History Film / TheLadykillers2004

* CreepyChangingPainting: The picture of Mr. Munson (though it's more of a humorous changing painting). Its facial expression changes in reaction to the events around it (most obviously with an expression of [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x0kxi4dnV7s surprise at an explosion]] and a satisfied smirk at a KarmicDeath).

* AsianStoreOwner: The introduction to the General shows him, rather brutally, foiling a hold-up in his shop.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: One of the biggest obstacles in the heist (after digging the tunnel) is the guard that keeps watch of the vault. While everybody else is discussing complicated ways (lethal and non-lethal) to deal with him, Lump of all people says that they should try to bribe him. It works.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Professor Dorr has far more words than sense.

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the film, the old lady is the last person standing.

* BlatantLies: Prof. Dorr's utterly preposterous explanation for the money scattered about the cellar. Despite being perfectly credulous up to that point, Ms. Munson doesn't buy it.

* ChekhovsGun: The film begins with a raven landing on the a statue on the suspension bridge, as well as a garbage boat passing underneath. The barge is used several times, first to dispose of dirt from the tunnelling project, then of the bodies of [[spoiler: pretty much everyone who dies by accident or by KarmicDeath through the movie. At the end of the film, the raven returns, dislodging the statues head, which strikes Professor Dorr and kills him, knocking him onto the barge as it passes beneath as he's waxing poetic.]]

* CreepyChangingPainting: The picture of Mr. Munson (though it's more of a humorous changing painting). Its facial expression changes in reaction to the events around it (most obviously with an expression of [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x0kxi4dnV7s surprise at an explosion]], and a satisfied smirk at a KarmicDeath).

** [[spoiler:While Garth's strangling isn't exactly ironic, Mountain Girl doesn't save him because she mistook his groans for his Irritable Bowel Syndrome.]]

** [[spoiler:Prof. Dorr. After prominently reciting Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "The Raven," he dies when a real raven lands on the head of one of the bridge's gargoyle statues - which promptly breaks off and clonks Dorr in the head, knocking him off of the bridge.]]

* FallenHero: Pancake was an idealistic Freedom Rider in the 1960s, but now is a CaperCrew demolitions expert, apparently as a result of working a dead-end job.
* {{Fingore}}: Garth Pancake blows his finger off in an accidental explosion. The film concludes with a cat spitting the finger in a trash barge in the river below.

* ImaginaryFriend: Mrs. Munson invites the Sheriff in to introduce him to her tenant Prof. Dorr. Since the Professor is trying to keep his criminal scheme under wraps, he hides from the Sheriff under the bed, which Mrs. Munson finds very amusing. This all conspires to make it seem like the old lady has lost it and is talking to imaginary people from the Sheriff's vantage point.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler: Pancake]] tries to steal the money from his partners largely out of bitterness that none of them besides Lump [[spoiler:voted to give him an extra share after he lost a finger handling the explosives.]]

--> '''Professor Dorr:''' Not easy to do. Many reasons. Practical ones. Quiet neighborhood, sleepy town. Reasons of moral repugnance. A harmless woman, a deed conceived and executed in cold blood. Oh, no, Gawain, would that it were simple.

* NoHonorAmongThieves: After Ms. Munson catches CaperCrew with the stolen money, Professor Dorr lies about turning a new leaf to her and decides that murder is okay. One by one, the party dies either trying to kill each other or by accident.
* PetTheDog: Gawain once tried to adopt a puppy (even promising to clean up after it), but his mother wouldn't let him keep it.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Prof. Dorr has far more words than sense.

* TemptingFate: [[RunningGag Pancake is fond of saying "Easiest thing in the world,"]] shortly before a job he's been given (or taken upon himself) goes badly.
* TooDumbToLive: All Dorr has to do is leave one chamber on his revolver empty, counting on poor [[spoiler: Lump to look down the barrel and try again when it doesn't fire the first time. Lump]] doesn't let him down.

* AsianStoreOwner: The introduction to the General shows him rather brutally foiling a hold-up in his shop.

* CrimeConcealingHobby: Professor Dorr renting out an old lady's basement so he and his friends can practice classical music. In fact, they're digging a tunnel to rob a nearby casino vault, playing recorded music to mask the sounds of their work. While Dorr is Wicked Cultured and likely is a musical enthusiast, the rest of the crew... [[BookDumb aren't.]]

''Film/TheLadykillers1955'' was remade by Creator/TheCoenBrothers in 2004, changing the base of operations to a house connected to a Mississippi riverboat's vault, and including a significant subplot about the old (now) black lady's ironic support of Bob Jones University. It also increases the violence far beyond what would have been acceptable when the original was made. It shares many tropes with the classic 1955 version. The remake's cast includes Creator/TomHanks (in a rare [[Main/PlayingAgainstType villainous role]]), Creator/IrmaPHall, Creator/MarlonWayans, Creator/JKSimmons, and Creator/RyanHurst.