Caper story

The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes (especially thefts, swindles, or occasionally kidnappings) perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader. The actions of police or detectives attempting to prevent or solve the crimes may also be chronicled, but are not the main focus of the story.

The caper story is distinguished from the straight crime story by elements of humor, adventure, or unusual cleverness or audacity. For instance, the Dortmunder stories of Donald E. Westlake are highly comic tales involving unusual thefts by a gang of offbeat characters — in different stories Dortmunder's gang steals the same gem several times, steals an entire branch bank, and kidnaps someone from an asylum by driving a stolen train onto the property. By contrast, the same author's Parker stories (published under the name Richard Stark) are grimly straightforward accounts of mundane crime — the criminal equivalent of the police procedural. Others, such as Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr novels, feature a role reversal, an honest criminal and crooked cop, and the use of burglar Rhodenbarr criminal talents to solve murders.

A caper may appear as a subplot in a larger work. For example, Tom Sawyer's plot to steal Jim out of slavery in the last part of Huckleberry Finn is a classic caper.

Etymology

The verb to caper means to leap in a frolicsome way, and probably derives from capriole, which derives from the Latin for goat (note: Capra (genus)). The noun caper, means a frolicsome leap, a capricious escapade or an illegal or questionable act.

Examples of the caper story

Fiction

• The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry — two kidnappers find that the little boy they're holding for ransom is more dangerous than the law
• The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
• early stories of "The Saint" by Leslie Charteris
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey — a subway car is hijacked and held for ransom
• the Modesty Blaise stories of Peter O'Donnell
• The Light of Day by Eric Ambler (filmed as Topkapi)
• novels by John Boland such as The League of Gentlemen and The Golden Fleece
• the Parker series and other novels by Donald E. Westlake
• Sledgehammer by Walter Wager
• The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

Caper film

Main article: Heist film

• The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Directed By John Huston
• Rififi (1955)
• The Killing (1956) Directed By Stanley Kubrick
• Seven Thieves (1960)
• Topkapi (1964)
• Le Cercle Rouge (1970) Directed By Jean-Pierre Melville
• The First Great Train Robbery (1979)
• Ocean's Eleven, novel and screenplay by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell (1960, remade 2001)
• The Thomas Crown Affair, screenplay by Alan Trustman (1968, remade 1999)
• The Italian Job (1969, remade 2003)
• Kelly's Heroes, screenplay by Troy Kennedy-Martin (1970)
• Bank Shot, screenplay by Wendell Mayes from the novel by Donald E. Westlake (1974)
• The Hot Rock, screenplay by William Goldman from the novel by Donald E. Westlake (1972)
• The Castle of Cagliostro, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (1979)
• The Great Muppet Caper, directed by Jim Henson (1981)
• Hudson Hawk, story and screenplay by Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft, Steven E. de Souza, and Daniel Waters (1991)
• Sneakers, directed by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams), and written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker (1992)
• Reservoir Dogs, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino (1992)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, written and directed by Guy Ritchie (1998)
• Three Kings, written and directed by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley (1999)
• Lucky Number Slevin written by Jason Smilovic directed by Paul McGuigan (2006)
• The Brothers Bloom, written and directed by Rian Johnson (2008)
• Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (2010)

Television

• Firefly, created by Joss Whedon, particularly the episodes "Serenity", "The Train Job", "Ariel" and "Trash" (2002–2003)
• Hustle (TV series), a British series created by Tony Jordan (2004–present).
• Leverage (TV series), a TNT (TV channel) series created by Dean Devlin (2008–present).

See also

• Canadian caper