Fluke_Skywalker Plot; A jewel thief's plans for a normal family life are disrupted when he strikes a deal with a powerful high end fence.Michael Mann's signature style is already fully formed in his first feature film. All of the hallmarks are there, if not quite yet perfected. But it's all held together by an exceptional performance from James Caan. He rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as contemporaries like De Niro, Pacino and Hackman, but at his best he's absolutely their equal and perhaps their better. Well, maybe not Hackman. Dude's the G.O.A.T. in my book, for whatever that's worth.

BasicLogic What we saw in this film were lot of unnecessary segments of scenes that should have been edited to cut off. The poor amateurish script of a vault cracking thief was absolutely laughable. Guy with a partner and another driver who, like what we saw in the very beginning, was another vague partner of this thief, but it never explained and appeared later. And you should have to ask, where this guy got his heists information, from whom? If his activities inevitably involved such things, how could it possible that mafia, the syndicate, the outfit or, whatever it was in New York would have allowed him to play solo so freely and and so long? The other problem of this film was that this guy actually acted very unprofessionally. His rude, head-strong behaviors were so stupid and so direct without even have the ability to think twice before he took action to deal with the situations. We saw him late for his date and showed up two hours late and exposed himself so noticeable in the bar, and even showed his gun when some of the customers saw his rudeness to his date. Then he grabbed her and forced her out of the door, then when more people saw a scene more like a kidnap, he beat up them, forced her into the car, then drove away like nuts. You think nobody would have called police for what they saw inside the bar and in the street? Most of the dialog was so exaggerated and unnatural just like those unnecessary scenes. But the real cut-off moment when I decided that this film was badly directly was when he took his woman to a all-night cafe to have a heart-to-heart chat and laid out his ground rules for this new relationship, we still saw how arrogant and how rude he was to that woman. But here, we also encountered one of the most stupid scenes and arrangements in movies: He ushered the woman and kept going further and farther to the back of the seating booth, where many other customers sat, and the woman sat down with her back right back to the next booth behind her. And then, he and she openly and so loudly pow-wow to each other with their personal bios. This scene was just so stupid and so hard to take in if you were logic enough to realize that Mann not only wrote a very bad amateurish script but also how badly he directed. A careful thief would never chose such public place to talk about his intention to have a relationship to a woman he liked to be There were so many heavily flawed holes that Mann thought he could get away with most of the moronic viewers, but I simply refused to be one of them. This is a very bad movie with many take-for-granted plots, scenarios and storyline, very crappy and absolutely unforgivable.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Michael Mann, thanks for making such a stylish character study of a thief with some barely hidden social commentary. A successful freelancing thief (James Caan) decides to settle down with a beautiful but tortured woman (Tuesday Weld). He also shrugs away his independence and enters what I saw as a day job - he decides to pull off a daring robbery for the mafia who would pay him a cut. The mafia even arranges a kid for the thief and his new wife as his criminal record disqualifies him from adopting children. Of course, the gentrification of the thief goes haywire. Everything about Thief indicates that the director is a man of great taste. Tangerine Dream's score bestows the film with a contemplative air. The stunning visuals are awash with blue. The locations seemed like they were carefully chosen. The slow motion action scenes and violence were stunning. The supporting cast - Willie Nelson as a dying criminal, Robert Prosky as the mafia man, Tuesday Weld as the reluctant wife and James Belushi as the sidekick were all remarkable. Apparently, Al Pacino refused this film. This might have worked in the film's favor as any film with Pacino usually ends up with him hogging the limelight. James Caan was stylish and was particularly good in the scene at the cafe when he opens his heart to Weld. He did not distract attention away from some of the other aspects of the film. Good job, Michael. Best Regards, Pimpin. (10/10)

Spikeopath Thief is written and directed by Michael Mann, who adapts the screenplay form the novel "The Home Invaders" written by Frank Hohimer. It stars James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky, James Belushi and Willie Nelson. Music is by Tangerine Dream and cinematography by Donald Thorin.Frank (Caan) is a tough ex-con and expert jewel thief. He's working his way out to a normal life, but after being lured to a big job for the mob, he finds plans on both sides severely altered.For his first full length theatrical feature, Michael Mann announced himself to the film world with some distinction, and in the process showed everyone what style of film making makes him tick. Thief is a film of stylised grit, visually, thematically and narratively. Set and filmed in Chicago, Mann, aided by Thorin, shoots the story through pure neo-noir filters.At nighttime it is all a beautifully neon drenched haze, where the streets shimmer with dampness, a dampness brought about by the rain and god knows what else! By day there's a sweaty hue, a feeling that the heat is well and truly on, that even in daylight Frank isn't safe, his dreams may be a touch too far to reach. And no matter what the scene or scenario, Tangerine Dream are laying over the top a throbbing pulse beat, it's like The Warriors trying to get back to Coney Island, the music has a sense of dread about it, that danger is at every corner.This part of Chicago stinks, it's a vile and corrupt place. Dirty cops everywhere, underworld criminals ruling the roost - Hell! You can even buy a baby if you want one. Is it any wonder that Frank just wants to settle down with a wife and child, to walk barefooted in the sea, to have domesticity? But Frank, as smart, tough and savvy as he is, seems to thrive on the edge of things, with Mann giving him earthy and honest dialogue to engage us with, marking him out as an identifiable every man protagonist who just happens to be an exceptional thief.Mann's attention to detail is on show straight away, none more so than with the two key safe cracking jobs that are undertaken. Using genuine jewel thieves as technical advisers on the film, these sequences ooze realism, from the tools used, the pre-planning and the execution of the takes, it smacks of reality and does justice to the genuine feel of the characterisations brought alive by the superb cast. And finally Mann delivers a finale of ambiguity, a noir shaded piece of abruptness, an ending that perfectly fits the whole production. 9/10