Links and resources for the 7 movies in the Heist Films series I’m giving at DEAR on Tuesdays at noon, starting on September 9, 2025, and then continuing on selected Tuesdays through December 16.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

• One last big job: How heist movies tell their stories – Superb discussion from 2017 of the Heist Film genre by film theorists Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell from Bordwell’s blog. Bordwell and Thompson are maybe the most astute husband-wife team in the academic film-studies arena.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

• Vatican List of Important Films – Series of podcasts from the Catholic Culture website on each of the 45 films on this 1995 list, which, for some reason, contains our movie.

Rififi (1955)

• Eddie Muller’s Intro – From July 2025 for Noir Alley on TCM.
• Muller’s Outro – From same broadcast. Reveals his opinion of best heist film of all time. Guess what…

The Killing (1956)

• Eddie Muller’s Intro/Outro – From November 2018 for Noir Alley on TCM.
• Dark City Dames – Muller’s excellent book on Noir actresses, including Marie Windsor and Coleen Gray.

The Pink Panther (1963)

• Edwards/Sellers Interview – Segment from Russell Harty’s BBC talkshow in 1976, which begins with Edwards’s description of how Sellers became Clouseau.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

• Split-Screen Trend of 70s & 80s – Well researched 23-minute video on the history of split screen techniques by Mike Malloy, who brands himself as a/the “tough-guy film expert.” Needless to say, his self-produced video features wall-to-wall split-screen effects, which are built into today’s digital video editing software.
• A Place to Stand – Christopher Chapman’s groundbreaking short film produced for the Ontario pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, which debuted his “multi-dynamic image technique.” This film triggered an explosion of movies using split-screen effects, beginning with The Thomas Crown Affair.
• Ferrari Auction – Sotheby’s hyper-detailed page for a 2013 auction where a car identical to Faye Dunaway’s in the movie (“one of those red Italian things”) sold for $27,500,000.
• Meyers Manx Auction – Bonham’s page for the 2020 auction of the restored 1967/68 Con-Ferr Meyers Manx dune buggy used in the movie. It sold for $456,000.
• The Rolls – Bonham’s page for the 2006 auction of the 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow 2-Door Sedan used in the movie, which sold for a paltry $70,200, coincidentally the same price paid at the same auction for the folding sunglasses McQueen wore at the beginning of the film. I guess a Rolls is just a Rolls…

The Italian Job (1969)

• Deleted Ballet Scene – Shot for the chase sequence, the 3 Minis face off against 3 police cars in the Palazzo Esposizioni, site of the annual Turin auto show. Yes, there’s a live orchestra at one end of the space, and the cars feint and weave to the strains of the Blue Danube waltz. Deleted because it brought the high-speed tension of the chase to a complete halt and was a bit too surreal.
• Making of Video – Paramount video from the 40th anniversary re-release is lengthy (87 minutes) but very entertaining.
• Noël Coward Website – Extensive and superbly done tribute to “The Master”, including a detailed timeline of his life and a list of all his works. Also links to his charitable foundation, archives, and newsletter, as well as contacts to license one of his plays. Many have tried, but only Noël Coward could pull off Noël Coward.
• Rémy Julienne Obit – From 2021 (he died at 90 from COVID). Includes list of over 250 of the movies in which he performed and/or coordinated stunts, including 6 James Bond films. Maybe the GOAT among stunt coordinators?

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