Preordained Stickup
In Woodbridge, Va., which is not far from D.C. and an easy drive from here by any ordinary citizen though not for me, yesterday three guys dressed all in black and wearing ski masks, made a robbery happily devoid of injury or other violence -- except for the threat of a gun though we are assured that they don't kill people -- of an armored car that was making a pickup from a branch of the Bank of America.
This morning we are told that the three perps have already been identified and rounded up, along with every cent of their ill-gained loot, 160 grand.
Everything about that robbery makes things seem as if they were supposed to work out in exactly that way.
The news reports blame the quick apprehension of the trio on a tip by an "alert citizen," after seeing some kind of suspicious activity involving a white Cadillac.
Maybe the suspicious activity was the white Cadillac itself, because it's not easy to think of a more noticeable vehicle, especially if it can be seen to be occupied by three men dressed completely in black.
But that's not all. It turns out that one or more of the guys lived right across the street from the bank. And that's still not all. One of them also used to work for that armored car company.
In other words, it was just about as local an event as any bank robbery could get. They're sitting in the living room and happen to notice the bank across the street for the umpteenth time, and a light bulb suddenly pops on in their minds. "Let's go relieve it. We can get away with it. Sheer audacity will carry us through."
Obviously these worthies hadn't seen many of the enormous genre of caper movies -- not the rude, crude ones involving mayhem, but the ones detailing smooth operations sometimes even carried out by police, that involve a lot of planning and research, which first of all decree that if you have to rob the casino, it should be at least a few blocks through preferably a whole continent away, such as in Las Vegas, Paris, Monte Carlo, or some such.
Films, like any sort of instructional videos, have a lot to teach us on almost any project of substance, and it pays to see what the movie industry has to say about things first.
--Such as that sheer audacity isn't enough. Though maybe they counted instead on the fact that the tenor of the times is such that these days bankers are getting even less sympathy than usual.
This morning we are told that the three perps have already been identified and rounded up, along with every cent of their ill-gained loot, 160 grand.
Everything about that robbery makes things seem as if they were supposed to work out in exactly that way.
The news reports blame the quick apprehension of the trio on a tip by an "alert citizen," after seeing some kind of suspicious activity involving a white Cadillac.
Maybe the suspicious activity was the white Cadillac itself, because it's not easy to think of a more noticeable vehicle, especially if it can be seen to be occupied by three men dressed completely in black.
But that's not all. It turns out that one or more of the guys lived right across the street from the bank. And that's still not all. One of them also used to work for that armored car company.
In other words, it was just about as local an event as any bank robbery could get. They're sitting in the living room and happen to notice the bank across the street for the umpteenth time, and a light bulb suddenly pops on in their minds. "Let's go relieve it. We can get away with it. Sheer audacity will carry us through."
Obviously these worthies hadn't seen many of the enormous genre of caper movies -- not the rude, crude ones involving mayhem, but the ones detailing smooth operations sometimes even carried out by police, that involve a lot of planning and research, which first of all decree that if you have to rob the casino, it should be at least a few blocks through preferably a whole continent away, such as in Las Vegas, Paris, Monte Carlo, or some such.
Films, like any sort of instructional videos, have a lot to teach us on almost any project of substance, and it pays to see what the movie industry has to say about things first.
--Such as that sheer audacity isn't enough. Though maybe they counted instead on the fact that the tenor of the times is such that these days bankers are getting even less sympathy than usual.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 7:50 AM
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