Thief

Maybe the most undervalued movie of the 1980's, Michael Mann's 1981 debut feature introduces the themes that would run through all of his work. It's about a man torn between his work and the woman he loves, who dreams of getting away from it all but finds himself unable to break ties from the criminal underworld that's been the only life he knows. It's a meditation on broken dreams, and how giving up on everything can be the only way to survive.

But like all of Michael Mann's films, above all it's it's a stylish thriller about the criminal life. Entertaining, gripping, fantastically shot and realized.



Thief stars James Caan as a master safecracker called simply "Frank," in what the actor himself has called his favorite role.

Frank spent 11 years in jail, and still goes back all the time to visit his best friend and mentor (Willie Nelson in a small but pivotal role). Since getting out 4 years ago, he's split his time between romancing diner host Jessie (a somewhat flat Tuesday Weld) and pulling diamond heists in tandom with partner Barry (James Belushi, mostly not embarrassing himself in his first film role).

Following a particularly daring heist, Frank's approached by gangster Leo (a wondrous Robert Prosky, in a tough as nails performance) about hooking up for a few big scores. Leo offers Frank a sweet deal - planned heists with plenty of available manpower and security, in exchange for a piece of the profits. But when Leo threatens to mooch out on the deal, the situation quickly escalates and turns violent.

Mann would grow as a filmmaker following Thief. Though it has nice, crisp, dark photography, it lacks the taut grace of later Mann works like Heat or The Insider. What it does boast is some of the best tough-guy dialogue of any film in recent memory. These are criminals, bad guys with dirty mouths, but there's a poetry to their slang. At times, the dialogue reminded me of the best stuff by David Mamet - the cursing and blasphemy takes on a mellifluous tone. And Caan, Prosky and the rest of the cast treat it just right without ever seeming over-the-top or cornball. It's not easy to deliver call someone a "no-good greasy motherfucker" and really sound like you mean it, but Caan pulls it off.

The soundtrack by prog-rockers Tangerine Dream unfortunately dates the film, and threatens to overpower the central action at times during the heist sequence. But these are small complaints when compared to the pleasures of Mann's grimy, sleazy vision.

In a way, Thief feels like a bridge between 70's and 80's crime cinema. It retains the 70's outlook - it's cold, hard, unforgiving, and features an ambiguous, pessimistic ending. It refuses its characters any hint of redemption or hope for the future. But it takes on a lot of features that would become staples of the 80's action film, like the hard rock soundtrack, the quick-cut chase sequences, the formula plot (centered around an ex-con trying to go straight but being pulled back into the life), and the random gory violence.

This isn't terribly surprising when you consider that Thief was one of the first productions spearheaded by Jerry Bruckheimer, who along with partner Don Simpson essentially defined action and crime filmmaking in the 80's and 90's. Thief feels more personal to Mann than Bruckheimer, and certainly doesn't have the expansive scope, the cheesy sentimentality or the elaborate effects pieces that would later come to define Bruckheimer's oeuvre. Instead, it's a meditative, downbeat look at a career criminal trying desperately to take control of his shattered life. An often overlooked but essential 80's film.