[Nick Zwar]

That’s the thing with genres, a movie can belong fully or partly to one or more genres. Sometimes one genre is more pronounced than the other, sometimes a movie is easily both. Alien is a science-fiction film, noted in any major work about science-fiction films, yet obviously it’s also a horror film. It’s not “50/50”, it’s both a full science-fiction movie and a horror movie.

A movie can also contain elements of a genre without fully belonging to it.
Personally, I don’t see Heat or The Wild Bunch as primarily heist movies, it’s more that they do have some elements of a heist, but their main focus is clearly otherwise. But of course, one could say they contain enough “heist” elements to include them in the list of heist movies if one is so inclined. I think they are both excellent movies, so I’d have included them if I would consider the genre “heist” pronounced enough in them.

As far as The Taking of Pelham 123 is concerned, I don’t see this particularly as a heist movie either. It’s not so much about the planning and execution of the heist — it’s not as if the hijackers have a spectacularly clever “heist” plan, they are basically just ruthless — as it is about the confrontation between the police and the hijackers. Basically, the “heist” is they kidnap a subway, demand money, otherwise they will shoot a hostage every hour. Execution in this film means literally executing people, it’s not so much about the planning and execution of the heist. That doesn’t readily come to my mind as the prime elements of a “heist” movie. Good movie nevertheless. 🙂