Thief

After seeing Heat again the other day, I noticed Mann’s 1981 similar themed Thief coming on one of the movie channels and put it on the Tivo’s to do list. Yesterday I sat down to watch the movie and was surprisingly disappointed; so much so that I deleted it after only 40 minutes.

The elements that Mann would go on to develop in Miami Vice, Heat and most recently Collateral are all present: dark but sharp visuals, quickly cut; ambiguously good or bad man as protagonist; and pulsing, pounding synthesizer music. One significant improvement in his later productions was adding a substantive contrasting character, here James Caan has no real mirror to work off and so is left dangling like a boxer alone in the ring punching at air.

Further, even at the 40 minute mark I wasn’t even sure of the movie’s central conflict. James Caan’s character is the titular criminal and is his problem the fact that a bigger fish in the Chicago criminal scene (Robert Prosky) wants to assign Caan work? If so, Mann made a big mistake devoting a single scene to this after a full third of the movie has passed.

Further, what’s the story with the waitress Jesse (played by Tuesday Weld) relationship? I turned off the film after Caan’s long autobiographical soliloquy to her in a coffeeshop. Perhaps we’re being told that Caan wants to get out of a life that has given him little pleasure but setting it up by having Caan physically drag Weld out of a bar–he’s two hours late and she’s lost interest–and throw her into the car completely destroyed my sympathy/empathy for him.

Enough. Mann’s made better and spend your time watching those. One good thing, can’t finish without mentioning, is the soundtrack. Though he turned to Jan Hammer and a smoother, more commercial take for Vice, German art rockers Tangerine Dream deliver a great soundtrack to Thief.

not recommended