Michael Mann's directorial debut tells the story of a highly skilled safe-cracker (James Caan), doing very well as a freelancer, who falls for the temptation of glamorous scores offered by a better-connected wise guy. Caan's scuzzy bandit hawks used cars by day and slings boosted diamonds at night, a well-read but not exactly well-learned con man with a chip on his shoulder and a jumbo-sized inferiority complex. He developed his life's master plan while in prison, a grand ideal that's visualized by the oft-referenced photo collage he keeps folded in his wallet, but has overlooked the nuances of building his way up to that big payoff. As such, he's dead-set on skipping the formalities of courtship and leaping straight to material riches, familial spoils and industrial acclaim without taking the time to earn any of it. He gets pretty far by way of brazen fearlessness, unmatched technical know-how and raw willpower - right to the verge - but then the devil comes seeking his due and everything catches fire.
Thief is a moody, wet-pavement type of film that's caught right in the middle of Hollywood's transition from slower, moodier '70s crime flicks to the more bombastic, narcissistic rewards of the coming decade. Scarface probably borrowed a lot from this one, with its twisted sense of misplaced confidence, insatiable appetite and steep emotional distance.
Its dogged attention to detail is amazing - Mann insisted the actors learn the intricacies of the job, so when we're watching James Caan drill a safe, we're actually watching him do the dirty work - but that deliberate pace is less engaging during the long pauses and awkward hiccups of its human interactions. And the ending is more of a brick wall than a legitimate climax, a sudden rush of violent events that sees us to the credits but doesn't leave us completely satisfied. Right from the start, Mann shows he’s in full command of his medium, but he still has some room to grow.
Caan is great but his character annoys me. He's an asshole. It's slow. Slow is fine when the time is used building character in ways that add some real depth. This is slow paces and sees characters just wanting things with no real depth. It's predictable. The music is awful. My second Michael Mann movie experience and I guess I don't like him.
Thief is a very well made thriller, very clever and gritty with a stellar performance by James Caan.
The film is centered on Frank an ex-con and a jewel thief but he is tired and he wants to get out of the criminal life to finally live a normal life, build up a family and be happy. But Frank decides to accept a job for a local gangster, it is going to be his last work but getting out of the crime life will be harder than he thought it would be.
Michael Mann's direction is very stylish with great camera work. I have to mention the safe cracking scenes that were shot in an amazing way. I never thought that it would be so beautiful to see some long minutes scenes with thiefs opening safes! Visually is so beautiful with a great cinematography. The night scenes are particularly great to look at, the streets look gorgeous, great colours and neon lights. The whole atmosphere is great. Very intense soundtrack completing each scene.
James Caan is absolutely amazing as Frank and Frank he is such an interesting character. What is most fascinating about him is the fact that behind his criminal side he desires so much to be a normal person. He wants a normal life and Cann's performance is so believable. The long scene in a diner where Frank tells to Jessie, his girlfriend, how he feels about his life is so touching. I was fascinated with his words! And like this, there's another great moments throughout the film but this particular scene is the one that I certainly will remember more about.
A very accomplished debut of Michael Mann, another underrated classic that need to be more recognized.
A movie with so much potential, yet falls to deliver in any aspect. First off, someone remove the action tag in the genre list because there was nothing "action" here. I love how people compare this to 'Heat' which is the best heist movie ever made imo. A part of me thinks 'Heat' wouldn't have been made if not for this. Because everything Mann does in 'Heat' is what this movie lacks. An interesting character(s), stacked cast, score even the cartoonish outbursts by James Caan was done better by Al Pacino, don't get me wrong Caan was the only good thing about the movie (R.I.P).
There's absolutely no narrative or character depth at all here, the only redeeming quality of the movie is the stealth mechanisms used during the heist which seems to me has taken a lot of research and execution to pull off. For now this movie stands at a mere 6/10, I recommend watching 'Heat' instead.
Mann was this ever long and boring... First off, the score is so agressive and annoying, not sure why it's so intense but I couldn't wait for it to finally stop—very annoying sound! I don't know why this is labelled as action and thriller but there are no such things in this movie (a few gunshots don't count), it's crime drama all the way.
The story isn't very captivating but what kept me in anticipation was the heist, which was promised sinse the beginning. It circles around the drain the whole runtime before that but we finally see it happen in the last 40 minutes. Those barely 10 minutes of heist are awesome though, I appreciate the craft behind all the tools used to pick locks, cut wires and doors, it's fascinating and looks great.
The characters are interesting but it doesn't feel like we do anything with them. There was this one interesting deep conversation with his girlfriend in the car and then at the restaurant that I really liked but that's about it. Great cinematography in general but the best visual was the intro scene, it had perfect lighting and I loved the rainy setting and night lights. Good dialogue, alright acting, nice explosions and poor pacing.
As another reviewer said, "before Heat there was Thief" and that is bang on.
You can see the building blocks to Mann's later work and the plot is a similar criminal world to Heat - theft, fencing, double-crosses.
It lacks the even pacing it needs to be great. But it does establish that slow, methodical Mann style of shooting which creates a wonderful atmosphere and gives so much depth to the experience.
Caan is merely okay, which is a big step up from the usual crap or terrible, and the rest of the cast are all still employing that 1970s way of acting. All jittery and monosyllabic.
It is a nice watch and shows a lot of gritty Chicago - but as a precursor to Heat, this is what you should watch as opposed to LA Takedown. This is the real trial run.
7.75/10
This was a weird movie for me. I love how this movie was kind of an anti-thriller: there weren't any car chases and even the heist scenes were de-emphasized as we were never really worried about anyone being caught. In a way it felt like a parody of film noir. There were scenes of a gritty part of a city set in bad weather. Outside of the main characters the acting was brutal. There was a lot of music playing throughout the movie. I loved how this was more than a crime drama but as the film went on it started to lose its way. The resolution was a letdown.
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The exact crossover from 1970s to 1980s crime movies happens here.
A very stylish crime thriller. James Caan gives a really good performance. The trippy soundtrack is awesome. The cinematography is great. A solid debut from Michael Mann.
A stylish drama/thriller with some great moments, not to mention awesome Tangerine Dream sound track, but ultimately, the characters feel so disconnected from one another, its hard not to find some issues with the film along the way.
Shout by GeorgeBlockedParent2012-07-05T22:03:06Z
One of Michael Mann's best, before "Heat" there was "Thief".