To get in the spirit of the upcoming crime-thriller Armored (in theaters December 4), we've put together a collection of the very Best Heist Films ever made. From old classics that set the standard to new favorites, these are the best of the best. 

Reservoir Dogs 

This one doesn't revolve around the heist itself so much as the bloody aftermath, but the glorious brutal-cool that Quentin Tarantino depicts in his cult smash set off a firestorm of one-liners and unforgettable performances. Six thieves - total strangers to one another - are given false names so as not to be liable to one another during a jewelry-store holdup that couldn't have gone worse. The police were tipped off by one of the group, resulting in a bloody standoff that finds the surviving robbers retreating to a warehouse where they try to make sense of it all, inevitably turning on each other as they piece the stories together. 

The Usual Suspects

Five notorious criminals are pulled into police custody after a robbery, and while locked up together they decide to pull an incredibly deadly heist: stealing $91 million worth of cocaine belonging to mysterious and notoriously tyrannical mobster Keyser Soze. The crippled scaredy-cat Verbal (Kevin Spacey) serves as narrator, describing to the detective a twisted, complex tale of deception and illusion that ends in a deadly murderfest. The final twist in the film is one for the ages, and Spacey came away with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Heat

After an armored-car robbery goes very bloody and wrong, high-level criminal perfectionist Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his reliable crew of professionals plan a rebound robbery that will enable them all to put the heist life behind them. The only real catch in the plan is Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), a relentlessly detective obsessed to the point of self-destruction with catching Neil, whose life-motto ('Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner') is put to the test when he falls in love. One of the biggest shootout action sequences in film history - and certainly one of the most classic - takes place in downtown Los Angeles, featuring a ruthlessly passionate performance by Val Kilmer.