rodrig58 Tuesday Weld is very convincing in her role, I also liked her in "I Walk the Line" (1970). Best role for James Caan from all the movies I've seen him. Willie Nelson, a small but important role, well played, in his dramatic, well-known, effective way. Robert Prosky, in the role of the villain, better than in his other roles, also as a vicious guy, from other films. Jim Belushi is OK. Dennis Farina, and all the other actors, as well as associates of Prosky or bad cops, all very good. In short, Michael Mann's best movie of all I've seen. The music signed Tangerine Dream, one of my favorite bands, is cool too.

avik-basu1889 'Thief' epitomises the phrase 'style over substance'. This film was released in 1981 and one can sense a confluence of various elements found in both the 70s as well as the 80s era of American cinema. Mann wants to conjure up the naturalism and grit of the 70s New Hollywood Anti-hero films, but at the same time one can see the elements that scream the 80s like the synth-pop score by Tangerine Dream, the overly stylised climactic gun fight, some of the overly dramatic dialogue,etc.The basic storyline involving a criminal wanting to move on from his life in crime and settle down by having a family, but being prevented from doing so by the bosses is something very derivative. However it is still possible to make us care about the characters and make an effective film with that tried and tested premise. But unfortunately the lack of depth in the characters and the themes made it tough for me to stay invested and I found myself completely uninterested during the climactic action scene and that can never be a good sign.

Nicolas F. Costoglou You liked the audio-visual-style of Escape from New York and Terminator? Then you gonna love this movie. Every night scene from start on looks marvellous, and there are shots in this film which are unbelievable for the time it was made.Also the score from famous electro-group Tangerine Dream fits the style very well, and helps to build some tension if needed.But this movies strongest point is the protagonist, which is needed, because this movie is a incredible character driven story, which has to stand on the performance of it's leading man James Caan. And he does a great job, most of the best scenes in this film have to do with his performance, but also everyone else does a great job, and never fails to deliver.It's a very human, non-Hollywood story, which could be alienating for people who expect something else, after reading what it's about. It sounds like a typical "protagonist wants to do one last job before he lives a normal life"-stories, but it's different in it's approach on how to tell this story.All in all a nearly underrated movie, with great style and character-focus, which should not be missed...

NateWatchesCoolMovies With Thief, Michael Mann distilled his crime film style into an archetypal, haunting aura that would go on to influence not only his excellent later work, but other filmmakers as well, everything from Refn's Drive to the police procedural we see on television today. A style that consists of kaleidoscope neon reflections in rain slicked streets, Chrome cars bulleting through restless urban nocturnes and a lyrical, pulsating score, here provided by underrated German electronic maestros Tangerine Dream, who would go on to provide their dulcet tones for Mann's phenomenal 1983 The Keep. Thief weaves the age old tale of a master safe cracker(James Caan in a beautifully understated performance) the high stakes at risk of him performing one last job to escape, with said stakes represented as his angelic wife (Tuesday Weld) and newborn son. Robert Prosky in his film debut is a serpentine wonder as Leo, Caan's boss, whose chilling metamorphosis from paternal employer to domineering monster is a joy to watch. The jewel heist scenes are shot with a researched, assured and authentic feel, spurred on by Tangerine Dreams cosmic rhythms and are especially dynamic points of the film. Thief, for me, belongs that special subcategory of Mann's career along with Heat, Miami Vice and Collateral, (Public Enemies doesn't get to come in this elite cinematic treehouse club, it didn't do anything for me) that are very special crime films. They possess an intangible, ethereal quality of colour, metal, music, and shady people moving about a thrumming urban dreamscape, professionals at what they do, cogs in the ticking clock of crime that inexorably drives toward the narrative outcome, be it bitter confrontation and violence (of which Thief has an absolute gorgeous, poetic revenge sequence) or cathartic resolution (like the conventionally satisfying way Collateral ends). Mann has captured neon lightning in a bottle with Thief, and against the odds of people saying you can't catch lightning twice, he has spark plugged a good portion of his career with that same lightning, creating an artistic aesthetic all his own. To me that is the ultimate outcome of filmmaking, and art as a medium.