Heist 88 Begs the Question ‘How Do You Rob a Bank Without Guns?’

With fall entertainment guides in full swing, networks, and streaming applications alike are pushing out a generous amount of content. Buyer's remorse is real! Fortunately for the creators of Heist 88 — a bank robbery thriller loosely based on real events — engaging viewers will unlikely be a hard sell.

Set in the iconic city of Chicago, the film follows a criminal mastermind who after recruiting a group of young, sharp bank employees, pulls off one of the largest bank heists in US history — walking away with a whopping $80 million dollars.

As for what makes this movie special, it just so happens that the script’s writer, Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, was in a unique position to lend personal experience to this project. The multi-talented writer/producer detailed how a short stint as a field producer for a nightly news show, led him to put his pen to the pad.

“I was a field producer when this story took place in Chicago, for the local PBS station. I was standing right behind my cameraman — we shot this at the Dirksen Federal Building. I was really young, it was my first job working in news, media, and reporting in Chicago — it was a nightly news show. It came on every night, seven o'clock, and it was just one more story,” said Johnson-Cochran. He also noted that the story went on to become a “national” news show, after being picked up by CBS News reporter, Dan Rather.

The national recognition of the story inspired Johnson-Cochran and his team to “elevate it a little bit.” He continued, “We noticed that the drawings, the picture they drew of the young men who were standing in front of the judge; they drew them as defendants — you couldn't tell if they were Black or not.”

“ So I didn't learn of their ethnicity until I read it in the newspaper. They were trying to push the idea that these were Black men, who took all this money away from the public. It wasn't clear that this was a bunch of intelligent Black people who decided — one Black guy in particular— that this was going to be an organized heist” he added to explain how those inside the courtroom attempted to downplay the defendant's intelligence and paint a different picture.

It wasn’t until years later Johnson-Cochran revisited the story while chatting with a friend, Beverly Price, who reminded him he was on the scene at the time of the crime. “Don't you remember? You were downtown. You saw it,” he said, recalling Price’s words. “She sent me the article and I just started researching over and over again. And I realized, yes, I was there.”

Following extensive research, Johnson-Cochran uncovered what he believed to be a cautionary tale: the ways in which master manipulators insert themselves into one’s life. “When someone decides to give testimony to save themselves — we're seeing that now with Trump — they tend to tell you exactly what went on. So in the sentencing of these five young men who helped Armand Moore, the original guy who did it, they told what they did.” Which according to Johnson-Cochran included executing the heist with a simple phone call.

“I knew by reading this, what kind of person he was and that he had masterminded so many other heists,” he concluded.

Of bringing the unconventional bank robbery flick to life, Menhaj Huda, the director of the film; says it was a welcome challenge. “I didn't have a huge amount of time to sit with Dwayne - the script came in pretty good shape to me. I loved the story and that it was surprising in many ways that wasn't obvious,” said Huda. “I felt it was lacking because the robbery itself was on the phone, we needed to create a bit more excitement and give the audience a bit more action. There isn’t a huge amount of it in the story, so we tried to add more.”

“For me, it was really the dynamic of the characters that really drew me in. And I tried to stay true to that.” Huda went on to detail his excitement at the talented cast, including Courtney B. Vance locked in as their leading man.

The writer-director duo also shared some words of advice for aspiring filmmakers, adding: “Get in and work on a production in any capacity, like entry-level capacity. It's really important that before you are thrown in or push yourself into taking the reins on a production; that you have a good idea of how that job functions,” said Huda.

Of penning a big screen-worthy story, Johnson-Cochran added: “I echo that. As a filmmaker, you have to really respect the art form. If you are a storyteller, respect the art form to the point where you're telling a story.”

He continued, “You're not just giving attitude to a character. What is your story and write it well, because nothing gets started without it. No one gets on the set unless they have a script that's good. And there's a three-act structure — there's character development, plot, and story. Understand that the audience is a little smarter than you are. They are ahead of your story all the time. So try to do things that do not deal with the tropes that we have all seen over and over again. Try to change things up a bit.”

As for what’s on the horizon for Huda and Johnson-Cochran, they have revealed that they love the idea of a sequel…

In the meantime, stream Heist 88 on Paramount+ and Showtime.