Heist movies aren’t always the most accurate depictions of real-life crime, but Ben Affleck’s The Town gained top marks from an expert who analyzed one of its scenes. The Town is one of Ben Affleck’s best movies, once again proving that the actor and director has a special flair for making heart-pounding thrillers.
Many of the best heist movies have a rose-tinted view of crime, with suave thieves outwitting their foes to get their hands on their prizes. Ultimately, real crime doesn’t look like Ocean’s Eleven, Now You See Me, or Inside Man. It’s usually more frantic and violent, and only a few heist movies accurately represent what happens in a bank robbery.
Expert Says The Town’s Heist Scene Is A 10/10
In a YouTube video for Insider, former bank robber Cain Vincent Dyer ᴀssessed several Hollywood heist movies for their accuracy, and he praised the first robbery scene in The Town. Dyer noted that he never operated as part of a gang like the one seen in The Town, but he still found their approach to be authentic.
In The Town, Affleck’s character, Doug, asks a bank teller a question about the security that he already knows the answer to. This is something that Dyer says he would also do, because it allowed him to figure out whether he could trust the teller or if they were going to try to trick him.
Dyer also praised the moment when the bank robbers can be seen pouring bleach on the tills. This is an attempt to destroy any evidence before the robbers leave the bank, although they also wear masks, gloves, and clothing that doesn’t show an inch of their skin.
The ending of The Town features a bigger and more audacious heist on Fenway Park, but Dyer gave the early bank robbery scene top marks.
What This Expert Had To Say About Other Bank Heist Scenes
The Town wasn’t the only movie that Dyer complimented. He gave a 9/10 score to a bank robbery scene in The Place Beyond the Pines, admiring the way that Ryan Gosling’s character seems nervous before entering the bank. He also approved of the detail of the character taping his sleeves to his gloves to cover up any identifying marks.
Dyer gave perfect scores to some other bank robbery scenes. The thriller Cherry and Sidney Lumet’s classic, Dog Day Afternoon, both received 10/10, as did Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight. Commenting on a scene in which George Clooney’s character bluffs to a teller that a stranger is one of his ᴀssociates, Dyer says outright, “I have done that.“
Dyer criticized certain elements of Inside Man, Baby Driver, and Den of Thieves, but none were as inaccurate as the Joker’s elaborate bank robbery in the opening of The Dark Knight, which scored a one out of ten. The Town deserves credit for combining entertainment with authenticity, especially when compared to some other movies that lean toward Hollywood fantasy.
Source: Insider via YouTube
