Nervous Bank Down

There's nothing like a good old fashioned bank run (or bank heist movie) to get the blood pumping. 

TheArchive knows all too well that the lines between fact and fiction often blur. Hollywood has long been fascinated with the world of banking, producing some of the most iconic films of all time. However, as we've seen with the recent banking crisis, the reality of the financial world proves that fact is often stranger than fiction. But our fiction is pretty good too.

This week we feature several high flying finance flicks that take us back to a bygone era when banks actually had enough cash to rob.

In Bank Robber, Billy robs a bank because his gold digging girl is unsatisfied with his cash position. Utterly unimpressed with his bold move, she bails anyway, and so he hides out in a hotel to avoid the cops. Everyone in the hotel knows he's there and decides it would be fun to be on the take. Why rat him out when instead, they can bilk him for all his cash in exchange for keeping quiet? Sounds like a variation on Dodd Frank. 

Bank Robber is delightfully simple and a gem of a flick totally before its time. Ten years later, it would've been dubbed an indie and showered with Independent Spirit Awards. Ten years earlier, it is soft porn with bad music.

It is fun, silly, and totally watchable. A perfect distraction.

Patrick Dempsey, Lisa Bonet, Judge Reinhold, Forest Whitaker, Olivia d'Abo, Mariska Hargitay, and Michael Jeter star.

In Living and Dying, two killers turn the tables on a group of robbers when they find themselves in a hostage situation. Surrounded by the police, the robbers must become the heroes before the killers execute everyone. Edward Furlong, Bai Ling, and Michael Madsen star.

In The Cops are Robbers, it was the biggest bank job in history: a $25,000,000 heist, as perfectly planned as it was executed. Based on Gerald Clemente's book, this is a gripping true story of the crime that rocked a nation. Ray Sharkey, James Keach, George Kennedy, and Edward Asner star.

Based on a true story, The Chase sees a fleeing bank robber kill a cop and kidnap an old man to hold as a hostage. He is chased by the police and a news helicopter that films the entire incident.

In the 1972 western, A Man for Hanging, a crazed killer rampages through the old west after he and a trio of Mexican bandits rob a bank. A vengeful posse is hot on his trail, with no intentions of bringing him back alive. 

In The Banker starring Richard Roundtree, Leif Garrett, and Robert Forrester, high-priced prostitutes are being murdered, with bizarre symbols left in blood at the scene. The detective on the case struggles to find the killer before his ex-wife becomes the next victim.

And if that didn't freak you out more than the current crisis, watch these bankable stars and more only on TheArchive.

TheArchive channel is dedicated to aficionados and lovers of story, craft, and silver screen fun – streaming rare, retro, and 4K restored films and classic TV. From indies and series, to Oscar winning documentaries, unearthed MOWs, and a killer horror library, TheArchive delivers forgotten, never-before-seen gems for free. Marilyn, Karloff, and Orson Welles stream alongside Reese, Keanu, and Samuel L. Jackson. Find true stories of Queen, Hendrix, and Sinatra, an LGBTQ library, MLK bios, and world history docs. TheArchive has the movies and shows you either saw, should’ve seen, or should be watching now!