Steve McQueen or Pierce Brosnan? Faye Dunaway or Rene Russo? Norman Jewison or John McTiernan? Sometimes remakes cannot possibly live up to the original, but are just a combination of star indulgence and commerce, and that’s certainly the case with The Thomas Crown Affair. The 1968 version is stunningly creative while 1999’s is a pallid whitewash.
The key to me is that Jewison, director of the original, wanted to use the romantic caper at the heart of this movie as a framework on which to hang more interesting questions and choices and McTiernan was simply looking for a picture that was softer than his usual straight action fare. Amusingly, the very next film McTiernan made was also a sub-par remake of a Jewison film, Rollerball. But enough of that comparison.
I’d be very interested in seeing the screenplay Alan Trustman turned in and the one Jewison used for shooting because the movie goes for long stretches numerous times without a line of dialog. After an opening scene that establishes McQueen as wealthy, aggressive businessman, Affair moves into the bank robbery and goes a long for perhaps 15-20 minutes with barely a spoken word, just movement, gesture, expression, and a single gunshot. The score, by Michel Legrande, pulses and shouts, allowing Jewison and editor Hal Ashby to use brand new film techniques, split screens and composites, to dazzle us.
Later in the film, after a quiet dinner at his Boston mansion, McQueen and Dunaway play a game of chess. He, of course, expects an easy victory but since this game is a minature of the larger game the two are playing throughout the movie, he doesn’t get it. No dialog until after the game is finished but an intense sequence of facial expressions are exchanged but one can see McQueen buckling under the pressure of Dunaway’s seduction. Note that this scene is entirely missing from the remake!
Alan Trustman made his (produced) screenwriting debut with this film and followed it up with two more blockbusters, Bullitt and They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!. Each of these featured young, very strong, very different men as the leads, struggling with a system that has no place for them. All very ’60s hip philosophically, putting the question of one’s meaning as the underlying inner question wrapped around by a very stylish, entertainment.
No less than the reason for existence itself is the inner question addressed. Trustman and Jewison set us up with a protagonist, I won’t call Thomas Crown a hero, who seems to have everything in life. Money, a big house, hobbies, success! Yet this isn’t enough and he sets in motion a daring multimillion dollar bank heist to feed his craving for thrills. As otherwise demonstrated by flying a glider recklessly, playing polo aggressively, and driving a dunebuggy with no regard for the flora or fauna. I was a little disapointed that the best ending they could arrive at was to pair off Dunaway and McQueen, sort of, with the suggestion that two such people could give each other the desired thrills. Then again, who has ever come up with anything better?
Absolutely recommended
BillSaysThis 