[ Back in 1981, Roger Ebert called it one of the most intelligent thrillers he’d ever seen. James Caan considered his monologue in the film the best scene he’d ever done. Thief was not only a surprisingly confident and self-assured feature debut by the enigmatic perfectionist Michael Mann. It was also a first step in the filmmaker’s ongoing obsession with charismatic, resolute individuals determined to do their duty whatever the cost was, an archetypal hero Mann would pay respect to in many of his subsequent films. Thanks to the experience of filming the great TV prison drama The Jericho Mile, Mann was able to brilliantly shape the character of an ex-convict and proficient jewel thief Frank in a neo-noir thriller based on real-life thief John Seybold’s novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar. Mann adapted the text himself, and filled the voids behind his perfect lead James Caan with film debuts of later respected actors such as Dennis Farina, William Petersen and James Belushi. To make Thief as authentic as possible, professional thievery equipment was used, with real thieves serving as technical consultants, and Caan even had to learn how to pick a lock. In order to make Frank’s life path more of an everyman’s story, Mann chose Tangerine Dream, the German electronic music group, to create the film’s musical identity, the first of their many film collaborations during the eighties. As you can see, Thief is a collection of many firsts, and as such, it’s even more surprising that the risk paid off so well in the end.]
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:15:44 +0000
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