Review of Thief (1981) by Pdw123 — 18 Sep 2016

I disagree with the people who are saying that "Collateral" and "Heat" are better than "Thief". In my mind, this was Mann's masterpiece and I love the development and depth of Caan's character Frank.

His acting speaks volumes over the one-dimensionality of "American Gangster" that I just reviewed. Also, the technical aspects of this film are absolutely riveting. John Santucci, who plays the rough talking corrupt cop Urizzi, served as a technical advisor to Mann in how to crack safes and pull heists (being a Chicago ex-con).

Other Chicago ex-cons also played cops in the film. This was straight off of Mann's commentary track. The fence that Robert Prosky brilliantly portrays was based on a real criminal in Chicago who ran crews of thieves.

In this sense, "Thief" reminds me of "The French Connection", because in that film, Eddie Egan played Gene Hackman's police chief, whereas Hackman was actually portraying Egan in that film.

Both movies seem highly authentic because they were heavily researched and based on true stories. Also, I greatly appreciate the technical craft Mann utilizes in the noir-ish looks of the film (the rain, fire escapes, lighting in the first scenes)and in his use of sound.

One reason that he had Tangerine Dream score the film was so that he could carefully match the sounds of the tools Caan used with the score. Also, he thought the electronic score gave certain scenes a hellish quality such as the one with the car lot lit brightly at night (giving off a metallic glare).

Finally, the fact that he used indigenous Chicagoans in his cast only adds to the sheer edginess of this crime drama, not to forget the supporting roles offered by Tuesday Weld and Willie Nelson.