Small Time Crooks is a movie that shows that money isn't the only thing that makes up class. The main character, Ray, who barely graduated high school, comes up with an idea to get rich.
Ray and his friends lease an old restaurant so they can tunnel from the basement of the restaurant to a nearby bank.
At this part in the movie Ray and his wife, Frechie are part of the working class. They don't have much power or prestige.
They have enough money to get by and are fairly happy, but Ray wants more. He asks Frenchie if she'll help him with his plan.
At first Frenchie is very reluctant to help because she knows Ray isn't the brightest and he's made plans that have fallen through before.
Frenchie finally agrees to help and covers what they are doing by selling cookies from the restaurant.
Ray and his friends begin to dig a tunnel to the bank, but it's a miserable failure. They realize that Frenchie's cookies are being very popular so they franchise the business. Selling cookies makes them millionares.
When Frenchie, Ray, and his friends are thrust into the upper class, they have a very hard adjusting. They all of a sudden have power and prestige, but they don't know what to do with it.
They don't know how to act, talk, and have very poor manners. Ray misses being able to eat fast food and watch crappy TV.
Frenchie throws a big party and overhears people making fun of their decorating taste and lack of culture.
She asks a man names David to train her so she can fit in with the upper class. Ray hates being part of the upper class, and eventually gets fed up and leaves. Frenchie loves every minute of it and is determined to fit in.
David and Frenchie go to Europe for more cultural enlightenment. While there, she finds out she's been defrauded by her accountants. She's lost everything including her cookies company, home, and possessions.
Ray finds out about this and goes to console Frenchie. Frenchie shows him a cigerette case that she had given David as a gift but had stolen back from him. They decide to sell it and go to Florida.
They return to their simple lives of being part of the working class and complaining about how little money they have.
This movie shows that it's not easy fitting in with a different social class. Social class is categorized by many other things besides money.
Social class is also determined by education, qulifications, values, and family background.
Because Ray and Franchie were thrust into the upper class so quickly because of their gain of money, they were out of their comfort zone because they were then expected to act differently.
As the movie shows, there are a lot more things that go along with social class than having a lot of money.