Cutting A Caper: The Joy Of The Comedy Crime Gang

This was a commissioned article for the theatre programme of the Oldham Coliseum Theatre Company's production of The Ladykillers (2016).

What is it about the machinations of Professor Marcus and his motley crew in The Ladykillers that delights us? Are we drawn in by criminal gangs because it allows us to see them get their just desserts or do we actually like to see the bad guys succeed?

We enjoy watching the gun-toting gangs in films like Bonnie and Clyde, Die Hard and Reservoir Dogs, especially as they’re made up of charismatic and stylish villains; but the moment they shoot an innocent civilian or policeman, they become difficult to root for. So it usually falls to the gang in comedy caper films, where crimes are more far-fetched and bullets are less likely to be fired than quips (or sticks of rock), to lure us in and make us feel complicit in the illicit.

The crime caper genre has its roots in the more dramatic heist films of the 1950s, most notably John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and Jules Dassin’s Rififi. These classic films and their like were hugely influential on the capers that followed, which added a heightened comedy by emphasising the comic personalities within the criminal gang.

The ideal caper gang works best when it’s a bunch of misfits. Gang members can hail from different classes, cultures or countries (although they tend to be male-dominated, with the odd exception) and usually only come together under nefarious circumstances. This can be an uneasy alliance, but each member of the gang is willing to work as a team to get their share of the loot.

The gang always has a ringleader, one who either gets his hands dirty on the job or masterminds things from afar. Other specialist roles can include the big guy, who provides the brawn (and rarely the brains); the inside man, who knows the alarm system of a bank or route of a security van; the conman, who can also be a master of disguise; and those with technical expertise, such as acrobatics, weaponry or safe-cracking.

Plenty of comedy can arise in this instance when roles within the gang buck the expected type. Sometimes they’re unsuitable (Peter Ustinov’s bumbling driver who inadvertently becomes the ‘muscle’ in Topkapi), sometimes superior (Brenda de Banzie’s kidnapped wife in Two Many Crooks who ends up leading the gang) and sometimes even unknowing (Mrs Wilberforce in The Ladykillers).

Once the gang is assembled, it will begin planning the job. A typical scene will show the gang gathered around a layout of a bank, museum or street, perhaps with miniature models or toy cars. In addition, you can have the gang watching an instructional film (The League of Gentlemen, 1960), or attempting to “blow the bloody doors off” security vans (The Italian Job). It’s also at this stage that potential obstacles have to be taken into account, such as breaking out of prison in Two-Way Stretch or tunnelling under a police station in The Big Job!

Once the meticulous planning is complete, it’s time for the job. The heist is normally shown in full, which is usually a bloodless affair with the minimum of violence. But there should be plenty of dramatic suspense in stealing the loot, such as the high-wire acrobatics that threaten to set off the museum alarm in Topkapi or the fracas caused by Mrs Wilberforce that delays the getaway in The Ladykillers.

If the job has been successful and seemingly gone without a hitch, it’s at this stage that the best-laid plans begin to unravel. Unseen or unforeseen elements come to fruition in the aftermath of the crime. Jobs can come a cropper from errant birds (Topkapi), unfastened cases (The Ladykillers, Too Many Crooks), inopportune children (The Lavender Hill Mob, The League of Gentlemen) or even falling in love (Gambit, A Fish Called Wanda).

Ultimately though, it’s either duplicity or incompetence that does for the gang. Many wind up arrested or ‘bumped off’, and those that don’t usually end up losing their loot, either to sheer bad luck (Two-Way Stretch, Too Many Crooks) or double-crossing femme fatales (Perfect Friday, A Fish Called Wanda). Alternatively, the caper can finish on a cliffhanger, both figuratively (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and literally (The Italian Job).

The caper film’s golden age may have passed but its influence lives on. The gangs in Small Time Crooks, The Parole Officer, the Ocean’s films and TV’s Hustle have kept capering on-screen in the 21st century, while the Criterion’s The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Belfast Lyric’s Demented and Graham Linehan’s The Ladykillers have adapted the genre successfully for the stage.

Crime might not always pay, but it’ll pay out with laughs when capers are part of the plan.

© John Good