Mann's script alternates between dialogue-free images of thieves at work, and intense passages in which the leading character bulls his way through social and personal obstacles, in search of his dream of wealth and security. It's surely one of the best films of its macho star James Caan.
#Thief 1981 cast movie#
Filmed in glossy color on the winter streets of Chicago, the movie wastes not a single superfluous shot in its mission to flesh out the existence of a hard-bitten but ambitious ex-con, and his spectacularly professional, technically impressive robberies.
#Thief 1981 cast pro#
Its story of a pro safecracker pared down to essentials is unafraid to portray the less savory aspects of criminal life. Michael Mann's startling debut film Thief (1981) is like a beacon pointing to the future. No longer restrained by de facto censorship, these men established new trends in docu realism and trendy stylization. By the late seventies the reigning kings of this kind of picture were William Friedkin, Walter Hill and newcomer Michael Mann. One thinks of Phil Karlson's nearly sublime The Brothers Rico (1957), whose appalling vision of organized crime is marred by a pasted-on happy ending. The Production Code discouraged realistic portrayals of the endemic corruption in law enforcement and the justice system, but these filmmakers frequently slipped through vivid impressions of the bleakness and cruelty of the criminal lifestyle.
Back in the 1950s Hollywood had several directors that elevated the crime thriller: Phil Karlson, Budd Boetticher, Don Siegel, Jacques Tourneur.
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