery of four paintings from an art museum in Massachusetts.

‘The Thomas Crown Affair’

The 1999 film stars Pierce Brosnan as a suave billionaire who swipes a Monet painting from New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and lends another painting to the museum to take its place. It shows him as a classic art thief in that he appreciates the artwork more than he’s completely motivated by money.

He’s pursued by an insurance investigator played by Rene Russo, who falls in love with him before she believes she is betrayed by him.

‘Entrapment ‘

It turns out 1999 was a big year for art heist films with big movie stars, as this one features Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery.

Just like Russo in “The Thomas Crown Affair,” Zeta-Jones portrays an insurance investigator on the hunt for Connery’s art thief, although her job turns out to be a cover for her own identity as a thief.

The classic shot from this movie is Catherine Zeta-Jones in a skintight outfit deftly moving through a field of laser beams while wearing a blindfold. She is training at a Scottish castle with Connery for the exact moves she will have to execute for a later heist.

Connery is later revealed to have been an informant for the FBI helping to entrap Zeta-Jones’ character, whom he then helps escape before they are reunited.

‘Lupin’

The 2021 Netflix hit stars Omar Sy as the title character of Assane Diop, a master of disguise and illusion who was inspired by a fictional early 1900s character named Arsene Lupin.

In his quest to seek revenge in memory of his late father, he steals an expensive diamond necklace from the family that wrongly accused his father of once pilfering it. The theft touches off a series of events that eventually lead to the son of Sy’s character being kidnapped at the end of the first season.

An episode in Season 2 involves pretending to steal a priceless Pissaro painting, and the show features numerous escapes, disguises and subterfuge.

‘Ocean’s Twelve’

This is the series that more than fulfills Caiola’s “get a big-name movie star to portray the thief” rule for a good heist film, and then some.

“Ocean’s Twelve” is the first sequel to the classic “Ocean’s Eleven” in which a gang of thieves led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt rob a Las Vegas casino owned by Terry Benedict, a villainous character played by Andy Garcia.

“Ocean’s Twelve” reunites the gang, which also includes Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, after Benedict tracks them down and demands they return the stolen money. He gives them two weeks to come up with it. This time there is more of a precious artifact twist compared to the cash heist in the original film.

Their target becomes the Imperial Coronation Fabergé egg, which they plan to take during an exhibition in Rome. A couple of double crosses result in the crew getting their money to pay back Benedict in the end.

‘The Score’

Following on the heels of “Entrapment” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” this Robert DeNiro vehicle from 2001 stars the legendary actor as an ace safe-cracker.

This one might hit a little close to home for the people of France after the Louvre theft because it’s about stealing an item considered in the movie to be a French national treasure.

DeNiro and a crew that also includes Edward Norton aim to steal a royal scepter from the Montreal Customs House in Canada and its impenetrable safe. This fits the goal of complexity for a good heist film because it involves an elaborate scheme that features disguises, explosives and sneaking through sewer tunnels.

‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’

The sequel to the “Knives Out” whodunit, this 2022 movie returns Daniel Craig’s master detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery.

A tech billionaire played by Edward Norton hosts a murder mystery at his private island on Greece in which he displays the iconic “Mona Lisa,” which he claims to have on loan from the Louvre.

The movie has secret twins, a mysterious alternative fuel, power outages, and of course, murders. It does not end well for the “Mona Lisa.”

‘The Great Muppet Caper’

If you’re looking for a heist with a lighter side, what better cast could you have than the Muppets?

The 1981 film is still a family favorites. It features Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo on the hunt for a jewel thief with the help of Miss Piggy. Do the Muppets capture the villains and save the day? You already know.

“The Great Muppet Caper is a classic heist,” Caiola says. “And Muppets, they make everything better.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com