1. Reservoir Dogs - The Heist
This is probably the most famous example in the history of film: Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs is about a jewel heist and it doesn't actually show the jewel heist. Reservoir Dogs mostly takes place in a warehouse that serves as the rendezvous point for a group of jewel thieves after they successfully rob a store but unsuccessfully handle the situation. Although the movie thrives on genre conventions, it delights in subverting them as well. The undercover "good guy" cop kills a woman, the tough guy thief cries and genuinely cares for his wounded accomplice, Steve Buscemi is maybe the most handsome guy in the movie. So not giving the audience the quintessential part of every heist movie (the heist itself) serves as another reminder that even though you're watching a movie that you feel like you've seen before, it is nothing like the movies you've seen. This isn't to say that it wasn't a budgetary issue either, the movie was supposed to be shot by Tarantino with his friends as the actors on 16mm film for $30,000 before Harvey Keitel got involved. So maybe the genesis of the idea came from what was initially a low-budget quick flick, but the movie stands the test of time because it took the basic concept of a genre movie and turned it on its head. Are there any other major examples that I left out? Let us know in the comments.