Pro Safecracker Fact Checks Safecracking in Movies | Vanity Fair

Professional safecracker Dave McOmie fact checks safecracking scenes from movies and television including 'Army of Thieves,' 'The Italian Job,' 'The Thieves,' 'The Score,' 'Thief' and 'Fast Five' and analyzes their probability, craft, and execution.


00:00 Intro
00:55 'Army of Thieves'
04:30 'The Italian Job'
09:47 'The Thieves'
12:47 'The Score'
16:02 'Thief'
17:47 'Fast Five'



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Pro Safecracker Fact Checks Safecracking in Movies | Vanity Fair

[SangTheCryptek]

I love that this guy was shown the clip of the Italian Job and went, "Wait...is that possible?" and actually tried cracking a submerged dial and shared his personal experience with the experiment. Obvious passion to his craft.

[terryandreasen]

Having started my career the same time as Dave, and having known Dave for almost 4 decades now I can attest to this man's legitimacy. I own one of the largest safe and vault companies west of the Mississippi and talk with Dave at least once each month. Sometimes it's just personal, most of the time it's discussing real world safe and vault problems. Dave McOmie is the real thing. His business card should say: "have boroscope, will travel" ! Great job Dave, well done. Looking forward to seeing you in May.

[KarlBunker]

A book by a locksmith that I once read pointed out that movies often show a safecracker opening a combination lock faster than someone who actually _knew the combination_ could possibly have opened it.
OTOH, I'm shocked to hear that a Fast & Furious movie was unrealistic. Shocked, I say.

[julioschwarzbeck]

I've known Dave for over a decade, for all the comments about how knowledgeable he is, or how engaging his conversation is, you can add that he himself is an incredible humble human being, he could be talking about how paint dries, and we'd be as immersed in that conversation as we were in this video, congrats neighbor!

[hansolowe]

Interesting.

The guy was honest, didn't mince words. I like him.

[brussels]

I was once assigned the task of opening an Army field safe where the combination had “slipped.” I knew nothing about opening safes. But what I did have was several other identical safes, we were a finance office in Vietnam. This made the job pretty easy. By looking at the interior of identical safes, I could see where a hole could be drilled such that a metals rod could be inserted and click open the safe. Took safe to engineering guys, had them drill hole exactly where needed, inserted rod and presto, the safe was open. A little spot weld to cover hole that was drilled, and safe could be used again. Amazing what you can do when given a task, especially if ou think outside the box a little.

[Whitepaint]

"They take 30-40 minutes", then you hear in the background, "This is the lock picking lawyer, and what I have for you today is a vault door. This vault door can be bypassed with a paper clip. Let me show you haw that's done".

[Hunter-xysc]

Love that this guy acknowledged some things you have to do to make a movie look good but also explained what they're expressing. Great guest

[sovcsiklaszo]

The expert spoke very competently, it was a pleasure to listen!
And what is most shocking is the last scene. That safe weighs about 3 tons and is full of money. That much money weighs about 100 tons, it would take special machinery to handle it, let alone knock down walls. And here it's being pulled away by two Dodge's :D

[MLB]

I really hope that at the end of the Annual Manipulation Contest the award is presented inside a locked safe that the winner has to open.

[AnimecrazySakura]

This is one of the most interesting professional critique videos I’ve ever seen! Professional safecracker seemed like a made up job but it’s probably one of the coolest things ever and this guy was so good at explaining everything! I enjoyed every minute, thank you!

[thebatonmaster]

No, thank YOU! Super fun and interesting to have this guy on. Passionate yet reserved. Would love to see him a second time.

[dandymcgee]

I accidentally cracked my grandparents' safe once.. on the second try. It was under a computer desk, and I was playing a game on the computer, so I didn't look at the safe while playing with it. Each time, I scrambled it by spinning the dial 4-5 times, turned it left 3 rotations, right 2, left 1, then tried the handle. I judged how much to turn it purely based on what "felt" natural. I don't mean by feeling for bumps or applying tension to the handle. I literally just turned it the _amount_ of rotation that felt like enough to be a valid combination. I pushed down the handle after the second attempt, and in one smooth motion the huge metal door fell gently open.

I tried to do it a bunch more times after that and never was able to successfully open it again. I never looked at what was in the safe. I immediately closed it and locked it back up and was afraid at what I had just achieved.

[pabc]

I'm also wondering that if a safe is underwater, if the pressure differential would make it more difficult to open? Of course 10 feet underwater vs 50 feet vs 300 feet would be a substantial difference. I would guess that in the movie it wouldn't be too much...

[davidbutler]

Michael Mann employed real safe crackers for Thief...the police detective who arrests James Cann was played by a real thief.
And...the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is excellent.

[zidbits]

The problem with the burning bar is that it will set off fire suppression systems inside the room/building you're working in. Commercial properties, where you're likely going to need to get into a safe, has robust sprinkler systems.

[williamwells]

These how-to tutorials are getting really in depth and I appreciate that

[davelabargesafecracker]

Having known Dave McOmie for over three decades now I'm glad to see he dispelled some of the safecracking myths seen in the movies over the years, yet also stated when an accurate detail was shown. The only thing I noticed that was wrong was when he was describing manipulation and breaking down the number five into tenths such as 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 etc. He was actually at 95 and not 5 on the dial at the time. But as Dave says "Safecrackers love safecracking in the movies" and an experienced safe and vault technician will notice things like that, even on YouTube!!

[la_keith]

I dig this guy, would love to hear his top 5 on actual safe cracking where the people got away, or the legends in his field!

[MemeticsX]

This guy really knows what he's talking about; really appreciated his detailed, expert analysis and explanations.