Top-Tier stuff as always, Matt! Thief is an incredibly cool film, and I had a lot of fun talking about it and its impact on the crime genre. Thanks again for letting me be a part of this!
What made it so chilling was Leo’s 180 from friendly paternal dad to cold and ruthless psychopath overnight. The mask came off and by the time you realize it it’s too late.
Just watched Thief tonight because of your video. It was a great movie. The diner conversation between Frank and his girlfriend was the best part. Real,honest dialogue. After seeing this, it’s easy to see how Michael Mann went to executive produce the TV show Miami Vice and make it an enormous hit.
That diner convo scene is one of my favourites in any movie. It's so raw and real. Two people taking a risk laying it all on the line in front of each other.
Leo's speech is the best . But the diner conversation is used at some of the best acting schools in the world Lee Strauss has his students even act it out
Some little known fact: Manns team reached out to Pink Floyd to use their score of Comfortably Numb from the Wall album for the end scenes. Pink Floyd declined permissions but due to the popular chord progressions and total lack of lyrics they were able to pull off a 'slightly numb' musical score. It begins as soon as Frank pumps 2 rounds from his .45 into Leo's chest. Listen to Comfortably Numb (if your not familiar with it) then play "Leo Gets His Oats' from the movie. You'll see.
I originally watched Thief just because I thought the cover was cool and was blown away by how incredible the film actually was. The diamond heist was one of the most visually breathtaking scenes ever and the intense final act with Tangerine Dream‘s soundtrack solidified this film as a masterpiece to me.
Thief is as good as they get for a first feature. Everything was laid out and the foundation was put down for a great run of films by Mann and the various teams he put together over the years. Thanks for the excellent analysis by you and Every Kind of Geek.
My God, what an analysis!! I musta seen "Thief" hundreds of times, but never did I see the classist/exploitation subtext. Well done, Matt. Well done! Consider me subscribed!
Ah TD my favorite band their music is the soundtrack to my life I've been a fan for almost 50 years and have been to 6 of their concerts over the years. Another great movie with their soundtrack is Sorcerer which came out before Thief
I actually plan to get Thief at the upcoming Criterion sale at Barnes and Noble and this video just cemented that. Great video Matt, you and Doug really got to what makes Thief not only a great movie, but how the elements of our system impacts the people below the 1%, as well as a fantastic beginning for Michael Mann’s filmography. Hope there will be more Mann videos in the future.
Excellent stuff Matt. One of my all time favorite movies (the Criterion edition cover is my phone backdrop for the past 5 years) and Caan's best role, no doubt. Mann is my fav director and I always have a hard time deciding which movie of his is my favorite. I usually keep vacillating depending on which one I am watching at the moment lol. But I ALWAYS come back to THIEF so it has to be top three (with Manhunter and Heat). And I have owned three different versions of the Tangerine Dream score :-)
I was frequently in Chicago on business in 1981. I loved the city. So, it was a real treat to see this film in the theater (at home). Of course, I was a fan of the leads but I saw that the film was different to others. This clip has helped me to understand how and why.
This is a real underrated masterpiece. One of my all time favorites. In my opinion the movie takes on the question of the individual in society issue at its core. I liken it to films like One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest and Cool Hand Luke. Not to say it's not a classic crime drama also. But I find it asking the question; exactly where and how do I fit in? Frank is accomplished, confident and exceptionally skilled but ultimately a loner. Because he doesn't trust, because he's unable to trust? Difficult to say. But like Luke and Randle in Cukoos Nest in the end he knows no other way than to do things his way. Consequences be dammed. Men like this are always either admirable or dangerous or both. In any event they make for the most compelling characters. The Greeks said ' character is destiny " This film brings that point home. A great great film. People who think it's just a crime drama. Don't get it.
One of my all time favorites! So many great scenes, so many quotable line! So many life lessons! "My money in 24 hours, or you will wear your ass for a hat." Please do MOHICANS next!
"I am the LAST guy that you want to f**k with!" "We're your new partners! We're in for ten points!" "YOU can put YOUR money on the street. MY money goes in the bank!"
Fun Facts: M. Mann hired Dennis Farina & John Santucci as technical advisors. Farina was a former Chicago cop & Santucci a former, real-life burglar. Farina even arrested Santucci years ago, for burglary. And the most funny thing is: Santucci plays the corrupt cop while Farina plays the henchman of the gangsterboss, in the movie. Both of them worked again with M. Mann in the tv-shows Crime Story & Miami Vice. Sadly, Santucci's acting career went downhill, he returned to crime in the 90's and was arrested & convicted for burglary. R.I.P James Caan, Dennis Farina
Love some Michael Mann and crime/noir movies in general. Favorite of Mann's might be Manhunter. If I could reccomend a hidden gem noir, it'd be the 1951 film He Ran All The Way. Wondering what Mann film we get next year. Maybe Miami Vice or Blackhat? 👀
Thanks for the video Matt! In real life french thief Redoine Faid was inpired by Mann's work end even met him in France. He even wrote a book about his life of burglaries and robberies called Outlaw. Best wishes from Brazil!
If you look online you'll find dozens of fawning reviews and videos about how great "Drive" is, and although it is a good movie, it literally rips off everything from the much superior "Thief," even down to the soundtrack.
Brilliant lighting would like to see a prequel with Scott Caan if only, can see how Miami Vice was influenced in 1984, wish the Punisher and Daredevil would have more of this influence.
I remember watching this flick for the very first time, and when Leo gave Frank a very light envelope rather than the $800k plus they agreed on, Frank says WTF? Leo: That is the cash part. Knew that was the wrong answer for Frank. Caan had created a strong enough character by that point in the movie that we knew trouble was here. We miss you, Mr. Caan.
1:24 absolutely wrong . Its not a story of the pursuit of a blue collar profession . *** Its a story of a convict with a dream transposed on a collage ".. Its about a man trying to catch up on time... His dreams rely on doing alot in a shorter amount of time to achieve his goal.. Frank called them .."mini moves"... "magic act" ect...
This critique perfectly mirrors my own feelings about the film and what it tries to convey to its audience. In the film donnie brasco (1997), al pacino's character "lefty" refers to himself as a spoke on a wheel. Years of graft and being a stand up guy came to nothing for him in the mob life. Just exploitation. Same as with this film. In thief, frank is a prisoner to his ideals. He could've compromised, accepting Leo's exploitation in return for the family life helped frank build and getting Okla out of prison. Or simply rejectiing criminality in favour of the equally exploitative but less dangerous legit world of work. No man is an island.
A good film with an excellent screenplay but a hole to it's center, the incredible naivete of its protagonist. He believes in honor among thrives, trusts a crime boss's promise that he can stop working for when he wants, which is doubly naive of him to believe after he allows himself to become indebted to said crime boss.
Mann said he was inspired while filming the Jericho Mile by meeting prisoners who had started to cope with their imprisonment by reading philosophy, including Marx
Caan's take on the character is that, since Frank's so determined/bull-headed to get what he wants, his next mission would be to recover everything he'd lost...perhaps including Jessie and their child.
Mann's filmography is so diverse you want crime noire you got thief and heat psychological thrillers manhunter and collateral historical epic last of the mohicans he can do it all
You try to apply the criminal element of Mann's film to a correlative of a capitalist system. In the legal world of business, one signs a contract for their labor, and if he is not paid, there is someone standing in the wings called a lawyer. Can one do this in the criminal world where agreements are dome on good faith? Frank is incredibly delusional in thinking that he can have a normal life with the business he is in in and the men he does business with.
He wants an ideal instead of a relaity. True. His ideology is a cloak from the actual world we live in. There is no honor among thieves. He thinks a crime boss should be trusted? How naive can one be?
It's also Mann's most visually sumptuous fipms - never knew Mann was so much into neon hitting shiny cars and wet streets. Also,Refn so absurdly ripped off Thief right.doen to the title.font.
I wonder if Mann would agree with your socialist take on "Thief." Otherwise, nicely encapsulated. I'll have to catch your view of "Heat" and "Manhunter."
I think you could be imprinting your own beliefs (or some you've heard) about society onto the plot and characters (anti-capitalism, for instance). Frank's struggle "against the system" is really an internal struggle between what he knows and what he does. Real self-esteem comes from setting and achieving RATIONAL goals. To do that you must do so by rational means, and he isn't, he is stealing, and he knows this. Even if he doesn't say it, he knows his actions in the world are immoral. His treatment at the hands of the prison system is awful and heartbreaking, but in order to understand this we must see how such a system could come to exist. One of the few true roles of Government is to house prisoners, but in the world of this movie (1980's) Government is doing so much other stuff that it needn't in society that it doesn't do the jobs it is supposed to do properly. Frank's awful prison years are as a result of bad Government policy and priority. Frank has a dream, but he is pursuing it irrationally. Even if he reached it he wouldn't be happy. The societal systems we live in are created by ideas, and to a certain point perpetuated by us and our ideas.
The car dealership and cocktail bar that frank "owned" served purely as a laundering front for his actual revenue stream, i.e, the heist money. Probably organised for him by his criminal associates from the Chicago outfit in the first place. Whether he truly realised it or not is another matter.
Absolute worthless analysis of this fine movie. Jamming capitalism, freedom, blue collar life and references to the 'system' and everything else this clot can throws at it diminishes the truth of this film. Frank loves freedom and rejects knuckling down to Leo. He refuses to acquiesce and knows he has to reject the claims of businesses, family and possibly life itself to secure that freedom. The neo-Marxist BS preached in this 'analysis' is rubbish and has no place in this film whatsoever. It is the story of a man looking to redeem his formerly worthless life, establish a family, taking a shortcut and being betrayed by what he thought was a close friend. He triumphs over what would make most surrender and, hopefully, in the end, goes back to find his family. No one, without a mindset like Frank's, could have pulled that off. Frank is that man who knows freedom is more valuable than life itself. And he'll do ANYTHING to keep his. A GREAT film!
There is no triumph in the end. Frank is free (or is he? The Chicago outfit wouldn't tolerate the killings of its top people) but he's lost the family he wanted. He can never work in Chicago again. On the run from cops and the mob. If anything, Frank's individualism was incompatible with his pretentions to a family life and societal respectability. He wanted it all and ended up with pretty much nothing but the fact that he was still alive at the end of the film's narrative. Frank was the author of his own tragic story.
@@Evemeister12 Good response but I disagree. The 'Chicago mob' was Leo and his thugs. They're fertilizer now and of no concern. Frank can still find Joseph and his wife and child and start over anywhere he wishes. It will be difficult but he has not submitted to Leo's world. THAT is his triumph and proof that his heart was right. Frank is a model (though not as a criminal, of course) of those who make their own world and refuse to submit to the tyrannies of everyday life despite all (including the murder of a best friend and the threat that you will work for me until you are broken, busted or dead) thrown at them. No tragedy whatsoever. That would be working for Leo and hoping that he does not get arrested. Frank would have sold his soul in the process and died inside. Instead, he manned up and did what was necessary and made the threat go away. Frank did just fine and has some cool stories to tell his son in his old age. Best Movie Ever!
Top-Tier stuff as always, Matt! Thief is an incredibly cool film, and I had a lot of fun talking about it and its impact on the crime genre. Thanks again for letting me be a part of this!
Thank you for taking part! You’re awesome!
Your voice sounds really familiar. Did you have another TH-cam channel before For Every Kind of Geek?
@@GuessWho7197 Nope! Although, I actually wanted to do stuff on TH-cam since college and kept putting it off lol
The real life gentleman that Caan's character is based from is still with us and resides in Chicago.
@@MattDraper Have you seen To Live and Die in La?
Mann's 'Thief', 'Manhunter', 'The Last of the Mohicans', 'Heat', 'The Insider', 'Collateral' - they're all great films.
How about it? even The Jericho Mile from 1979 was great, one of the best running/prison flicks I've seen.
I would include Miami Vice 2006 as well
The villains monologue is among the most chilling/intense I've seen. Hard to believe it was that actors first role
First in film, but Prosky had a history in theater iirc
What made it so chilling was Leo’s 180 from friendly paternal dad to cold and ruthless psychopath overnight. The mask came off and by the time you realize it it’s too late.
listen to Two Guns by Roc Marciano
@@billyb4790
Basically Alf Stewart as depicted on Home & Away vs. Alf Stewart as depicted by Doodleburger
Just watched Thief tonight because of your video. It was a great movie. The diner conversation between Frank and his girlfriend was the best part. Real,honest dialogue. After seeing this, it’s easy to see how Michael Mann went to executive produce the TV show Miami Vice and make it an enormous hit.
That diner convo scene is one of my favourites in any movie. It's so raw and real. Two people taking a risk laying it all on the line in front of each other.
Leo's speech is the best . But the diner conversation is used at some of the best acting schools in the world Lee Strauss has his students even act it out
The ending is the best part that music and the revenge
Some little known fact: Manns team reached out to Pink Floyd to use their score of Comfortably Numb from the Wall album for the end scenes. Pink Floyd declined permissions but due to the popular chord progressions and total lack of lyrics they were able to pull off a 'slightly numb' musical score. It begins as soon as Frank pumps 2 rounds from his .45 into Leo's chest. Listen to Comfortably Numb (if your not familiar with it) then play "Leo Gets His Oats' from the movie. You'll see.
Great scene its really only based on the 2nd solo gilmour played otherwise its not like comfortably numb .....hellooooooo is there anybody in there 😂
I originally watched Thief just because I thought the cover was cool and was blown away by how incredible the film actually was. The diamond heist was one of the most visually breathtaking scenes ever and the intense final act with Tangerine Dream‘s soundtrack solidified this film as a masterpiece to me.
Thief is as good as they get for a first feature. Everything was laid out and the foundation was put down for a great run of films by Mann and the various teams he put together over the years. Thanks for the excellent analysis by you and Every Kind of Geek.
In my Top 10 great films of all time, it's as dynamic today as it was in 1981, a masterpiece.
Same it's my favourite film.
Just got this on Criterion!, It was amazing
I bought it, too
Same here.
One of the best works of Mann. Thank you Matt for making video on this.
Matt, your attention to detail in these videos is outstanding. Your taste in film is also top quality. Great job on these videos.
My God, what an analysis!! I musta seen "Thief" hundreds of times, but never did I see the classist/exploitation subtext. Well done, Matt. Well done!
Consider me subscribed!
I put off watching this because I wanted to watch the film first and now that I have, I’m here to be amazed by Matt’s brilliant analysis
Two words... TANGERINE DREAM. Mann really has a gift for choosing appropriate scores and songs for his work.
Ah TD my favorite band their music is the soundtrack to my life I've been a fan for almost 50 years and have been to 6 of their concerts over the years.
Another great movie with their soundtrack is Sorcerer which came out before Thief
I actually plan to get Thief at the upcoming Criterion sale at Barnes and Noble and this video just cemented that. Great video Matt, you and Doug really got to what makes Thief not only a great movie, but how the elements of our system impacts the people below the 1%, as well as a fantastic beginning for Michael Mann’s filmography. Hope there will be more Mann videos in the future.
Thanks! So glad Criterion put this out. More Mann to come for sure
Fantastic analysis of my all-time favourite movie. I love everything about Thief and its vibe is simply indescribable.
Excellent! More Michael Mann please! I am hoping for your brilliant narration, review, and analysis on Collateral.
James Caan’s performance here is without peer.
His greatest performance. Rest in Power
Robert Prosky was great as well!
Excellent stuff Matt. One of my all time favorite movies (the Criterion edition cover is my phone backdrop for the past 5 years) and Caan's best role, no doubt. Mann is my fav director and I always have a hard time deciding which movie of his is my favorite. I usually keep vacillating depending on which one I am watching at the moment lol. But I ALWAYS come back to THIEF so it has to be top three (with Manhunter and Heat). And I have owned three different versions of the Tangerine Dream score :-)
I was frequently in Chicago on business in 1981. I loved the city. So, it was a real treat to see this film in the theater (at home). Of course, I was a fan of the leads but I saw that the film was different to others. This clip has helped me to understand how and why.
This is a real underrated masterpiece. One of my all time favorites. In my opinion the movie takes on the question of the individual in society issue at its core. I liken it to films like One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest and Cool Hand Luke. Not to say it's not a classic crime drama also. But I find it asking the question; exactly where and how do I fit in? Frank is accomplished, confident and exceptionally skilled but ultimately a loner. Because he doesn't trust, because he's unable to trust? Difficult to say. But like Luke and Randle in Cukoos Nest in the end he knows no other way than to do things his way. Consequences be dammed. Men like this are always either admirable or dangerous or both. In any event they make for the most compelling characters. The Greeks said ' character is destiny " This film brings that point home. A great great film. People who think it's just a crime drama. Don't get it.
An all time great movie, one of James Cann's favorites, and mine----RIP Mr Caan
Great essay on my favourite film. Fantastic got to be Mann's best one.
One of my all time favorites! So many great scenes, so many quotable line! So many life lessons! "My money in 24 hours, or you will wear your ass for a hat." Please do MOHICANS next!
“I change cars like some guys change their socks!” Would love to cover Mohicans!
"I am the LAST guy that you want to f**k with!"
"We're your new partners! We're in for ten points!"
"YOU can put YOUR money on the street. MY money goes in the bank!"
R.I.P. James Caan...Thief was one of your best roles.
One of James Caan's most underrated roles. I didn't realise this was Michael Mann's film debut. I thought it was the TV series *"Miami Vice"!*
He worked in TV before (wrote episodes of "Starsky & Hutch and "Police Story").
Jehrico mile was his debut. Though I'm not sure if that actually got a general release.
@@ironhandscrypto4446Jericho Mile was made for TV. Thief was his theatrical debut.
Fun Facts: M. Mann hired Dennis Farina & John Santucci as technical advisors.
Farina was a former Chicago cop & Santucci a former, real-life burglar.
Farina even arrested Santucci years ago, for burglary.
And the most funny thing is: Santucci plays the corrupt cop while Farina plays the henchman of the gangsterboss, in the movie.
Both of them worked again with M. Mann in the tv-shows Crime Story & Miami Vice.
Sadly, Santucci's acting career went downhill, he returned to crime in the 90's and was arrested & convicted for burglary.
R.I.P James Caan, Dennis Farina
Wow santucci got a break few people would ever have in life and he still went back to being a two bit criminal.
Makes you wonder about people.
I'd love to hear Matt dissect some of the works of Wong Kar-wai. I feel like that's a match made in heaven.
Yeah I’d love to cover Wong Kar-Wai!
What a soundtrack to this film, one of the best & what a directorial debut, excellent review, thanks for posting.
Really good analysis. Very much improved my already high opinion on this film.
I'm a huge Micheal Mann fan, and I absolutely love Thief.
Rest in peace James Caan
1940-2022
Nice outro music 👌🏼 Anyone who knows The Midnight has solid taste
Also, very great review! Helped me to notice some stuff I had initially missed!
Amazing analysis and very illuminating, thank you.
Thanks Matt for video. Was not aware that Theif was an michael mann movie
Love some Michael Mann and crime/noir movies in general. Favorite of Mann's might be Manhunter. If I could reccomend a hidden gem noir, it'd be the 1951 film He Ran All The Way.
Wondering what Mann film we get next year. Maybe Miami Vice or Blackhat? 👀
Thief is perfect neo noir awesome review I hope you cover more Michael mann
Great Assessment guys
Awesome, thanks Matt!
Well written. I appreciate the perspective. One thing: when you quote a source, put the words in quotes and mention the source in text!
My boys, together at last ❤️
💚💚💚
R.I.P my favorite actor oat, James Caan
I would be forever grateful if you would consider doing a video over Drive. Mainly just to hear your buttery voice talking about my favorite movie.
R.I.P. James Caan.
Great videa as usual!!! Not many tackle Thief... Now you have to make a video on The Keep and Mann's choice of music!!! Thanx!!!
Thanks for the video Matt! In real life french thief Redoine Faid was inpired by Mann's work end even met him in France. He even wrote a book about his life of burglaries and robberies called Outlaw. Best wishes from Brazil!
I had no idea about this. Amazing!
Michael Mann is the greatest urban director ever 👏.
As pure a masterclass as there ever was.
If you look online you'll find dozens of fawning reviews and videos about how great "Drive" is, and although it is a good movie, it literally rips off everything from the much superior "Thief," even down to the soundtrack.
Mann I have this soundtrack on vinyl and it is so good. This movie was no next level I couldn’t appreciate it till I was an adult, same with Heat.
I have it as well and the original lobby card framed in my basement. Love this movie.
@@DorianTwist oh man I wanna see it. An original would be really nice to have 🤙
Brilliant lighting would like to see a prequel with Scott Caan if only, can see how Miami Vice was influenced in 1984, wish the Punisher and Daredevil would have more of this influence.
For sure one of my top 5 Mann films
Thought this was gonna be about the video game. Equally good outcome.
Although I am not familiar I am watching and commenting on all your content because I think you have great potential
Great video!
I remember watching this flick for the very first time, and when Leo gave Frank a very light envelope rather than the $800k plus they agreed on, Frank says WTF? Leo: That is the cash part. Knew that was the wrong answer for Frank. Caan had created a strong enough character by that point in the movie that we knew trouble was here. We miss you, Mr. Caan.
Absolute kino
Excellent video
One of the best movies ever made ✨️ ❤🎉
1:24 absolutely wrong . Its not a story of the pursuit of a blue collar profession . *** Its a story of a convict with a dream transposed on a collage ".. Its about a man trying to catch up on time... His dreams rely on doing alot in a shorter amount of time to achieve his goal.. Frank called them .."mini moves"... "magic act" ect...
why do you type like a news bulletin released via telegraph
Can you imagine this film being made today? No, I can't either.
Mr. Draper, any plans for a video on favorite Miami vice episodes?
That would be cool!
Now Mann is producing Tokyo Vice which is as good as anything before
Movie looks very well filmed.
I cant help thinking with could have been a prequel to Heat.
This critique perfectly mirrors my own feelings about the film and what it tries to convey to its audience.
In the film donnie brasco (1997), al pacino's character "lefty" refers to himself as a spoke on a wheel. Years of graft and being a stand up guy came to nothing for him in the mob life. Just exploitation. Same as with this film.
In thief, frank is a prisoner to his ideals. He could've compromised, accepting Leo's exploitation in return for the family life helped frank build and getting Okla out of prison. Or simply rejectiing criminality in favour of the equally exploitative but less dangerous legit world of work.
No man is an island.
Very cool movie. Intense, scary, realistic.
A good film with an excellent screenplay but a hole to it's center, the incredible naivete of its protagonist. He believes in honor among thrives, trusts a crime boss's promise that he can stop working for when he wants, which is doubly naive of him to believe after he allows himself to become indebted to said crime boss.
I don't know how Thief escaped my radar. My favourite Mann films are a toss up between Heat and Collateral.
Mann said he was inspired while filming the Jericho Mile by meeting prisoners who had started to cope with their imprisonment by reading philosophy, including Marx
Michael The Mann's masterpiece
I love this movie. I have the original lobby card framed in my basement/ man-cave.
The real tragedy is the agonizingly self indulgent pacing in nearly every dialogue scene.
My only complaint was the ending; I wanted frank to be able to retire with Jessi. I think he deserved that much!!
Caan's take on the character is that, since Frank's so determined/bull-headed to get what he wants, his next mission would be to recover everything he'd lost...perhaps including Jessie and their child.
7:30
Frank Hohimer is my great uncle
Awesome movie one of my favorites
11:33
Correction Leo did not help get Okla out
Thief i a mastrpiece and might be best Mann's piece of work. Caan performance is unthinkable of....so many shades to that character.
Mann's filmography is so diverse you want crime noire you got thief and heat psychological thrillers manhunter and collateral historical epic last of the mohicans he can do it all
Tragedy. Who dies in a tragedy?
10:30
I want Michael Mann to direct a punisher movie.
Love movies with regular looking people
Cruise is Vincent. Max is Foxx.
Woops!
13:46 I haven’t watched the movie yet. Thanks for spoiling a pivotal scene POS
If you're dumb enough to think there wouldn't be spoilers in an analysis video about a 40-year-old movie, that's on you
You try to apply the criminal element of Mann's film to a correlative of a capitalist system. In the legal world of business, one signs a contract for their labor, and if he is not paid, there is someone standing in the wings called a lawyer. Can one do this in the criminal world where agreements are dome on good faith? Frank is incredibly delusional in thinking that he can have a normal life with the business he is in in and the men he does business with.
He wants an ideal instead of a relaity. True. His ideology is a cloak from the actual world we live in. There is no honor among thieves. He thinks a crime boss should be trusted? How naive can one be?
très bon
Watch Thief and go play GTA V it hits different
👍🏻
It's also Mann's most visually sumptuous fipms - never knew Mann was so much into neon hitting shiny cars and wet streets.
Also,Refn so absurdly ripped off Thief right.doen to the title.font.
I wonder if Mann would agree with your socialist take on "Thief."
Otherwise, nicely encapsulated. I'll have to catch your view of "Heat" and "Manhunter."
Watch Thief. Then watch Blade Runner.
I think you could be imprinting your own beliefs (or some you've heard) about society onto the plot and characters (anti-capitalism, for instance). Frank's struggle "against the system" is really an internal struggle between what he knows and what he does. Real self-esteem comes from setting and achieving RATIONAL goals. To do that you must do so by rational means, and he isn't, he is stealing, and he knows this. Even if he doesn't say it, he knows his actions in the world are immoral.
His treatment at the hands of the prison system is awful and heartbreaking, but in order to understand this we must see how such a system could come to exist. One of the few true roles of Government is to house prisoners, but in the world of this movie (1980's) Government is doing so much other stuff that it needn't in society that it doesn't do the jobs it is supposed to do properly. Frank's awful prison years are as a result of bad Government policy and priority.
Frank has a dream, but he is pursuing it irrationally. Even if he reached it he wouldn't be happy.
The societal systems we live in are created by ideas, and to a certain point perpetuated by us and our ideas.
Dude owns a car dealership, why the hell does he need to steal? Great movie, but that bugged me
The car dealership and cocktail bar that frank "owned" served purely as a laundering front for his actual revenue stream, i.e, the heist money. Probably organised for him by his criminal associates from the Chicago outfit in the first place. Whether he truly realised it or not is another matter.
Cause they want more money, DUH.
Drive is a similar movie. Very good in many same ways. Thief is better but Drive is great too. Ryan gosling
Absolute worthless analysis of this fine movie. Jamming capitalism, freedom, blue collar life and references to the 'system' and everything else this clot can throws at it diminishes the truth of this film. Frank loves freedom and rejects knuckling down to Leo. He refuses to acquiesce and knows he has to reject the claims of businesses, family and possibly life itself to secure that freedom. The neo-Marxist BS preached in this 'analysis' is rubbish and has no place in this film whatsoever. It is the story of a man looking to redeem his formerly worthless life, establish a family, taking a shortcut and being betrayed by what he thought was a close friend. He triumphs over what would make most surrender and, hopefully, in the end, goes back to find his family. No one, without a mindset like Frank's, could have pulled that off. Frank is that man who knows freedom is more valuable than life itself. And he'll do ANYTHING to keep his. A GREAT film!
There is no triumph in the end. Frank is free (or is he? The Chicago outfit wouldn't tolerate the killings of its top people) but he's lost the family he wanted. He can never work in Chicago again. On the run from cops and the mob.
If anything, Frank's individualism was incompatible with his pretentions to a family life and societal respectability.
He wanted it all and ended up with pretty much nothing but the fact that he was still alive at the end of the film's narrative.
Frank was the author of his own tragic story.
@@Evemeister12 Good response but I disagree. The 'Chicago mob' was Leo and his thugs. They're fertilizer now and of no concern. Frank can still find Joseph and his wife and child and start over anywhere he wishes. It will be difficult but he has not submitted to Leo's world. THAT is his triumph and proof that his heart was right. Frank is a model (though not as a criminal, of course) of those who make their own world and refuse to submit to the tyrannies of everyday life despite all (including the murder of a best friend and the threat that you will work for me until you are broken, busted or dead) thrown at them. No tragedy whatsoever. That would be working for Leo and hoping that he does not get arrested. Frank would have sold his soul in the process and died inside. Instead, he manned up and did what was necessary and made the threat go away. Frank did just fine and has some cool stories to tell his son in his old age. Best Movie Ever!
Great video!