FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

The central plot of Bound is Corky and Violet’s plan to steal millions of stashed mob money from Violet's unhinged mob boyfriend. Your choices, then, for what we’ll be screening on Tuesday 2 September, are out of three more films in which our heroes and heroines decide to get stealin’ from the mob! Up for the vote are:

The Killers (Robert Siodmak, USA, 1946)

“Hemingway’s short story is fleshed out into an incredibly involuted screenplay, which Siodmak renders as the ultimate noir dreamscape. The Citizen Kane of crime movies.”— Eddie Muller

Two professional hitmen kill a gas station attendant, ‘the Swede’ (Burt Lancaster, in his big screen debut) who's not only expecting them but offers them no resistance. But when insurance investigator, Reardon, begins investigating the case, he uncovers a complex tale of treachery and crime, all linked to the gorgeous, mysterious Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner, the epitome of femme fatales)... German émigré Robert Siodmak was one of the filmmakers who helped create film noir, and The Killers not only made Lancaster a star overnight, but is a first-rate demonstration of how to maintain narrative tension through a non-linear flashback structure which withholds crucial information right up until the very end.

The Sting (George Roy Hill, USA, 1973)

“The Sting remains the definitive con artist comedy: as irresistible and ingenious as the scheme that hooks in Doyle." - Patrick Smith, Daily Telegraph

Following the murder of a mutual friend, aspiring con man Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) teams up with old pro Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) to take revenge on the ruthless crime boss responsible, Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). But when Hooker and Gondorff set about implementing their elaborate scheme, one so crafty that Lonnegan won't even know he's been swindled, things don't go according to plan... With great chemistry between the three leads, the lovingly created 1930s settings and Marvin Hamlisch's inspired reworking of Scott Joplin's music, The Sting is one of the most enduring and exquisitely crafted blockbusters of all time.

True Romance (Tony Scott, USA, 1993)

"Made with such energy, such high spirits, such an enchanting goofiness, that it's impossible to resist." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Sparks fly when lonely pop-culture nerd, Clarence (Christian Slater), falls in love with inexperienced sex worker Alabama (Patricia Arquette). But when Clarence's romantic gesture (telling her drug-crazed pimp that Alabama will no longer be working for him) goes awry, the pair of star-crossed lovers find themselves in possession of a suitcase of mob-owned cocaine, and they quickly hatch a plan which will hopefully save their asses and make their fortune... Featuring a brilliant screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and scene-if-not-film-stealing cameos from the likes of Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and an pre-Sopranos James Gandolfini, True Romance is, quite simply, FUN! from start to finish and the best film Quentin Tarantino never made.