History Main / TheCaper

* ''Film/TheMaidenHeist''

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' "Liars, Guns and Money."

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** In ''Film/AntMan'', a genius millionaire gives master cat burglar [[TheHero Scott]] a superhero outfit that lets him shrink down to the size of an ant, all to steal exactly the same technology from an unscrupulous businessman [[CutLexLuthorACheck who plans to sell it]] to some very shady types. About half the plan is "use the suit" which justifies otherwise unrealistic tropes like AirVentPassageway, and the other half is the regular standard heist techniques that Scott and his fellow criminals do anyway.

%% * ''Film/TheBankJob''

%% * ''Film/InsideMan'', in a roundabout fashion.

%% * The first part of ''Film/{{Ronin}}''.

The Caper is more action-oriented than TheCon. It often revolves around a [[TheChessmaster brilliant]] GentlemanThief who JustGotOutOfJail hoping to do OneLastJob, usually by PuttingTheBandBackTogether (in comedies, a RagtagBunchOfMisfits). If one or more of the crew works for the target, it's an InsideJob. Can lead to JustLikeRobinHood as a way of CaperRationalization. The crew's leader will inevitably present the job as ASimplePlan that is [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee certain to go off the rails]] due to unexpected variables.

%% * ''Film/{{Sneakers}}''. [[DoubleCaper Multiple times]].

%% * Used in both straight and subverted forms in ''Film/TheUsualSuspects''.

%% * ''Film/TheLadykillers'' (both versions)

%% * ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery''

%% * ''Literature/TheFriendsOfEddieCoyle''
%% * ''Film/TheTown''

%% * ''Film/TradingPlaces''

%% * ''{{Film/Bound 1996}}''

* The ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty" take this trope to its logical extent: the duo attend a convention dedicated to heists and, after pulling one over on a renowned heist artist, Rick's Heistotron AI goes rogue and begins assimilating the universe into a crew for his next caper, which turns out to be [[SerialEscalation stealing entire planets]]. [[spoiler:The end of the episode reveals the whole thing was Rick's convoluted plot to get Morty to lose faith in his pitch for a heist movie to Creator/{{Netflix}} so he won't give up going on adventures with Rick.]]

* ''WebVideo/JobHunters'', while normally a BlackComedy {{Parody}} of {{Dystopia}}n works like ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', featured a heist episode in Season 2.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "Task Force X" featured a makeshift criminal team executing a daring theft from the League's orbital headquarters.

* ''Film/TheWarWagon'' is about Taw Jackson's plan to heist a half million dollars worth of gold Pierce is transporting in the War Wagon.

Not to be confused with the webseries {{WebVideo/Caper}}. One of the reasons heist films may be so popular is that conceptually, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z__DyGEvhM0 pulling off a heist and making a movie are pretty much the same thing.]]

Not to be confused with the webseries {{WebVideo/Caper}}. One of the reasons heist films may be so popular is that conceptually, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z__DyGEvhM0 pulling off a heist and making a movie are pretty much the same thing]].

* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'': In "Forgive Us Our Debits," Keith, Danny, and Laurie get "revenge" on a computer that almost cheated them out of thousands of dollars by breaking into the computer room and sending Shirley a check for $50,000

* One features in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', complete with planning montage and everything going sideways in the middle.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang." Although this episode is a direct parody of ''Film/OceansEleven'', even taking place in a Holodeck recreation of Las Vegas.

* The plot of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist Time Heist]]''. The bank holds something of great value to each member, which is why they took the job despite having to erase their memories of ever taking it.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[LoveableRogue Kasumi's]] loyalty mission is to steal her deceased partner's graybox from the man who killed him, while Shepard poses as a guest at his high-society party and subtly acquires the voice-print and DNA-scans for Kasumi to crack the vault. [[spoiler: Of course, once they get inside the vault it swiftly goes to hell, leaving Shepard to do [[OneManArmy what they do best]].]]

* Spoofed on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Book Job", where the caper consists of writing a young adult fantasy novel. When the publisher changes their manuscript, they execute an ''actual'' heist to break into the printer and switch manuscripts.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** In the episode "Viva Mars Vegas", the gang execute a heist to get the Wong's casino back from the Robot Mafia.
** In "Prisoner of Benda", Bender plans to steal the royal jewels of the Robo-Hungarian Empire, and tries to recruit the others as his CaperCrew. When they refuse, he has to go at it alone, with less than stellar results.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' episode "The Heist".
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'' episode "We're a Ragtag Team". When Dez grants a wish for him and his friends to pull of the greatest heist ever, they discover that in the resulting TimeSkip, they stole the entire fortune of Dez's parents, and so the group has to perform a ''reverse heist'' to put all the stolen money back where they found it before Dez's parents find out.

The members of a CaperCrew fall into standard roles. For targets, see BankRobbery, ArmedBlag, TheCasino, TrainJob. See also ImpossibleMission, TheInfiltration and DoubleCaper. Not to be confused with TheCape. Can contain an ATeamMontage or AvengersAssemble sequence.

* The premise of the ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' series is a gang of thieves planning heists against master criminals, with each target requiring preparation, planning, and sometimes [[IndyPloy improvisation]].

%% * ''Film/TowerHeist''

* In ''Film/AntMan'', a genius millionaire gives master cat burglar [[TheHero Scott]] a superhero outfit that lets him shrink down to the size of an ant, all to steal exactly the same technology from an unscrupulous businessman [[CutLexLuthorACheck who plans to sell it]] to some very shady types. About half the plan is "use the suit" which justifies otherwise unrealistic tropes like AirVentPassageway, and the other half is the regular standard heist techniques that Scott and his fellow criminals do anyway.
* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', of all movies, is an example, with a super-heroic twist. [[LateArrivalSpoiler Following up on]] the last ''Avengers'' movie, the heroes are trying to [[DismantledMacGuffin re-assemble]] the ArtifactOfDoom that [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar killed their friends]] with the hopes of reversing the damage. [[spoiler:After learning that the {{Macguffin}}s have all been destroyed, they decide to use TimeTravel to go back to where the Infinity Stones had been across time and space in [[Film/TheAvengers2012 other]] [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld Marvel]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy movies]], bring them back to the present, and save the universe.]] There's a planning phase as they gather everything they know about the Infinity Stones and where they would be, then they split off into smaller groups, each targeting a specific Stone. And of course, not everything quite works out as planned.

* The premise of the ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' series is to plan heists against criminals.
* The ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' DLC Dead Money, where the player (who's been strapped with an ExplosiveLeash) is forced to help the insane Father Elijah loot the Sierra Madre casino with the help of three other [=NPCs=], one of which has been at this for two centuries.

* ''Film/TheAsphaltJungle'' - A deconstruction in which The Caper ends badly for all participants. Also the TropeMaker.