“I am the last guy you wanna mess with.”
Over the years, hell decades, director Michael Mann has made it his effortless job to make the coolest movies around. Even films that are less than applauded (I’m looking at you, ‘Miami Vice’) have this sense of cool. It’s as if Mann has found a way to bottle cool and splash a drop of it on each frame of his films.
So, at some point, you’ve got to go back to where it all began for Mann. No, not back so far as the TV movie, ‘Jericho Mile,’ or even the one episode of “Police Woman” he directed in ’77. I’m talking about his feature film debut in 1981, ‘Thief,’ which he both wrote and directed.
James Caan stars as Frank, a master jewel thief who just wants to make his $410,000 and walk away from the business for good. He dreams of living on the beach with his wife, Jessie (played by Tuesday Weld), and it is his God-given talents at safe-cracking that holds him firmly in the dangerous life he has made for himself. And such it is when Frank realizes his fence has been knocked off, and the man behind it (played with devilish care by Robert Prosky) wants to acquire Frank’s services for one, last run. With his partner (James Belushi in a rare, dramatic turn before his comedy days) by his side, Frank attempts to balance his lifestyle with the family he wants to develop and, somehow, make it out the other end alive and richer.
It’s a premise that has become all too commonplace since its inception, and I’m not even saying that occurred with ‘Thief.’ How many times have we seen the story of a master thief/con artist/safecracker/hitman who is in it for one, last score and then he’s out? All too many times, and going back to watch ‘Thief’ now, nearly thirty years after it came out, might leave filmgoers who have grown up in the modern, film world desiring more.
However, the smoothness and the cool neon glow Mann has given the Chicago setting for Frank’s story is undeniably hip. This movie cries out ’80s. From the bright blue opening credits, to the hosed down city streets, to the beeming score by Tangerine Dream, Mann has definitely stamped his film with its time and place.
Regardless, these aspects don’t have to be cyclical in any way to remain cool to this day. ‘Thief’ is a hard-edged action film. It is anything but nonstop, but, between Mann’s impeccable vision and his tense and cleverly researched screenplay, there is never a dull moments found from start to finish. Mann really knows his stuff, and Frank, as a character, makes believers out of all of us.
Much of this is thanks to the incredible turn by Caan, who also served as the film’s co-producer. He lives and breathes Frank in this film. When Frank is working, Caan makes it seem as effortless as Mann’s shots. When he is at ease, so to speak, Caan has a way of ramping up the intensity in even the calmest moments. You feel his unease. You understand his desire to leave the business, but you also realize, even with his wife and family, he isn’t much if he’s not displaying his talents.
The rest of the cast is kinetically good, as well. Weld, Belushi, and Prosky are faultless, and Willie Nelson turns in an ample and sound performance as the man who trained Frank in prison. Watch for small parts by Dennis Farina and William Petersen, both future Mann staples, also.
Unfortunately, when it was first released on March 27th, 1981, it failed to make much of a mark. It raked in roughly $4.3 million at the box office, and failed to make Mann the go-to guy for crime dramas and action movies. In ’83, Mann released the surreal horror film ‘The Keep,’ which also did poorly at the box office. With these two misses on his early resume, Mann was forced back into the television world, and he spent the next three years as executive producer of “Miami Vice.”
Through all of his career peaks and valleys, ‘Thief’ remains the film that marked the world of cinema with Michael Mann’s sense of cool perfection. He has since made better films (‘Heat’ is arguably his best film, and I will always stand by ’06’s ‘Vice’ adaptation), and he has delved into this world of cool crime much deeper (‘Collateral’ is an unscathed yet almost forgotten diamond). Despite all of this, it was with ‘Thief’ that Mann made his presence known to the world of motion pictures.
Many times, a filmmaker with a career as vast and as impressive as Michael Mann will have a feature film debut that becomes lost, buried under the blanket of film they have created since. I would be lying if I said ‘Thief’ were not one of these films. It is somewhat forgotten, but it is a film that deserves to be sought out and revisited. It is a film that is best described as effortless cool, and its style is undeniably its best attributes. However, it is also a film that is flawlessly directed, strikingly acted, and an all-around impressive feature film debut from one of the best directors still working today.
