The Best Laid Plans

People, shady people, up to no good–plotting, planning, and conniving to grab that one big elusive score. Some of film noir’s best movies tell the story of desperate men–and women–scheming to take someone else’s treasure. Here are some of our favorites.

Crime starts with a good breakfast–**Reservoir Dogs** (1992) (source)

Sterling Hayden stands lookout in **The Asphalt Jungle** (1950) (source)

Ryan O’Neal doesn’t like guns, but he knows how to use one in The Driver (1978) (source)

Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart) and his gang at work in **High Sierra** (1941) (source)

Jennifer Lawrence in **American Hustle** (2013) (source)

Sterling Hayden and his gang plot the perfect robbery in **The Killing** (1956) (source)

Ryan Gosling finds trouble in Drive (2011) (source)

Steve (Burt Lancaster) and his conspirators in Criss Cross (1949) (source)

Dean Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) and compadres in **The Usual Suspects** (1995) (source)

Dangerous Women

The femme fatale is a staple in film noir: duplicitous, conniving, and of course, drop-dead sexy. She uses her looks to get what she wants. In the process, she wreaks havoc in the lives of men who are fully complicit in their own destruction. Here are just a few of the silver screen’s greatest portrayals of the ultimate dangerous woman.