Looking for movies like Ocean’s Eleven? From The Sting to Casino Royale, these 10 heist and con films deliver the same sharp writing, ensemble chemistry, and stylish deception that made Soderbergh’s classic essential viewing.
Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven didn’t just revive the heist film in 2001 – it redefined what the genre could feel like. Glossy without being shallow, funny without undercutting its tension, and populated by a cast so effortlessly cool that the audience felt lucky just to be watching, it remains the high-water mark against which every ensemble caper gets measured.
What makes a worthy successor? Three things: a protagonist you’d follow into a terrible idea, a plan complicated enough to feel impossible, and a world – usually involving money, power, or both – that makes the stakes feel viscerally real. The ten films below each deliver on that promise in their own distinct way. Some match Ocean’s wit. Others go darker, grittier, or stranger. All of them are essential viewing.
The Blueprint Films: Heists That Built the Language
These four movies map the genre’s foundation – the films that established the rules Soderbergh’s crew would later break so elegantly. Each brings something distinct: wit, weight, misdirection, spectacle.
1. The Italian Job (2003)
A Mini Cooper chases through LA storm drains, a cast built around chemistry rather than star power, and a con that unfolds in satisfying layers. It captures Ocean’s playfulness without ever feeling like a knockoff. Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron carry it with the kind of loose confidence the genre demands. The easiest and most rewarding place to start after Ocean’s.
2. The Sting (1973)
Where the long-con film was arguably perfected. Paul Newman and Robert Redford play Depression-era grifters working an elaborate scheme against a Chicago crime boss, and the screenplay is a masterclass in misdirection. Soderbergh has cited this film’s influence directly, and watching it alongside Ocean’s Eleven reveals exactly how much DNA carried forward across thirty years. Essential, not optional.
3. Heat (1995)
Darker and heavier than anything else on this list, but it belongs here because it understands something most heist films avoid: the job always costs something. Michael Mann’s three-hour epic follows a precision thief and the detective hunting him with equal moral weight. The famous diner scene between Pacino and De Niro remains one of cinema’s great quiet confrontations.
4. Now You See Me (2013)
Lighter than the others, but the ensemble energy is undeniable. A crew of magicians robs banks during live performances, staying one step ahead of a frustrated FBI agent. It leans into spectacle over substance – which is sometimes exactly what you want. At the same time, it understands something fundamental: in any great heist story, the audience is always the real mark.
5. Casino Royale (2006)
The Daniel Craig reboot moved Bond’s tension from gadgets to poker, and the film is better for it. The centerpiece Texas Hold’em tournament works as pure cinema because the drama is psychological rather than physical. Craig’s Bond reads opponents, manages risk, and adapts under pressure – the same qualities that make Danny Ocean compelling in a completely different setting. For viewers who find themselves drawn to the thrill of casino strategy after watching these films, Casino10 is a reliable, editorially vetted resource for finding licensed and regulated online casinos — so the excitement stays safe and legitimate.”
6. Rounders (1998)
Before poker became a televised sport, Rounders gave it a cinematic mythology. Matt Damon plays a reformed card sharp drawn back into the underground New York poker scene to help a reckless friend pay off a dangerous debt. John Malkovich’s villain, Teddy KGB, is one of the great underrated antagonists of 1990s cinema. The film portrays the grind of poker accurately – not the glamour of the big win, but the discipline required to stay solvent.
7. 21 (2008)
Based on the true story of an MIT Blackjack team that used card counting to win millions in Las Vegas, 21 operates squarely in Ocean’s territory: the elaborate system, the ensemble working in coordination, and the inevitable moment the plan begins to fracture. Kevin Spacey plays the calculating professor who recruits and trains bright students into a functional unit. For a broader look at the genre, this curated guide to the top 10 casino movies at Stage and Cinema is a useful companion read.
8. Rififi (1955)
The French noir that invented the language every heist film since has borrowed from. Jules Dassin’s masterpiece contains a near-wordless 30-minute safe-cracking sequence that remains one of the most technically precise and quietly suspenseful set pieces in cinema history – no score, no dialogue, just four men and silence. Watching Rififi before rewatching Ocean’s Eleven reveals how many of Soderbergh’s choices were conscious homages.
9. Parasite (2019)
Not a heist film on the surface, but one of the best long-con films ever made beneath it. A working-class Seoul family infiltrates a wealthy household through a series of calculated deceptions, and the screenplay never telegraphs where it’s going. The parallels to Ocean’s are structural – both films follow a group executing a plan against a target that underestimates them. In addition, it’s genuinely funny in its first half, which almost no one warns you about.
10. Logan Lucky (2017)
Soderbergh directed this one himself, making it the closest thing to an official Ocean’s Eleven successor. Two West Virginia brothers plan to rob Charlotte Motor Speedway during a NASCAR race. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver have the chemistry that makes ensemble casts click, and the screenplay respects its characters’ intelligence rather than condescending to them. For viewers who have exhausted the obvious list, this is the recommendation that signals you’ve done your homework.
Why We Keep Rooting for the Con
Heist films endure because they offer something most genres don’t: the vicarious pleasure of competence. Audiences don’t just want to see the plan succeed – they want to feel clever for following along. Ocean’s Eleven packaged that fantasy better than almost any film before or since. The ten films above each carry a piece of that same quality, whether through the cold precision of Rififi, the psychological warfare of Casino Royale, or the deadpan warmth of Logan Lucky. Start anywhere, and you’ll find your way back to the others.
What These Films Tell Us About Why We Root for the Con
Heist films endure because they offer something most genres don’t: the vicarious pleasure of competence. Audiences don’t just want to see the plan succeed. They want to feel clever for following along, for spotting the tells, for sensing the misdirection before the reveal lands. Ocean’s Eleven packaged that fantasy better than almost any film before or since – it made the audience feel like the eleventh member of the crew.
The ten films above each carry a piece of that same quality, whether through the cold precision of Rififi, the psychological warfare of Casino Royale, or the deadpan warmth of Logan Lucky. The genre rewards patience and rewards loyalty. Start anywhere on this list, and you’ll find your way back to the others.
