Thief

I've always been impressed by Micheal Mann's films. Starting with The Insider, I was intrigued by his camera-work and the use of music to compliment a scene. With Thief, his directorial debut, he shows what movie fans will be in store for over the 30 years. Of course some of the techniques to steal are dated, but I loved the glossy, yet gritty atmosphere of the film. Tuesday Weld, was also quite good as Caan's love interest. It has an amazing ending as well. The film is Waaaaaaay ahead of its time. And I was genuinely impressed with James Caans performance. This film is an underrated gem and should be viewed by Mann fans who liked Heat and Collateral. 8/10

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.

Thief is written and directed by Michael Mann, who adapts the screenplay form the novel "The Home Invaders" written by Frank Hohimer. It stars James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky, James Belushi and Willie Nelson. Music is by Tangerine Dream and cinematography by Donald Thorin. Frank (Caan) is a tough ex-con and expert jewel thief. He's working his way out to a normal life, but after being lured to a big job for the mob, he finds plans on both sides severely altered. For his first full length theatrical feature, Michael Mann announced himself to the film world with some distinction, and in the process showed everyone what style of film making makes him tick. Thief is a film of stylised grit, visually, thematically and narratively. Set and filmed in Chicago, Mann, aided by Thorin, shoots the story through pure neo-noir filters. At nighttime it is all a beautifully neon drenched haze, where the streets shimmer with dampness, a dampness brought about by the rain and god knows what else! By day there's a sweaty hue, a feeling that the heat is well and truly on, that even in daylight Frank isn't safe, his dreams may be a touch too far to reach. And no matter what the scene or scenario, Tangerine Dream are laying over the top a throbbing pulse beat, it's like The Warriors trying to get back to Coney Island, the music has a sense of dread about it, that danger is at every corner. This part of Chicago stinks, it's a vile and corrupt place. Dirty cops everywhere, underworld criminals ruling the roost - Hell! You can even buy a baby if you want one. Is it any wonder that Frank just wants to settle down with a wife and child, to walk barefooted in the sea, to have domesticity? But Frank, as smart, tough and savvy as he is, seems to thrive on the edge of things, with Mann giving him earthy and honest dialogue to engage us with, marking him out as an identifiable every man protagonist who just happens to be an exceptional thief. Mann's attention to detail is on show straight away, none more so than with the two key safe cracking jobs that are undertaken. Using genuine jewel thieves as technical advisers on the film, these sequences ooze realism, from the tools used, the pre-planning and the execution of the takes, it smacks of reality and does justice to the genuine feel of the characterisations brought alive by the superb cast. And finally Mann delivers a finale of ambiguity, a noir shaded piece of abruptness, an ending that perfectly fits the whole production. 9/10

Don't you hate films where the technically impossible (or ludicrous) is offered up for your consumption by directors too lazy to do research? You know the movies I'm talking about...conspiracy buffs remotely tap into cameras that aren't even connected to a WAN, fixed video cameras automatically pan and tilt to follow the action, computer viruses easily jump from operating system to operating system, visible pencil-thin laser beams in place of photoelectric detection systems, and so forth, and so on... Part of my job is to design security and surveillance systems. In fact, I even teach courses on alarm system history and the fundamentals of alarm systems. So take it from me, this film is about as accurate as it gets. ******MINOR SPOILERS!******** Take, for example, the scene where Jim Belushi is bypassing the local alarm system(s) during the first heist. The method he is using to bypass a Direct Wire alarm monitoring circuit is absolutely correct, as are the readings on the ammeter dials. It is essential that they balance the monitoring circuit to within +/- 3 mA of current in order to keep the Central Station from responding. The fact that the local alarm system has no sounder is also accurate and typical for that time and place. The method of differentiating between alarm circuits and normal POTS (plain old telephone service) lines in the final score is also dead-on, including the voltages they measure and their significance. The cable construction is slightly wrong, but this does not make any significant difference in the overall method they employ. ******END SPOILERS!******* Are there flaws? Certainly, but this is still a vast improvement over previous attempts to depict an actual big-time heist. And as for some of the other reviewers' comments....well, I don't know how you get elevator cars with hydraulic systems into a shaft nowadays, but I know that you used to put them in from the roof through an opening at the top of the elevator shaft. Then you built a little structure or penthouse that could be easily removed if you needed to bring in a lift or crane to do some heavy repair work. **** out of *****

Long before Michael Mann made big budget, heavy handed deadly serious clunkers like Heat and American Gangster there was Thief a relatively low budget heavy handed deadly serious clunker in all its tortoise paced glory featuring James Caan and Tuesday Weld. Overlong and unrealistic like all of his urban noir fantasies it displays the same lust for neon and violence that are mainstays of a career that might best be described as adult Quentin Tarantino, which means it is still infused with adolescent story telling on the art of being cool that can only exist on another planet or in comic books. Car dealer/safe cracker Frank (Caan) wants to settle down with Jessie and have a normal uncluttered existence. Jessie (Weld) desperately wants a kid though and a mobster trying to get Frank to see things his way uses it as a bargaining chip. A couple of corrupt cops further complicate matters by wanting a piece of the action as well. Once again Frank finds himself cornered on all sides. Low budget Mann is not much of a leap from big budget Mann entailing gritty lone wolves posturing in unrealistic settings usually free of pesky cops to allow for the requisite fireworks with an emphasis on stoicism and cool. Caan plays the typical Mann protagonist found in the cocksure performances of Pacino, Di Nero, Cruise and Depp in later films; tough and depth-less. Weld looks medicated and the rest of the cast properly surly and threatening following the patented Mann formula that has changed little in thirty years. Overlong, stilted and gratuitously violent like the rest of Mann's oeuvre it does have the added bonus of one of the most obnoxious music scores (provided by Tangerine Zoo) in film history. I'll leave it up to someone else to decide if they are as bad as Mann's in house composer of bombastic cathedral scores these days Eliot Goldenthal but I'll bet they work cheaper.

The movie that started his career and what a way to start. Realism is played out to the hilt and nothing is left to chance with this brilliant book to movie adaptation. James Caan is at the top of his game and wows you. Caan is Frank, a professional safe-cracker who is successful and single. After pulling a heist, he finds himself in a unique position. A powerful boss offers Frank phenomenal jobs and a huge cut of the action if he will work for him and for him exclusively. Frank is impressed by his stature and agrees. However, the local crooked cops turn up the heat on Frank and want in. And Frank's new crime family wants more than his services. So Frank is forced to fight back and prove he is not only the best thief but the toughest crook in Chicago. The supporting cast was hand picked and it's easy to tell. I never thought I would hear myself say this but Willie Nelson does a fine job acting at least in this. Same goes, of course, to Jim Belushi. I have surprised myself twice in two sentences. James Caan really convinces you he is the real deal and it's the role of a lifetime. His acting is second to none and perhaps the best of the three signature Michael Mann anti-heroes. What surprised me the most about this movie was not just the realism of it but that the love interest side of the story was convincing as well. That came as quite a shock to this viewer. He does love and care for his wife and she loves him without reservation. It makes the ending all the more tragic. This film needs to be viewed by anyone who enjoys crime films, mob films, or Mann films. My favorite movie of 1981.

Frank (James Caan) is a professional thief, who enjoys doing high profile jobs. He also owns an restaurant and sales cars for a living. He's tired of his other life as a thief. He hopes to settle down by having a wife, a family and a house. When he's been contacted by a mysterious business man (Robert Prosky). Which this man is the local crime boss of Chicago, who wants him to do a big score for him by robbing Diamonds. Once he succeed from his job, which Frank was hoping to be last job. But the mob boss turns on his back and treating his life by working for him until he dies. If Frank doesn't work for his boss, he will kill his wife (Tuesday Weld), his best friend (James Belushi) and destroy his entire life. Written and Directed by Michael Mann (Ali, Heat, The Keep) made an stylish character drama is that extremely well directed and acted by the cast. Caan's performances makes this fascinating film works. It's certainly one of his best roles to date. The supporting cast are excellent as well, including Willie Nelson in a small role. This film was a box office disappointment, when it was first released. Now it's a cult classic... largely because of Mann's visual style, the performance, excellent cinematography by Donald E. Thorin (Midnight Run, Mischief, Tango & Cash) and Tangerine Dream's electronic score (Firestarter, Risky Business, Socerer). Look for some familiar faces as extras and bit-parts. Based on a novel by "The Home Invaders" by Frank Hohimer. Big time Hollywood Producer:Jerry Bruckheimer (Beverly Hills Cop, Black Hawk Down, The Rock) is one of the producers of this picture. This is a underrated movie worth seeing. (****/*****).

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.

Saw this in the theater at it's release. Went back the next weekend and scenes were cut. They remain cut in every version I've seen since. Frank snaps chalk lines off traces of blueprints onto the safe face in the opening heist. Guess the crime commission didn't dig that, 'cause that 5 seconds is history in every cut I've seen since. How do the boys and their gear get up on the roof of the bank building? Rocket assisted grappling hook mortars firing mountain lines and Jumar ascenders from the parking lot. You won't see that scene anymore, either. Man, I miss the Corned Beefs at the Belden Deli on Clark where Frank hands the stones to Gags. Long gone. But if you are in Chicago, stop in early at the Green Mill and you might be able to have a drink in that big, round wood booth - still there. Great gun & car flick. Frank's .45 looks like a Bomar Svenson custom combat, tremendous. Watch for the High Standard 12 guage stakeout special at the end - very rare. Take a drive up north on Western Avenue to check out all the used car lots - still there. Great locations. Yup, the creme was ALWAYS cottage cheese at the old Oasis restuarants. Yuch! You know - Tuesday Weld actually even ACTS a little in this movie, amazing. Man that was a gorgeous house in my old neighborhood and yes they blew it up. Notice when they are snuggling on the outdoor patio - it had a two-sided fireplace - indoor and outdoor. Probably the best Chicago movie ever. The phone book and trash can - time honored tools of the early 80's. When I saw it opening night the theater was filled with every crook and detective on the north side with their wives. And everybody just nodded to each other on the way out. Those days are gone but not forgotten. Great, great flick. Cool TD soundtrack album, too. Also probably the best metallurgical movie ever. I want Frank's coat.

source: Thief