History Main / CaperRationalization

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' has endless rationalizations on how the main character's crimes actually help society. Most of them turn out to be true.
** Most of what they do in the book, though, is usually for the best.
** When he finally figures out Angelina's backstory, he understands her rationalization - to look beautiful. Born unattractive, she began to steal and kill to pay for plastic surgeries. However, even now that she's a knockout, she continues stealing and killing, upping the stakes. He understands that, while she managed to make herself beautiful on the outside, she's still ugly on the inside (or, at least, she made herself that way). The Special Corps psychologists manage to fix her a bit, enough to reduce her sociopathic tendencies to a manageable level, and she becomes a good wife to Jim and a good mother to their twin sons.

* All of the major players in ''Film/TheBankJob'' have sympathetic motivations for robbing the bank. Martine plans the heist on the behalf of MI5, who want to retrieve a incriminating photograph from the bank. Martine herself agrees to the plan to escape conviction on a drug smuggling charge. Terry and his employees are in it for the money, but mostly to support their own families. It's also implied that many of the deposit box owners in the bank are rather shady, since many of them have never publicly claimed or identified what had been stolen.

* ''Film/NationalTreasure'', all the way. Ben Gates would never even ''conceive'' of stealing the Declaration of Independence if he didn't have the noble cause of keeping all that treasure ''and'' the Declaration itself out of the hands of the bad guys. He also doesn't like the term "Treasure hunter", preferring instead "Treasure protector". Makes sense, considering he doesn't want the treasure for its monetary value and doesn't plan to keep it.

* All three of the ''Ocean's Eleven'' movies starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney feature Caper Rationalizations that involve getting revenge against some really shady individuals.
** In ''Film/OceansEleven'', only one of the characters is in it for revenge, and Danny is there to win his wife back. The others are in it mostly for the money. Still, Terry Benedict, the guy they're robbing, is himself a fairly shady individual.
** In ''Film/OceansTwelve'', they are in it to get money so they can pay off the guy they robbed in the first movie. Otherwise, he will have them killed. The secondary reason is to get back at the GentlemanThief who ratted them out.
** Only in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' is their rationalization purely revenge. They do offer their new nemesis, Willy Bank, a chance to make amends and pay back what he stole from their friend. Being a sleazy and stubborn casino manager who cares nothing about other people, and makes Terry Benedict look downright affable in comparison, Bank refuses. As a result of his stubbornness, the crew is determined to financially ruin Bank with help from Benedict, who himself has a low opinion of Bank and his construction overshadowing the Bellagio's pool.

* The team in ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'' is hired to steal an encryption device from a mathematician. Their employers claim to be NSA agents, and say that the mathematician is being funded by Russia. Actually, he's being funded by the NSA, and the employers work for the Mafia. [[Film/{{Clue}} (Communism was just a red herring.)]]
* The remake ''Film/TheItalianJob2003'' has the crew pulling a caper against the guy who double-crossed them, murdered their original leader, and took the gold from their original caper. And even in their original caper, the gold they stole was from the mafia and not from any legitimate institution or person.

* In ''Film/HudsonHawk'', Eddie doesn't even want to return to his catburglering ways, but is blackmailed into it. Also, when he fakes his arrest to avoid completing the third job, the villains go ahead without his help, resulting in innocent guards being killed compared to Eddie's non-lethal plans.

* ''Film/TheAndersonTapes'' has Anderson invoking this trope over the theft he's planning. It's actually a favor to the victims, who over-insure property. The cops have somebody to chase, the newspapers have something to write about. The list goes on. Then he subverts it by saying he's just in it for the money.
* ''Film/HowToStealAMillion'': The sculpture being stolen is a forgery, and by stealing it before the museum can have it authenticated, the museum (and its insurance company) won't even be on the hook for its supposed value.
* The immoral deeds of the Four Hoursemen in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' are sold as sympathetic to the audience by making the characters act JustLikeRobinHood when they steal money from a bank vault and give it to the less privileged, while the victims of their crimes are pictured as bad people who [[PayEvilUntoEvil had it coming]].
* The main characters in ''Film/KellysHeroes'' are stealing gold from the Nazis, who are automatically probably the least sympathetic potential targets possible. Further justification comes from no one but the main characters even being aware that the gold is there to be stolen.
* ''Film/AntMan1'': Hank Pym organizes the operation because he has long feared his "Pym Particle" SizeShifter formula being abused, and wants to stop Darren Cross from replicating it and selling Yellowjacket combat suits for terror attacks. (A scene would have shown Cross demonstrating positive uses for the tech as well, but it was cut because it would have made Pym look somewhat unsympathetic.) Scott Lang is primarily involved because he wants to redeem himself after his last heist landed him in jail and left him unable to be a good father to his daughter. That last heist is also rationalized, as Scott's employer was defrauding their customers and he lost his job for blowing the whistle, so he broke in and sent the money ''back'' to those customers.
* The hero in ''Film/IAmAFugitiveFromAChainGang'' is coerced at gunpoint into stealing the money, so as to not lose any sympathy with the audience when he goes through the ordeal at the HellholePrison. (The actual thief is shot dead by police.)
* Roger of ''{{Film/Headhunters}}'' is an art burglar specifically to shower his wife with luxuries.

* All of the major players in ''Film/TheBankJob'' have sympathetic motivations for robbing the bank. Martine plans the heist on the behalf of MI5, who want to retrieve a incriminating photograph from the bank. Martine herself agrees to the plan to escape conviction on a drug smuggling charge. Terry and his employees are in it for the money, but mostly to support their own families. It's also implied that many of the deposit box owners in the bank are rather shady, since many of them have never publicly claimed or identified what had been stolen.
* In ''Film/CatchThatKid'', the motivation of the heist is to get enough money to pay for an expensive surgery for the main protagonist's ailing father. It's also helped that the bank manager is a BadBoss who refused to give the mother a loan because [[DisproportionateRetribution the security system she's installing isn't done yet]].
* In ''Film/FastFive'', Dom and Brian recruit their various allies from the previous movies to pull off OneLastJob and obtain enough money to be set for life. This is especially important as Mia (Brian's wife, Dom's sister) has become pregnant, and the three of them are living on the run from the law. In addition, their target is every bit an AssholeVictim, a Brazilian crimelord who rules his domain with violence.

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' has endless rationalizations on how the main character's crimes actually help society. Most of them turn out to be true.
** Most of what they do in the book, though, is usually for the best.
** When he finally figures out Angelina's backstory, he understands her rationalization - to look beautiful. Born unattractive, she began to steal and kill to pay for plastic surgeries. However, even now that she's a knockout, she continues stealing and killing, upping the stakes. He understands that, while she managed to make herself beautiful on the outside, she's still ugly on the inside (or, at least, she made herself that way). The Special Corps psychologists manage to fix her a bit, enough to reduce her sociopathic tendencies to a manageable level, and she becomes a good wife to Jim and a good mother to their twin sons.

* In ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'', Vorobyaninov is trying to return what is technically his heirloom: diamonds that were hidden from the Soviet authorities in a chair. ''Literature/TheLittleGoldenCalf'', the undercover millionaire Koreiko made his fortune by large-scale fraud, sabotage, and indirect murder, and comes off as a less sympathetic criminal than the protagonist, the LovableRogue Ostap Bender. When Bender does get his one million rubles in the last third of the book, the writers conveniently never stress its illegal history, instead treating it as somewhat of a lucky find.

* ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'': Locke Lamora is a priest of the Crooked Warden, the Nameless 13th God of the Twelve, who (despite being an outcast god) has a simple commandment. His priests and thieves steal so that "The rich remember"... that they are not gods, and are not so far above the common man as to be invulnerable.
* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' does this repeatedly. As noted above, "A Scandal in Bohemia" revolves around retrieving a compromising photo their client is afraid might be used against him, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" retrieving letters from a blackmailer [[spoiler:and failing to report or investigate his entirely justified murder]], and in "the Bruce-Partington Plans" they break into a spy's apartment (admitting as much to the police officer with them, though he doesn't raise a fuss considering the diplomatic implications).

* {{Literature/Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency}} has this as a plot point. No, not that there's a caper, but that there's a rationalization. Richard unthinkingly leaves a voice message on his girlfriend Susan's answering machine where he offers to take her on a trip, only to realize immediately afterward that he'll have to cancel due to work commitments. As he's done this multiple times and it's straining their relationship considerably, he opts to scale a wall, break into her apartment through a window, and swipe the tape before she can hear the message, to spare her feelings at being ditched again. [[spoiler:The reason this is significant is that Richard is acting irrationally, endangering his life and breaking the law over a minor matter. He's not actually acting of his own accord; a spirit has possessed him and is pushing him to do this in order to determine whether he is the sort of person who will go to extreme lengths to undo a past mistake, and thus a suitable subject to help fulfill the ghost's mission. To an outside observer it's obvious that this is stupid, but Richard insists he is being logical. In the end Richard stops himself at the last moment and puts the tape back, at which point the ghost abandons him as a lost cause]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho''

--->'''Sheriff Bourne''': (''catching Mal returning stolen medicine to a plague-stricken town'') You were truthful back in town. These are tough times. A man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is. But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours... well... then he has a choice.\\

* Garrett, from ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', typically steals from corrupt noblemen, cruel fanatic cults, or other villains. Though there's a mission in ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' ("Shipping/Receiving") where he robs a couple of ordinary merchants. Part of this is simple [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]]: poor people don't have that much money on them to steal, so it's more time-efficient to go after the noblemen and the church. Garrett makes no excuses for his thievery in any case; he needs money, he's good at stealing things, and that's all there is to it.
* Franchise/SlyCooper and the Cooper Gang generally target criminals, generally for the challenge.
** In [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the first game]], the primary goal is to steal back the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus from the Fiendish Five.
** [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves The second game]] has the crew trying to steal the body parts of cybernetic BigBad Clockwerk of the first game from members of the Klaww Gang so that they can't be used for bad things (or worse yet, to revive Clockwerk).
** [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves The third game]] has Sly trying to break into his family vault and reclaim his family legacy.
* ''VideoGame/RhythmThiefAndTheEmperorsTreasure'' has protagonist Raphael aka Phantom R stealing paintings from museums and returning them the next day. This is because his father forged said paintings, and thus Raphael made it a point that he'd only steal the forgeries to replace them with the originals, or find artworks that would lead him to his father.

* In ''VisualNovel/ReflectionsOnTheRiver'', Zheng (the protagonist) is demanding the most valuable jewel in the kingdom, and kidnaps a prince or princess to use as leverage. The way Zheng tells it, however, the jewel was never rightfully the property of the kingdom in the first place — it was created by Zheng in order to help the king and queen have a healthy child, but the royals then broke their word by keeping it. It's a bit more complicated than that, however: [[spoiler:firstly, it was actually Zheng's mother who created the jewel; and secondly, the child ''wasn't'' healthy (unbeknownst to Zheng) and may need the jewel kept close to stay alive]]. Exactly who gets the jewel (and what it's used for) depend on player choice.
* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Agent's goal in Belsavis is to break into a vault filled with the secrets of the NebulousEvilOrganization that serves as the main villains of the storyline with the help of a group of criminals imprisoned on the planet, whom they motivate by promising their freedom after all's said and done. Of course, it's up to you to decide whether or not to follow up on your promise or to simply [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill them once you're done]].
** Chapter XII of the ''Knights of the Fallen Empire'' storyline has the player performing a heist on [[BigBad Arcann's]] treasury ship in order to gain funds for their Alliance. Afterwards, you can decide whether to spend the funds on helping the people of Zakuul, the Alliance or have Gault make more money for you.

** And despite this, they're still a little iffy on the idea of messing with people's minds at first [[spoiler: until their first target's abuse causes Ann's friend Shiho to attempt suicide to get away from him.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode where Joe's daughter is born, he borrows money from a loan shark to pay the hospital bill, but when he can't pay back the loan shark, Peter convinces Joe to help him steal from his father in-law, Carter Pewterschmith, who is having a party with his millionaire friends [[ItMakesSenseInContext who will leave a vast fortune stashed in Carter's safe.]] When Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland make it into the vault, Joe tells Peter to grab the amount needed to pay the loan shark, but Peter decides to grab as much as he can as payback for Carter treating him like crap. Lois manages to tell Joe to not take the money because her father will hunt him down, and put him in prison if he goes through it, Peter is more hesitant, but puts the money back when Meg yells at him. At the end, Carter doesn't find out about the attempted robbery, and Joe paid back the loan shark with money Lois got from her father. When Peter asks how she convinced him to help Joe, she tells him she lied and said the money was for a divorce lawyer. Peter thinks she's joking, but becomes worried when she silently gets up from the dinner table.

* VideoGame/SlyCooper and the Cooper Gang generally target criminals, generally for the challenge.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode where Joe's daughter is born, he borrows money from a loan shark to pay the hospital bill, but when he can't pay back the loan shark, Peter convinces Joe to help him steal from his father in-law, Carter Pewterschmith, who is having a party with his millionaire friends [[ItMakesSenseInContext who will leave a vast fortune stashed in Carter's safe.]] When Peter, Quagmire, and Cleveland make it into the vault, Joe tells Peter to grab the amount needed to pay the loan shark, but Peter decides to grab as much as he can as payback for Carter treating him like crap. Lois manages to tell Joe to not take the money because her father will hunt him down, and put him in prison if he goes through it, Peter is more hesitant, but puts the money back when Megatron yells at him. At the end, Carter doesn't find out about the attempted robbery, and Joe paid back the loan shark with money Lois got from her father. When Peter asks how she convinced him to help Joe, she tells him she lied and said the money was for a divorce lawyer. Peter thinks she's joking, but becomes worried when she silently gets up from the dinner table.

* ''Film/TheParoleOfficer'' features the CaperCrew breaking into a bank to steal a security tape that will both exonerate the protagonist and indict the bent copper who strangled a human being. Well, [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets an accountant, anyway]].

* In ''Film/FastFive'', the fifth installment of ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series, Dom and Brian recruit their various allies from the previous movies to pull off OneLastJob and obtain enough money to be set for life. This is especially important as Mia (Brian's wife, Dom's sister) has become pregnant, and the three of them are living on the run from the law. In addition, their target is every bit an AssholeVictim, a Brazilian crimelord who rules his domain with violence.

* The car thieves in ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'', in contrast to the 1974 original, are stealing cars for a crime boss not on commission, but because the protagonist's younger brother owes said boss a lot money and will be killed if they can't deliver the goods. The heroes come out even better by the end, as once the villain has been dealt with, they give the cops a tip as to where they can find and recover the stolen vehicles.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': Saito gives a theoretical Caper Rationalization toward the beginning of the movie, though the movie never shows whether it is true or not. On the other hand, [=DiCaprio=]'s character is motivated by his desire to be able to return to his children, which Saito promises to arrange if he can pull off the titular Inception. Almost everyone else appears to be in it for the money. Except, maybe, Ariadne. She seems to just like being in dreams.
* The team in ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'' is hired to steal an encryption device from a mathematician. Their employers claim to be NSA agents, and say that the mathematician is being funded by Russia. Actually, he's being funded by the NSA, and the employers work for the Mafia. (Communism was just a red herring.)

* {{Literature/Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency}} has this as a plot point. No, not that there's a caper, but that there's a rationalization. Richard unthinkingly leaves a voice message on his girlfriend Susan's answering machine where he offers to take her on a trip, only to realize immediately afterward that he'll have to cancel due to work commitments. As he's done this multiple times and it's straining their relationship considerably, he opts to scale a wall, break into her apartment through a window, and swipe the tape before she can hear the message, to spare her feelings at being ditched again. [[spoiler:The reason this is significant it that Richard is acting irrationally, endangering his life and breaking the law over a minor matter. He's not actually acting of his own accord; a spirit has possessed him and is pushing him to do this in order to determine whether he is the sort of person who will go to extreme lengths to undo a past mistake, and thus a suitable subject to help fulfill the ghost's mission. To an outside observer it's obvious that this is stupid, but Richard insists he is being logical. In the end Richard stops himself at the last moment and puts the tape back, at which point the ghost abandons him as a lost cause]].

* In ''LightNovel/ThereWasNoSecretEvilFightingOrganization'', the chronically bored esper Sago orchestrates fake magical monsters so that similarly bored teenagers can have [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld adventures defeating them]]. He acknowledges that he's deluding the kids in all kinds of ways (''they'' don't know their lives aren't really in danger, after all) but justifies it on the basis that [[TheGoldenRule he would want exactly the same thing]] if he were in their position. Even if he did find out the monsters were a sham, the happy memories and friendships he would've forged during the time would've ultimately made it WorthIt.

* In ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Agent's goal in Belsavis is to break into a vault filled with the secrets of the NebulousEvilOrganization that serves as the main villains of the storyline with the help of a group of criminals imprisoned on the planet, whom they motivate by promising their freedom after all's said and done. Of course, it's up to you to decide whether or not to follow up on your promise or to simply [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill them once you're done]].

** Only in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' is their rationalization purely revenge. They do offer their new nemesis, Willy Bank, a chance to make amends and pay back what he stole from their friend. Being a sleazy and stubborn casino manager who cares nothing about other people, and makes Terry Benedict look downright affable in comparison, Bank refuses. As a result of his stubbornness, the crew is determined to financially ruin Bank with help from Terry Benedict, who himself has a low opinion of Bank and his construction overshadowing the Bellagio's pool.

* All three of the recent ''Ocean's Eleven'' movies starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney feature Caper Rationalizations that involve getting revenge against some really nasty individuals.
** In ''Film/OceansEleven'', only one of the characters is in it for revenge, and Danny is there to win his wife back. The others are in it mostly for the money. Still, the guy they're robbing is himself a fairly shady individual.

** Only in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' is their rationalization purely revenge. They do offer the bad guy a chance to make amends and pay back what he stole from their friend. He refuses.

** In ''Film/OceansEleven'', only one of the characters is in it for revenge, and Danny is there to win his wife back. The others are in it mostly for the money. Still, the guy they're robbing is pretty unlikable.

Oh yeah! Because they're not just stealing to get rich... they're stealing because they have a ''good reason'' to steal. They are stealing their own or someone they know's property ''back'' from the target, who took it from them in some unjust way. Or the caper is actually [[BigDamnHeroes a rescue attempt]] (or [[RescueTropes some variant thereof]]). Or the target did something bad to the characters to make it a {{revenge}} attempt. Or the target distastefully earned the wealth, and the heroes are [[JustLikeRobinHood targeting]] {{jerkass}}es. Sometimes, the entire point of the caper is espionage or sabotage, which gives the heroic criminals a sort of patriotic "license to steal". Other times, the crew is a Tiger Team, and are breaking into a place to intentionally test its security.

* ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Season Eight'': It's revealed in issue 10 that in order to fund her big Slayer Organization, Buffy robbed a Swiss bank account, rationalizing that due to the bank's insurance, it was a "victimless crime". Willow is not convinced, pointing out that her actions [[NotHelpingYourCase just support the government's fears]] [[BewareTheSuperman of Slayers]] [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers acting above the law]].

** Played with in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist "Time Heist"]], in which the Doctor and Clara learn that they agreed to break into the galaxy's biggest bank, and then had their memories wiped to get past the telepathic security. They assume that there must ''be'' a caper rationalisation, even if they don't remember it, because otherwise they wouldn't have agreed. It eventually turns out that [[spoiler:it's not a robbery, it's a rescue mission backed by the bank's owner in the future]].

** "Ariel": Simon plans a heist on a hospital, stealing medicines that the crew can sell for profit on the black market. The rationalization is twofold: One, that Simon's real goal is to get his sister River into an imaging suite so he can find out what the Alliance did to her at the Academy, and two, it's pointed out that as it's an Alliance hospital on a core world, they'll be restocked almost immediately, while the black market caters to people who otherwise wouldn't be able to get treatment.

Oh yeah! Because they're not just stealing to get rich... they're stealing because they have a ''good reason'' to steal. They are stealing their own or someone else's property ''back'' from the target, who took it from them in some unjust way. Or the caper is actually [[BigDamnHeroes a rescue attempt]] (or [[RescueTropes some variant thereof]]). Or the target did something bad to the characters to make it a {{revenge}} attempt. Or the target distastefully earned the wealth, and the heroes are [[JustLikeRobinHood targeting]] {{jerkass}}es. Sometimes, the entire point of the caper is espionage or sabotage, which gives the heroic criminals a sort of patriotic "license to steal". Other times, the crew is a Tiger Team, and are breaking into a place to intentionally test its security.

Oh yeah! Because they're not just stealing to get rich... they're stealing because they have a ''good reason'' to steal. They are stealing their own property ''back'' from the target, who took it from them in some unjust way. Or the caper is actually [[BigDamnHeroes a rescue attempt]] (or [[RescueTropes some variant thereof]]). Or the target did something bad to the characters to make it a {{revenge}} attempt. Or the target distastefully earned the wealth, and the heroes are [[JustLikeRobinHood targeting]] {{jerkass}}es. Sometimes, the entire point of the caper is espionage or sabotage, which gives the heroic criminals a sort of patriotic "license to steal". Other times, the crew is a Tiger Team, and are breaking into a place to intentionally test its security.

** Played with in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist "Time Heist"]], in which the Doctor and Clara learn that they agreed to break into the galaxy's biggest bank, and then had their memories wiped to get past the telepathic security. They assume that there must ''be'' a caper rationalisation, even if they don't remember it, because otherwise they wouldn't have agreed. It eventually turns out that [[spoiler:it's not a robbery, it's a rescue mission]].

Caper Rationalization is how a [[TheCaper caper story]] featuring a charismatic, likable, and funny group of thieves can avoid alienating the audience through MoralDissonance. After all, when you boil the story down to its essence, we have to admit that these so-called "heroes" we are cheering on are ''[[RootingForTheEmpire criminals]]'', and they are in the process of ''robbing'' someone of something very valuable. Why are we rooting for them to succeed, again?

%%* ''Series/BurnNotice'', for precisely the same reason as the ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' crew.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* This is one of the rationalizations [[StickyFingers kender]] in the ''TabletopGames/Dragonlance'' setting use for their kleptomania -- "I took it so no one could steal it." While this works in fiction, particularly as an excuse for a character to be able to pull practically anything out of their pockets (like a poor man's CrazyPrepared), at the game table it tends to slip rapidly into ChaoticStupid.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/FastFive'', the fifth installment of ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series, Dom and Brian recruit their various allies from the previous movies to pull off a OneLastJob and walk off with enough money to be set for life. This is especially important as Mia (Brian's wife, Dom's sister) has become pregnant, and the three of them are living on the run from the law. In addition, their target is every bit an AssholeVictim, a Brazilian crimelord who rules his domain with violence.