Michael Mann's debut feature, which earned him a "Golden Palm" nomination at the Cannes Film Festival, and we know him from his role as Sonny in The Godfather; His movie by James Caan: Thief.
Like McCauley (De Niro) in Heat, Frank is a lovable thief. Someone who can be sympathized with, although not fully identified. But unlike McCauley; Frank is a thief who wants to start a family, a life. Someone who, instead of running away from everything in his life in 30 seconds, wants to remove any obstacle that tries to undermine his life in 30 seconds - at least he thinks so. Frank is a thief trying to fill his life as much as McCauley is meticulous and doesn't want to let anything in his life.
Frank, we can briefly call this “dream card”; He begins to realize his dreams by trying to convince Jessie (Tuesday Weld), the woman he loves, at a dinner table. And the most emotional scene of the movie, where James Caan gives an acting lesson, begins.
Frank went to prison at the age of 20 and was released at the age of 31. He feels that his time is running out and that he will never be able to keep up with him. "Diamond stealing", the only job he can do properly, gives him a good advantage in achieving these plans, but he knows that he can't get Jessie to accept them. Frank tells Jessie about a "life-changing" event she experienced while in prison that brought Frank to the brink of the abyss.
After this incident, Frank put the things he wanted out of life on a card. And on the card are not only ephemeral phenomena such as a house, a car, a child, but even death itself. Jessie doesn't want to understand them in any way, she has a job, money she earns and insurance. Although the fact that Frank can be caught anywhere at any time makes him not believe all this at first, it is impossible not to be impressed by Frank's story… In another food scene of another Michael Mann movie, another scene where a thief plays and talks about his life comes to mind. right after this marvelous scene is over. Also, James Caan stated that this food scene was the scene he was most proud of in his life.
One of the things on the dream card is Okla (Willie Nelson). A master thief who Frank loves as much as his father, who taught him everything he knew while in prison. There is room for her in her dreams. But there are still 10 months before Okla is released from prison, but Okla, in her own words, is "I don't know anjiti" and she won't be able to last 10 months. And she asks Frank to take her out. Frank says he will take care of the job. We do not hear from Okla for a while in the movie. While we are waiting for him to get out of prison and be included in the movie in the future (for example, a shitty "involvement" in a big robbery and then sacrificing his own life to protect Frank), we learn that Okla was taken to the hospital with a sudden incident, and then we lose Okla.
Someone so important to Frank and a character we expect to join the movie suddenly leaves the movie. This situation makes both the audience and Frank an asshole in a way. So much so that Franki, devastated by such an event, has a look at the doctor who says Okla is dead, that J. Jay Saunders, who plays the doctor, confesses that he was quite scared while the scene was being shot. This is reflected in his facial expression on stage. So we witness one of the film's other marvelous scenes and acting moments—both frank and doctor.
In many ways, we can call Thief a film that embodies Michael Mann's style. Although it smells like a pure crime movie, Mann saves the movie from being just a simple crime movie by giving us a thief with dreams and trying to make them come true. In addition, we can add the extreme - for a crime film - psychedelism in the film. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Tangerine Dream's soundtrack to the film is the greatest creator of this psychedelicism. Of course, Mann gives us such scenes that it is possible to lose yourself while watching the movie with this psychedelic music – the scene of opening the safe in the big heist.
In order to realize these dreams, Frank enters into a big heist business with the mafia, once and for all. Frank, who thinks that he can realize all his dreams with the money he will get from this big robbery, of course, makes a big mistake. The mafia, who do not want to lose him and always want him to work for them, gradually buys Frank's life. He even "rents" an adopted child for this cause. Realizing that his life and dreams are being taken away from him, Frank…
Writer : Michael MANN
Director of Photography : Donald E. THORIN
Music : TANGERINE DREAM
Production : 1981 - ABD - 122 Dk.
Genre : Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
James CAAN
Tuesday WELD
Willie NELSON
James BELUSHI
Robert PROSKY
Tom SIGNORELLI
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