The Heist (1989 film)
1989 television film directed by Stuart Orme
The Heist is a 1989 HBO made-for-TV movie, starring Pierce Brosnan, Tom Skerritt and Wendy Hughes, with Noble Willingham and Tom Atkins.
Plot summary
After serving four years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Neil Skinner (Pierce Brosnan) returns to a fictional Ocean Downs Racetrack in San Diego to exact revenge on Ebbet Berens (Tom Skerritt), the partner who set him up to gain control of their racetrack security business, and to win back Sheila Atkins (Wendy Hughes), their third business partner and Skinner's ex-lover, who believes him guilty and is now Berens' lover.
Despite Berens' attempts to get rid of him, and interference from Sheila and police Det. Leland (Tom Atkins), Skinner uses his intimate knowledge of the track's security systems and personnel to set up an elaborate heist – the goals of which are to land Berens in jail and convince Sheila of his innocence - thereby winning her back.
“The Heist (1989 film)” enters the record as 1989 television film directed by Stuart Orme. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heist, film and television can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Heist (1989 film)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Heist, film and television provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4237435. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Heist (1989 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Heist (1989 film) primary sources, The Heist (1989 film) archive and Heist research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Heist (1989 film)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Heist (1989 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.