Once a Thief (1950)
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A young ex-con trying to go straight gets caught up in another criminal scheme.
Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
The wife of a psycho-analyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
Set in the 1930's this intricate caper deals with an ambitious small-time crook and a veteran con man who seek revenge on a vicious crime lord who murdered one of their gang.
Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod (Douglas), leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia.
A veteran grifter takes a young, attractive woman under his wing, but things get complicated when they become romantically involved.
"El Tarzan" Lira is an ex-convict who decides to give up his criminal past and reform his life. However, a corrupt policeman blackmails him leaving "El Tarzan" no other option but to continue committing robberies. Adapting the genre conventions of the film noir to the Mexican context, Ripstein's film focuses on Mexican police corruption and questions the judicial system.
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop. When his daughter Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store a man named Murata steps in to settle things between the girl and the store manager. Murata also runs a tropical fish shop and he and Shamoto soon become friendly. However Murata hides many dark secrets behind his friendly face.
A bitter burglar (Yvonne Mitchell), a prostitute (Joan Collins) and an elderly shoplifter spend their first day out of jail.
Frank W. Abagnale Jr. is a cunning con man -- posing as a doctor, lawyer and pilot all before turning 21. He's also a deft forger, and his work attracts the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty, who makes it his mission to put Frank behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit, even taking time to taunt Carl by phone.
A multi-layered satire of race relations in America. Live-action sequences of a prison break bracket the animated story of Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox, who rise to the top of the crime ranks in Harlem by going up against a con-man, a racist cop, and the Mafia.
Caged tells the story of a teenage newlywed, who is sent to prison for being an accessory to a robbery. Her experiences while incarcerated, along with the killing of her husband, change her from a very frightened young girl into a hardened convict.
Trevor sometimes-violent skinhead with no regard for authority, and would rather spend his time stealing cars than sitting in the detention centre to which he is sent. His social worker, Harry Parker, tries to do his best, but Trevor is only interested when thereâs something that he can get out of it. The authorities within the centre try to make Trevor conform to the norms of society, but he takes no notice, and would rather speak in a torrent of four-letter words and racial abuse.
This feature takes us into the world of "boosters" or shoplifters where a charismatic, intelligent young female booster from a dysfunctional family, notably her mother and grandmother, engages in the illegal occupation of shoplifting. A non-stereotypical view of how problematic family relations fed her foray into a criminal profession.
A psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led my a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.
In a flashback, Ernesto, a young con man, tells us how he got to the edge of a big score: childhood in an orphanage, youthful smash-and-grab burglaries until his partner is caught, then tutelage from Lefty, an aging swindler. After some years of success, they're joined by Federico, the best, a true artist. Things go well until Pilar, a woman from Federico's past, re-enters his life with a proposal to con a golden goose - a swindle that will put them all on easy street. A double-cross may be in the cards. The flashback over, can Ernesto hold his own in the present?
A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.
Bruno, a sadistic criminal, wants clever con man Leo out of the way. Leo and his equally clever wife, Lily, are up to something. So too is Julius: he hires Leo to kill Gloria, Julius's wife. Leo does it, but then Julius shows up with the murder on tape, saying Gloria isn't his wife - it's blackmail. Leo's bookie, Troy, is also closing in, wanting to be paid. Bruno and Lily as well as Bruno and Julius have their own scams running, and Leo is their target. Maybe Leo can get Troy off his back, avoid Moose (Bruno's huge enforcer), send Gloria's corpse out of England, turn the tables on Bruno's murderous brother Caspar, and outfox Lily. Or is Lily his fox? It's a three-ring circus.
In Los Angeles, Emily Brown is a kleptomaniac and addicted in pills that misses her father and is having therapy sessions trying to resolve her compulsion. She has a record in the police for shoplifting, and her mother Teresa is a compulsive shopper. The security guard Nick of the Bernstein's department store sees Emily through a camera and becomes fascinated for her. When Nick gets in trouble dealing ecstasy, he presses Emily to help him in a robber of Bernstein.
A young woman is on trial for murder. In flashback, we learn of her struggles to overcome poverty as a teenager -- a mistaken arrest and prison term for shoplifting and lack of employment lead to involvement with gangsters. In a brothel, she meets a young lawyer, scion of a wealthy and prestigious family, who falls for her and helps her turn around her life. But her past catches up with her, and she must face the music rather than cause him scandal.
A brilliant scientist, Professor Genessier, is guilt-stricken after having disfigured his daughterâs face in a car accident. He has almost perfected the technique of grafting skin tissue and intends to use this science to rebuild his daughterâs damaged face. But he needs a supply of donors to experiment on.
A con woman (Lucille Ball) and a detective (Lloyd Nolan) follow a prison-bound swindler (John Hodiak) on his five-day gourmet binge.
An Argentinian crime drama revolving around a sheet of rare stamps (the Nine Queens).
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
In the middle of the night, someone brings Ivan's body home to his wife and his sad-faced, jug-eared son. Through flashbacks, the film discloses the relationships among Ivan and his brother Alex, a cop with a cleanliness fetish; siblings Juliette and Jimmy, Ivan's partners in a seedy nightclub; the love triangle of Alex, Juliette, and Marie, a professor of philosophy; and of Alex and his nephew, Ivan's dour, stoic son. Ivan's death changes every relationship.
A year after Sheila is killed in a hit-and-run, her multimillionaire husband invites a group of friends to spend a week on his yacht playing a scavenger hunt-style mystery game. The game turns out to be all too real and all too deadly.
A sophisticated con man mounts an intricate plan to rob an airport bank.
A delightful dramatic comedy, a buddy picture, and, for good measure, a heist film. Curmudgeonly old Frank lives by himself. His routine involves daily visits to his local library, where he has a twinkle in his eye for the librarian. His grown children are concerned about their fatherâs well-being and buy him a caretaker robot. Initially resistant to the idea, Frank soon appreciates the benefits of robotic support â like nutritious meals and a clean house â and eventually begins to treat his robot like a true companion. With his robotâs assistance, Frankâs passion for his old, unlawful profession is reignited, for better or worse.
Transposing Akira Kurosawa's classic "Rashomon" to the American Southwest in the 1870s, this remake begins as three travelers at a dilapidated railroad station discuss the recent trial of the notorious Mexican outlaw Carasco. We go on to see four different versions of how the bandit came to murder a wealthy Southerner and rape his wife, each allocating guilt and innocence differently.
"Kilas" (a Portuguese misrepresentation of the English word "killers") is the nickname of a petty con-man who gets involved with a deadly ring of spies.
When wistful introvert Alan Furnace meets quick-witted bombshell Beatrice, he has no idea of her secret life as "B. Monkey" -- the top thief-for-hire in London's criminal underworld. Charmed by Furnace's innocent and chivalrous ways, Beatrice resolves to reform. But to cash in on her first chance at real love, she must escape her former partner in crime, the ruthless Paul Neville -- and a dark past that seems to haunt her every step.
Hotshot gambler Jake Green (Jason Statham) is long on bravado and seriously short of common sense. Rarely is he allowed in any casino because he's a bona fide winner and, in fact, has taken so much money over the years that he's the sole client of his accountant elder brother, Billy. Invited to a private game, Jake is in fear of losing his life.
A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.
Gang leader Tony pulls off a major diamond heist with his crew, but cop-turned-criminal Ling knows who has the loot and responds by kidnapping Tony's daughter and holding her for ransom. Unfortunately, Tony's lost the diamonds as well. As he frantically searches for his daughter and the jewels, Tony pairs with a high-kicking government agent who once worked with Ling and seeks revenge on him.
A young short-con grifter suffers both injury and the displeasure of reuniting with his criminal mother, all the while dating an unpredictable young lady.
A police detective uses any means possible to trap a gang of shoplifters.
Set in Hong Kong and Vancouver, the story follows Mac Ramsey and Li Ann Tsei, lovers and professional thieves who are separated while fleeing the powerful Hong Kong underworld crime lord who raised and trained them. After being imprisoned in Hong Kong, Mac is forcefully recruited into a clandestine international crime-fighting unit by a hard-nosed, menacing Director. He is teamed in Vancouver with Li Ann, who thought Mac was dead, and her new fiancé Victor Mansfield, an ex-cop who is attracted to the unorthodox methods of the agency. Conflict flares between Mac and Victor as the trio take on their assignment. They soon learn that their principal target is their foster brother Michael Tang, who had been given Li Ann as his future wife and who has vowed to hunt down the pair for their disloyalty to the "family".
John Woo directs this action-packed comedy that stars Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung as a trio of art thieves who grew up together as orphans under the tutelage of a cruel crime boss named Chow (Kenneth Tsang). Although Red Bean (Chung) wants the trio to leave their life of crime behind, a million-dollar opportunity -- stealing a priceless French painting -- proves too alluring for the men ... but the heist ends in disaster.
Two thieves, a magician, a computer hacker, a wannabe actor and a explosives expert plan a robbery to fulfill the dream of Victor Braganza. Will they be successful or will destiny have something different for them?
A female police detective (Marsha Hunt) enters jail to gain the confidence of a shoplifter and learn the identity of the leader of a stolen goods racket.
Mike and Lenny are two buddies who dream of getting out of the trailer park. Out of desperation they resort to burglary as a means of financing Mike's college education. Their dream is jeopardized one summer day when their ploy to shoplift Near Beer begins a crime spree and a series of mishaps during which they are threatened with jail.
Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of $50,000 first.
Belle Duke, in order to get revenge on her former lover Philip Bang, organize his jail break. But instead of Philip is the Italian Felice Brianza, AKAS Felix, to escape. Now Felix is obliged to help Philip to escape. He will succeeded and from that moment on the two will join to defraud Belle. The swindle plot become more complicate when Felix falls in love for Philip's daughter.
Harry Berg is both a con artist and an actual artist -- he constructs large sculptures out of television sets -- but he is not particularly successful in either role. He owes some money, which gets him involved with Rachel Dobs, a police detective who works with a collection agency. When Harry comes into possession of a strange parcel, both the con man and the detective find themselves wrapped up in a sinister corporate plot to fix the lottery.
Wallingford is a con-man whose specialty is taking money from suckers. His partners are Schnozzle, a pickpocket and car thief; and Blackie, who has played the game for years.
For con men, the game of trickery is at least as important as any monetary reward they might seek. In this wry Polish film, a con-man (Piotr Fronczewski) has just been released from prison. A real artist of conmanship, he starts back at his old tricks slowly, but his deceptions grow ever more elaborate and travel steadily up the ladder of society until he has local politicians and important government ministers involved in his schemes.
During their last (botched) operation, Hong Kong cops Chow Yun-Fat and Lui Fong accidentally cause the slight head injury of a pretty young woman. Because she has entered the country illegally, and has no other place to live, she pretends that she has amnesia and that she thinks Yun-Fat is her husband. He feels guilty about her "condition", so he lets her stay in his house. But there is someone from her past stalking her, with bad intentions...
Set in the 1930s, an honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.
A con man pulls a double-cross on a gang of vicious bank robbers.
Hyun-tae, In-chul and Min-soo have been best friends since childhood. Hyun-tae is a paramedic with a daughter in kindergarten, In-chul is a con man who works at an insurance company, and Min-soo is a small business owner. Hyun-tae's mother, who owns an illegal gambling arcade, asks In-chul to stage a robbery/arson of her arcade to get an insurance settlement. But after that results in her accidental death, the friends have a falling out and their relationships with each other are forever changed.
A recently released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.
A sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death.
George has been in a mental hospital for 3 years and is finally ready to go out into the real world again. Eddie Dash, a dedicated con-man, is supposed to keep him out of trouble, but when people begin to recognize George as the missing millionaire Abe, Eddie wants to take advantage of the situation.
An aging con-man and a beautiful, ambitious student cross paths in a scam that promises to make them both rich.
King Frederick II (aka "Frederick the Great") of Prussia is engaged in a major battle against the Austrian army at Kunersdorf, and things aren't going well. The Austrians are inflicting major casualties, and his army is beginning to crumble. Defeat seems inevitable when a combination of events gives him hope that he may pull victory from the jaws of defeat after all
Gerry and Sewell are broke. Gerry's still at school and Sewell is unemployed/ They botyh wish for better things in life. Owning two season tickets to their beloved football club is their biggest dream of all. The tickets cost £1000 - they're £1000 short. But they are nothing if not resourceful, and they set themselves a mission to raise the cash. While they think up increasingly outlandish money making schemes - from selling junk to shoplifting and the odd bit of housebreaking - real life begins to interfere with the pair's final scam going hilariously awry landing them in jail, only to discover that their punishment gets them exactly where they want to be!
Wendy (Michelle Williams), a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.
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