Avvicinandosi al suo sogno di condurre una vita normale, uno scassinatore professionista accetta di fare un lavoro per la mafia, che ha altri piani per lui.Avvicinandosi al suo sogno di condurre una vita normale, uno scassinatore professionista accetta di fare un lavoro per la mafia, che ha altri piani per lui.Avvicinandosi al suo sogno di condurre una vita normale, uno scassinatore professionista accetta di fare un lavoro per la mafia, che ha altri piani per lui.
- Premi
- 2 vittorie e 6 candidature totali
Jim Belushi
- Barry
- (as James Belushi)
W.R. Brown
- Mitch
- (as W.R. [Bill] Brown)
Recensioni in evidenza
Director Michael Mann sure loves his diner scenes. The scene in which Frank takes Jessie to the diner might very well be my favorite of the film, as it steadily proves that this more than just a film about heists and tough guys. James Caan is perfectly cast as Frank, and throughout the film he holds the weight of his performance up as if it were only five pounds, portraying Frank as tough, fearless and thick skinned. But in the diner, as well as in his interactions with Okla (played by Willie Nelson!!!) he is able to open us up to more. The photo Frank has in his wallet is a very strange yet alluring glimpse inside his mind and his heart that he would not otherwise show. Tuesday Weld's reactions as Jessie also help show us how he is slowly winning her over not just by being aggressive, but by showing vulnerability. From then on, I knew the film had established itself as a great one, as I now clearly understood Frank's true motivations. It proved to me that the film is just as much a character study than is a heist and gangster film. And boy, does it deliver on both fronts.
Even though this film was made only a little over two decades ago, I consider it a film-noir classic! James Caan said once that this was the film he was in that he was proudest of next to The Godfather. I remember that Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel said this was one of the finest films of 1981. Caan is wonderful in a role that he was born to play, a tough guy with his heart on his sleeve. Everything about this film is wonderful from the musical score by Tangerine Dream to the dark lighting effects to the authentic detail about the life of a thief ( I read that Michael Mann actually used real life thieves as technical advisors to this film!). Even though Caan's character is an anti-hero, you have to feel sorry for him because he is caught in a situation where there is no way out! The best scene in the film is where he tells Tuesday Weld about his prison experiences and shows here the picture cut out that he has made of his American dream. Jimmy Caan is truly awesome, he is the only actor that ever made me cry (in Brian's Song) I also wanted to mention another great character actor who is in the film. His name is Robert Prosky and he plays the mob boss who uses Caan. This was his film debut after many years as a stage actor and he is terrific. Watch the scene in the acid plant where he threatens Caan. He is really chilling! Michael Mann created Crime Story and Miami Vice and he also directed Manhunter, but lets not forget this film as well.
This is one of the few Michael Mann films I can stand to watch. Caan is at his absolute peak here, with his intensity just blazing off the screen. The supporting cast is excellent, the edits are perfect, everything just clicks.
As has been noted by other reviewers, the technical aspects of this film are right on the money. All the locations are really there (or were at one time) and the settings didn't have to be faked up. Yes, Chicago and surrounding Chicagoland is really like this, folks.
I try to watch this thing every few years. Should buy a DVD, I guess, and insert it into my permanent circular film buffer.
Highly, highly recommended.
As has been noted by other reviewers, the technical aspects of this film are right on the money. All the locations are really there (or were at one time) and the settings didn't have to be faked up. Yes, Chicago and surrounding Chicagoland is really like this, folks.
I try to watch this thing every few years. Should buy a DVD, I guess, and insert it into my permanent circular film buffer.
Highly, highly recommended.
Thief(1981) contains the best performance of James Caan as a professional thief in a rare leading role. He is complex and three deminsional as the protagonist, Frank. Thief(1981) is similar in many ideas to the Dustin Hoffman film, Straight Time(1977). One of the best directorial debut as Michael Mann gives a realistic portrayal of the hardships in being a professional thief. The movie does a good job in showing the corruption that Frank has to go against.
Its much better than Heat(1995) because it focuses on one person instead of trying to interweave in confusing detail the lives of two people who are opposite in job but the same in spirit. Willie Nelson is terrific in the small of of Frank's mentor, Okla. Robert Prosky is impressive as the father like crime boss, Leo. The heist scenes are the highlight of the film. Thief(1981) has to be one of the best movies to come out during the 1980s and is definitely the director's top film.
Its much better than Heat(1995) because it focuses on one person instead of trying to interweave in confusing detail the lives of two people who are opposite in job but the same in spirit. Willie Nelson is terrific in the small of of Frank's mentor, Okla. Robert Prosky is impressive as the father like crime boss, Leo. The heist scenes are the highlight of the film. Thief(1981) has to be one of the best movies to come out during the 1980s and is definitely the director's top film.
'Thief' is one of the most underrated movies of the 1980s, if not of all time. Made in the early 80s by TV veteran Michael Mann, and co-produced by the future "king" of action blockbusters Jerry Bruckheimer, this movie can almost be seen as the transition from 1970s character based crime DRAMA to 1980s flashy but brainless 1980s crime ACTION. In that sense 'Thief' is the last great 1970s movie of the 1980s. Mann made at least two great movies after this ('Manhunter' and 'Heat'), but I still think it is is his best and most satisfying work. James Caan believes that the movie contains his finest performance and I'm inclined to agree with him. Caan is dynamite throughout. He oozes charisma and is impossible to take your eyes off, but also gives a subtle and complex performance. The film works both as an exciting caper movie, and as a human drama. In many ways it is the best crime film to pull that off since Dassin's 'Rififi' in the mid 1950s. Cann is helped by a superb supporting cast, who on the surface may seem a motley bunch, but all are very good - Tuesday Weld ('Who'll Stop The Rain'), Jim Belushi (his movie debut), a memorable cameo from country legend Willie Nelson, and especially a fantastic turn from Robert Prosky. Prosky is probably best known to most viewers as the kindly father-figure he played in 'Hill Street Blues'. His turn here as a ruthless gangster is a complete eye opener! Prosky delivers one of the most vicious lines ever heard in a movie, which is a bit too extreme for me to quote here, but believe me, you will never forget it when you hear it! Many people seem to find Tangerine Dream's dated synth score to be extremely irritating but I actually enjoyed it and thought it helped build the mood. 'Thief' is a hardboiled crime classic and is highly recommended to any fan of the genre, especially those made in the 1970s. It is wildly underrated and deserves to be rediscovered by a larger audience. 'Thief' is simply one of THE great "lost" classics of the last thirty years.
Lo sapevi?
- QuizAfter Il padrino (1972), this was James Caan's favorite film of his own. He had stated that his monologue in the diner was the scene of which he was most proud in his career.
- BlooperFrank's mentor at the steel mill said, "Seven-, Eight-thousand degrees. Portable equipment! Sonny, if I can build it, it's going to be a son-of-a-bitch to use." Given that and the small hole cut at the top of the elevator shaft, getting into the vault room with all the welding equipment, oxygen and acetylene tanks would not have been easy but they could have winched it down. When planning the heist, it is mentioned they would be spending 16 to 18 hours inside the building.
- Citazioni
Okla: Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them?
- Versioni alternativeThere are three official versions of the film - the Theatrical Cut (1981), the Director's Special Edition (1995), and the Director's Cut (2014). The Director's Special Edition was released on LaserDisc in 1995, and subsequently on DVD in 1998. This was the only version of the film available until 2014, when Criterion released the newly edited Director's Cut on DVD and Blu-ray. The following year Arrow Video released a two-disc Blu-ray set featuring both the Theatrical Cut and the Director's Cut. There is only one difference between the Theatrical Cut and the Director's Cut - right after the opening heist, there is a new scene where Frank (James Caan) meets his friend Cap (Willie Dixon) on the pier and the two admire the stillness of the water (1:22). The rest of the Director's Cut is identical to the Theatrical Cut. The Director's Special Edition also features the scene with Cap, but there are also some other minor changes, which were not been carried over to the Director's Cut. For the Special Director's Edition,
- After the second heist, the scene of Frank lighting up a cigarette and nodding to himself has been shortened (-00:02).
- The cut from Frank nodding to the shot of the beach is no longer in sync with the music, instead it cuts to the beach before the music cue.
- A slow motion shot of Jessie (Tuesday Weld) holding the baby on the beach is absent (-00:07).
- The initial shot of the waves in the above scene has been slowed down (00:09).
- The shot of Frank taking a box from a shelf before telling Jessie to leave has been shortened (-00:03).
- During the scene where Frank is telling Jessie to leave, her line "We just disassemble it and put it back in a box like an erector set you just send back to a store?" has been changed to "We just disassemble it and put it back in a box?"
- The last shot of Frank's collage has been shortened (-00:02).
- The speed of some of the shots during the shootout has been altered; the shot of Attaglia (Tom Signorelli) falling to the ground and the shot of Frank falling after Carl (Dennis Farina) shoots him have been sped up (-00:04), whilst the shot of Carl falling back into the bushes has been slowed down and edited slightly differently (00:02)
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Dettagli
- Data di uscita
- Paese di origine
- Sito ufficiale
- Lingua
- Celebre anche come
- Mi profesión: ladrón
- Luoghi delle riprese
- Azienda produttrice
- Vedi altri crediti dell’azienda su IMDbPro
Botteghino
- Budget
- 5.500.000 USD (previsto)
- Lordo Stati Uniti e Canada
- 11.492.915 USD
- Lordo in tutto il mondo
- 11.495.509 USD
- Tempo di esecuzione2 ore 3 minuti
- Colore
- Mix di suoni
- Proporzioni
- 1.85 : 1
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