One of Michael Mann's best, before "Heat" there was "Thief".

A movie with so much potential, yet falls to deliver in any aspect. First off, someone remove the action tag in the genre list because there was nothing "action" here. I love how people compare this to 'Heat' which is the best heist movie ever made imo. A part of me thinks 'Heat' wouldn't have been made if not for this. Because everything Mann does in 'Heat' is what this movie lacks. An interesting character(s), stacked cast, score even the cartoonish outbursts by James Caan was done better by Al Pacino, don't get me wrong Caan was the only good thing about the movie (R.I.P).

There's absolutely no narrative or character depth at all here, the only redeeming quality of the movie is the stealth mechanisms used during the heist which seems to me has taken a lot of research and execution to pull off. For now this movie stands at a mere 6/10, I recommend watching 'Heat' instead.

Thief is a very well made thriller, very clever and gritty with a stellar performance by James Caan.

The film is centered on Frank an ex-con and a jewel thief but he is tired and he wants to get out of the criminal life to finally live a normal life, build up a family and be happy. But Frank decides to accept a job for a local gangster, it is going to be his last work but getting out of the crime life will be harder than he thought it would be.

Michael Mann's direction is very stylish with great camera work. I have to mention the safe cracking scenes that were shot in an amazing way. I never thought that it would be so beautiful to see some long minutes scenes with thiefs opening safes! Visually is so beautiful with a great cinematography. The night scenes are particularly great to look at, the streets look gorgeous, great colours and neon lights. The whole atmosphere is great. Very intense soundtrack completing each scene.

James Caan is absolutely amazing as Frank and Frank he is such an interesting character. What is most fascinating about him is the fact that behind his criminal side he desires so much to be a normal person. He wants a normal life and Cann's performance is so believable. The long scene in a diner where Frank tells to Jessie, his girlfriend, how he feels about his life is so touching. I was fascinated with his words! And like this, there's another great moments throughout the film but this particular scene is the one that I certainly will remember more about.

A very accomplished debut of Michael Mann, another underrated classic that need to be more recognized.

The exact crossover from 1970s to 1980s crime movies happens here.

As another reviewer said, "before Heat there was Thief" and that is bang on.

You can see the building blocks to Mann's later work and the plot is a similar criminal world to Heat - theft, fencing, double-crosses.

It lacks the even pacing it needs to be great. But it does establish that slow, methodical Mann style of shooting which creates a wonderful atmosphere and gives so much depth to the experience.

Caan is merely okay, which is a big step up from the usual crap or terrible, and the rest of the cast are all still employing that 1970s way of acting. All jittery and monosyllabic.

It is a nice watch and shows a lot of gritty Chicago - but as a precursor to Heat, this is what you should watch as opposed to LA Takedown. This is the real trial run.


7.75/10

This was a weird movie for me. I love how this movie was kind of an anti-thriller: there weren't any car chases and even the heist scenes were de-emphasized as we were never really worried about anyone being caught. In a way it felt like a parody of film noir. There were scenes of a gritty part of a city set in bad weather. Outside of the main characters the acting was brutal. There was a lot of music playing throughout the movie. I loved how this was more than a crime drama but as the film went on it started to lose its way. The resolution was a letdown.
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A very stylish crime thriller. James Caan gives a really good performance. The trippy soundtrack is awesome. The cinematography is great. A solid debut from Michael Mann.

A stylish drama/thriller with some great moments, not to mention awesome Tangerine Dream sound track, but ultimately, the characters feel so disconnected from one another, its hard not to find some issues with the film along the way.

Caan is great but his character annoys me. He's an asshole. It's slow. Slow is fine when the time is used building character in ways that add some real depth. This is slow paces and sees characters just wanting things with no real depth. It's predictable. The music is awful. My second Michael Mann movie experience and I guess I don't like him.