Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12012 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-21
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
After 11 years in prison, an ageing master safecracker (James Caan) decides to pull one more job before retiring to a quiet, peaceful life. However, the mob finds him much too valuable and refuses to let him retire, keeping him trapped in the life he so desperately wants to leave behind. An introspective look at a man re-evaluating the life he's lived, THIEF is a fascinating, intense film, based on the novel by Frank Hohimer.

Customer Reviews

The real Tuesday Weld
This early Michael Mann (pre Miami Vice) movie took a impeccable dive into the mind of a thief (and the work) of a professional thief. If you like psychology, or maybe action intelligence, than this movie is for you. The movie features a major heist similar to the famous heist in RIFIFFI (1956).

James Caan (The Godfather), Robert Prosky, Tuesday Weld (Once upon a Time in America, Michael Mann and Tangerine Dream all combine forces here to great effect.
This is Caan's finest performance as Frank, a middle-aged jewel thief who is obviously determined to make a long-cherished dream come true: Retire from his criminal life, marry, start a family, and live happily ever after (the ageless crime plot - one last score).
He carries a photo collage in his wallet as a daily reminder of the "life" he one day hopes to have. He shares it only with Jessie (Tuesday Weld) because she is the only person with whom he wants to share that life. Meanwhile, Frank has met with Leo (Robert Prosky) who seems to take a paternal interest in Frank but only to gain his trust so that Frank will agree to an assignment for the mob. Of course, Leo has no intention of allowing him to retire. Once involved with the mob, Frank will have no way out except death. After he and Jessie marry and move into a lovely home, they are frustrated in their attempts to adopt a child so Leo provides one ("Boy or girl? Whatever you want.") and much of Frank's dream has come true. One last lucrative theft and....

Under Mann's direction, all of the performances are outstanding. I was especially interested in the care with which the major theft is planned and then executed. When Frank then realizes that he cannot free himself from the mob, he reacts with prudence (to protect his wife and child) and then with rage and vengeance. The soundtrack and cinematography are brilliantly integrated within the narrative. The editing by Mann and Dov Hoenig is lean and sharply-focused. When I saw Thief again recently, it had lost none of its dramatic impact; moreover, I recognized this time around certain nuances of character and plot development which I had missed before.

The DVD version includes a commentary by Mann and Caan, deleted scenes, and footage not shown in theaters. I also recommend the OST of the Tangerine Dream soundtrack which offers great listening in its own right just like any other Michael Mann soundtrack.

Profile of a top thief
I've had a craze lately on Michael Mann's films, and I've enjoyed them all.

This is early work. It's not quite as satisfying as Heat or Collateral, but the style is there. Mann creates full portraits of characters - he doesn't just show them doing the testosterone-fuelled stuff, he shows them with their women and children. In this case he shows how a thief can have integrity. Rather like a highly-paid corporate job, it's just something he does until he can move on.

The ending doesn't quite work. It reminded me of Heat, but it didn't move me in any way.

Excellent dark thriller - a cut above usual Hollywood fare
In this film , director Michael Mann showcases the talent he shows in everything he has done since-including a far superior remake of Miami Vice ! We get the Peckinpah-esque characters ,together with very powerful depiction of scenes of violence in which Mann has always given us a realistic insight that violence has consequences and is not the spectacle which so many directors present it as.The Tangerine Dream soundtrack is appropriate to this darkest of thrillers which explores the mind of a brutalised con to an outstandingly cold extent,but without presenting him ( Caan) as an ice-man.All in all this is ,therefore, one of the very best thrillers Hollywood had ever produced.