Review of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) by Veronique K — 21 Sep 2008

The 1968 "thomas crown affair" is the prototypical exemplification of 60s style over substance, and it is literily the milestone for the 60s idiocyncrasic aura, regarding its chic wardrobes to paneled montage cinematography to its french new wave influenced plot twist. of course, what sells would be steve mcqueen's maschismo as well as faye dunaway's icy coolness, purely star vehicle. inevitably, it flashes also the flatulency of manhood by its conspicuous materialism, the excess of luxury.

Mcqueen plays an extremely self-assured millionaire who engages at bank-robbery just to prove that he could make it. and dunaway would be the persistant insurance reward-hunter who persue after him. the sexual spark sizzles as they starts to get invovled personally in a romantic way. so eventually who wins?

The sexual innuendo detonates laughably in the course of playing the chess game, and the camera keeps centering upon their seperate sultry gestures, then it melts into a kaledoscopic dazzle of colors as they kiss. and the process of mcqueen's bank-robberies is presented in multiple panels silmutaneously. all the oddities are apparently self-indulgent without coherency. besides, steve mcqueen seems sorta reluctant to pose the cary-grant-esque sly debonair mannerism in numerous suits.

The ending might appear abrasive with its male-centered arbitrariness. mcqueen's character decides to challenge dunaway by revealing the destination of his next robbery to test her loyalty, so it's either him or her insurance case. but in either way, she loses anyway. then she chooses to stay true to her principle by reporting mcqueen's pickup spot. jaw-droppingly, mcqueen sets her up, and there's nothing but a telegram delivered to her that says it's over. it ends with her weeping in the graveyard and him grinning on the airplane seat. it's like announcing outloud: I have great fun trifling with this intriguing woman, and I pull it off so well, and also I WON! so generally "thomas crown affair" is about a cocky man who wanna demonstrate his omnipotency, an ultimate flatulent poise of imperious manhood. mostly it clings to its brutal cynicism instead of redeeming the story with a romantic ending. it flops as steven mcqueen could never be as suave as cary grant.