Thief

This is one of the few Michael Mann films I can stand to watch. Caan is at his absolute peak here, with his intensity just blazing off the screen. The supporting cast is excellent, the edits are perfect, everything just clicks.

As has been noted by other reviewers, the technical aspects of this film are right on the money. All the locations are really there (or were at one time) and the settings didn't have to be faked up. Yes, Chicago and surrounding Chicagoland is really like this, folks.

I try to watch this thing every few years. Should buy a DVD, I guess, and insert it into my permanent circular film buffer.

Highly, highly recommended.

Thief(1981) contains the best performance of James Caan as a professional thief in a rare leading role. He is complex and three deminsional as the protagonist, Frank. Thief(1981) is similar in many ideas to the Dustin Hoffman film, Straight Time(1977). One of the best directorial debut as Michael Mann gives a realistic portrayal of the hardships in being a professional thief. The movie does a good job in showing the corruption that Frank has to go against.

Its much better than Heat(1995) because it focuses on one person instead of trying to interweave in confusing detail the lives of two people who are opposite in job but the same in spirit. Willie Nelson is terrific in the small of of Frank's mentor, Okla. Robert Prosky is impressive as the father like crime boss, Leo. The heist scenes are the highlight of the film. Thief(1981) has to be one of the best movies to come out during the 1980s and is definitely the director's top film.

Director Michael Mann sure loves his diner scenes. The scene in which Frank takes Jessie to the diner might very well be my favorite of the film, as it steadily proves that this more than just a film about heists and tough guys. James Caan is perfectly cast as Frank, and throughout the film he holds the weight of his performance up as if it were only five pounds, portraying Frank as tough, fearless and thick skinned. But in the diner, as well as in his interactions with Okla (played by Willie Nelson!!!) he is able to open us up to more. The photo Frank has in his wallet is a very strange yet alluring glimpse inside his mind and his heart that he would not otherwise show. Tuesday Weld's reactions as Jessie also help show us how he is slowly winning her over not just by being aggressive, but by showing vulnerability. From then on, I knew the film had established itself as a great one, as I now clearly understood Frank's true motivations. It proved to me that the film is just as much a character study than is a heist and gangster film. And boy, does it deliver on both fronts.

Frank (James Caan) runs a car lot, and also cracks safes. He likes Jessie (Tuesday Weld) at the diner who doesn't know what he does. His friend Okla (Willie Nelson) is dying in prison. A gangster Leo (Robert Prosky) wants to hire him to do scores. Jessie has a past with a dead drug dealer in Columbia and she likes the straight life now. He has a picture of his perfect straight life if he could get enough money together. So he decides to do a couple of big jobs taking along his partner Barry (James Belushi).

This is an early Michael Mann theatrical movie. It already has his crime realism style. James Caan is in solid form in one of his best performance. It has the intensity, and detailed crime drama. The production is not slick yet and has a gritty quality to it. The use of advisers really pay off for this movie.

Even though this film was made only a little over two decades ago, I consider it a film-noir classic! James Caan said once that this was the film he was in that he was proudest of next to The Godfather. I remember that Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel said this was one of the finest films of 1981. Caan is wonderful in a role that he was born to play, a tough guy with his heart on his sleeve. Everything about this film is wonderful from the musical score by Tangerine Dream to the dark lighting effects to the authentic detail about the life of a thief ( I read that Michael Mann actually used real life thieves as technical advisors to this film!). Even though Caan's character is an anti-hero, you have to feel sorry for him because he is caught in a situation where there is no way out! The best scene in the film is where he tells Tuesday Weld about his prison experiences and shows here the picture cut out that he has made of his American dream. Jimmy Caan is truly awesome, he is the only actor that ever made me cry (in Brian's Song) I also wanted to mention another great character actor who is in the film. His name is Robert Prosky and he plays the mob boss who uses Caan. This was his film debut after many years as a stage actor and he is terrific. Watch the scene in the acid plant where he threatens Caan. He is really chilling! Michael Mann created Crime Story and Miami Vice and he also directed Manhunter, but lets not forget this film as well.