You would expect that a movie this good would be one of the first recommended on Subversive Rabbit but you would be wrong. I don’t know why it took me so long to sit down and watch this masterpiece. After all, I loved almost all of Michael Mann’s movies like Heat, Collateral, and The Insider. Whatever the case is, here we are now, in 2024, and I can’t wait to tell you all about his directorial debut. Thief is a highly atmospheric and visually impressive neo-noir thriller way ahead of its time. It’s about a criminal who’s not only tough but also smart, street smart, to be more precise.
A man with a code of values he doesn’t deviate from no matter what. Thief is set in Chicago and Mann along with his cinematographer Donald E. Thorin do an excellent job of taking you there, in style. Most of the story takes place during the night and I just adored those lingering scenes setting the mood perfectly for this type of a tale. Add to this a bit of rain and excellent lighting and you got yourself a true visual feast. As it always happens with these “older” movies, you’ll have the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in this glorious neo-noir escapism.
It’s quite reminiscent of the OG French neo-noir movies from the seventies. Le Cercle Rouge is the perfect example along with Un Flic. Both of them star Alain Delon. Thief stars James Caan who plays Frank, a man with a colorful past, to say the least. The character development was excellent, showing how he’s great at his job but quite clumsy with everything else. Especially romance, something that became a rarity in the following decades. We were usually getting to know charming and smooth criminals who knew how to do everything.
In that sense, you can say it’s much more similar to The Driver, another excellent neo-noir thriller. Thief features just a few action scenes, a couple of chases, and a couple of short shootouts and that’s it. This doesn’t mean it’s boring but more focused on its lead character offering a gripping portrait of a man trying to get out of a vehicle directly to a ravine. Now, the reason why all of this feels so authentic is because it’s actually inspired by true events! Thief is based on an autobiographical novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar by Frank Hohimer.
Moreover, the opening scene takes a lot of time to technically show just how these heists are done. You can see what kind of equipment the thieves use and how it works. I’m sure a lot of people took note of this, just like they did back in 1955 with the release of Rififi. The safe you see in that scene is a real safe, worth more than $10.000. And the tools Caan used to break into it are real tools safe crackers usually use. John Santucci, who plays Sergeant Urizzi, is actually a former criminal, safe cracker, and the owner of that “equipment”.
He was just out of prison when he got the role while Denis Farina was an active cop at the time of the filming. Mann would use this tactic often in his movies, even if it meant total chaos like during the filming of Collateral. I should also mention a pretty strong supporting cast. Tuesday Weld was excellent as Jessie along with legends that are Willie Nelson and Jim Belushi. Yes, that Willie Nelson. Finally, if you’re looking for movies like Thief, I highly suggest you check out another one of Mann’s neo-noir thrillers, Manhunter. Of course, Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. is also a good choice.
Director: Michael Mann
Writers: Michael Mann, Frank Hohimer
Cast: James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson, Jim Belushi, Robert Prosky, Tom Signorelli, Dennis Farina
Fun Facts: Thief was a movie which jump-started careers of a lot of great actors. Jim Belushi, William Petersen, Dennis Farina, John Kapelos, and Robert Prosky got their first chance to act here.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083190/
