When Jimmie Collins, a pickpocket, is arrested and brought before Captain Callahan of the Tenth, he is surprised because he is lodged in a cell. Jimmie claims acquaintanceship with Bill McFarlin, a corrupt political boss, and he sneers at Captain Callahan when he is ordered to be placed behind the cell bars.
A young pickpocket is taken in by an attorney who attempts to 'civilize' her.
The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.
Elokuvaprojektorin hoitaja ja talonmies opiskelee tullakseen etsiväksi. Hän on rakastunut kauniiseen tyttöön ja treffeillä antaa tytölle suklaata ja kihlasormuksen. Nuorukaisen harmiksi myös eräällä toisella miehellä samankaltaiset suunnitelmat. Eräänä päivänä kilpakosija lavastaa nuorukaisen syylliseksi tytön isän kellon katoamiseen. Nuorukainen nukahtaa työnsä ääreen ja uneksii olevansa Sherlock Holmesin kaltainen etsivä, joka ratkoo tapauksen.
In the tenement slums of Paris between the world wars, impoverished street singer Albert yearns for beautiful Romanian immigrant Pola. Pola's boyfriend, local hoodlum Fred, grows jealous of Albert's constant attention to his woman and frames the hapless musician for one of his own petty crimes. But while Albert is in prison for Fred's misdeed, Pola ends up falling for Albert's faithful best friend, Louis.
Wallingford is a con-man whose specialty is taking money from suckers. His partners are Schnozzle, a pickpocket and car thief; and Blackie, who has played the game for years.
A burglar is recruited by the French Surete to help find his kidnapped girlfriend, who has been kidnapped by a deranged White Russian to impersonate the missing Princess Anastasia Romanoff while under his hypnotic spell.
An orphan boy in 1830s London is abused in a workhouse, then falls into the clutches of a gang of thieves.
On the sidewalks of the London theater district the buskers (street performers) earn enough coins for a cheap room. Charles, who recites dramatic monologues, sees that a young pickpocket, Libby, also has a talent for dancing and adds her to his act. Harley, the theater patron who never knew Libby took his gold cigarette case, is impressed by Libby's dancing and invites her to bring Charles and the other buskers in his group to an after-the-play party. Libby comes alone. A theatrical career is launched.
A desert pickpocket, his sidekick, and an escaped slave help an incognito queen in danger.
When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.
Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she's a nice girl, named Perry, running away from a job at a gasoline station. Soon they're off to New York together, but part ways once they arrive. Time passes and Eddie is failing to sell his play; Perry is failing to find a job. Odd circumstances, involving an old pickpocket named Mandy, bring them together again.
Picking a pocket leads to blackmail and murder for a petty criminal in London.
In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy, inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he targets ex-prostitute Candy and steals her wallet. Unaware that she has been making deliveries of highly classified information to the communists, Candy, who has been trailed by FBI agents for months in hopes of nabbing the spy ringleader, is sent by her ex-boyfriend, Joey, to find Skip and retrieve the valuable microfilm he now holds.
In the Rio de Janeiro Central Station, the infamous pickpocket Mão Leve meets Ernestina—a Northeastern girl looking for a job—with whom he falls in love. Willing to conquer her, the thief decides to abandon his life of crime, but soon finds out it won't be easy.
Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.
A group of friends who are struggling to survive in the slums of Madrid commit petty crime in order to finance the debut as a bullfighter of one of them.
Max, a small time pick-pocket, has nothing to do with the ‘big’ crimes. But then he must find the murderer of Fred, his wife's brother.
Kuudella Oscar-palkinnolla palkittu Charles Dickensin romaaniin perustuva elokuva kertoo Oliverista, köyhästä pojasta, joka kasvaa kammottavassa lastenkodissa. Eräänä päivänä hän onnistuu pakenemaan ja lähtee Lontooseen etsimään onneaan. Hän löytää uusia ystäviä ja joutuu jännittäviin seikkailuihin etsiessään oikeaa perhettään.