Rating: 
Summary: Before There Was "Heat"
Review: I had to write this review after reading so many rave reviews of "Heat", which is overrated compared to "Thief". It makes me wonder how many of those customer reviewers are adolescents or young adults who have not seen this picture.This motion picture is somewhat similar in plot to "Heat", but with considerably less violence (until about the final 30 minutes). James Caan is at his best as an ex-con trying to play his cards close to the vest when he makes a deal with a mob leader that ends disastrously. I find myself agreeing with the customer reviewer who wrote that this was Caan's best acting performance ever. The intensity and feel of "Thief" make it a far superior movie to "Heat", with excellent supporting performances from Willie Nelson, Tuesday Weld, and Jim Belushi. Especially noteworthy is the performance of Robert Prosky as Leo, the mobster who thinks he's got Caan's character under his thumb only to get his comeuppance. Look for Rick Rossovich and Dennis Farina as Leo's hired muscle. In addition to a great plot and great performances (hallmarks of almost every film Mann's ever done) is a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream that really rocks! Rent or buy this movie, and if you like it, start your quest for the soundtrack album immediately! You'll be glad you did. Don't get me wrong here, "Heat" was a good movie. "Thief", however, was done first and done better
Rating: 
Summary: Good film, poor DVD reproduction.
Review: Thief has a touch of authenticity, it doesn't really ask you to suspend belief, you really feel there are people as hard boiled as the protagonist, as aimless as his girlfriend/wife, and as corrupt as the cops and members of the judicial system. Consequently, the film is driven by actors and not special effects, sure there are a few explosions and gun shots, but they are not the centrepiece of action as in so many of the current crop of movies. Further, the photography is smooth and scenes blend, and this is the art of cinema. I had high hopes for the DVD version, but they were dashed with a sound track which has been remastered with less than precision (the mucic score not only sounds off, but drowns out the dialogue in several scenes) Moreover, I use S cables to connect the video, and I thought the picture should have been of a higher quality! However, I rented the disc and it may simply be the one copy at fault, but I think it is more likely a reproduction problem. If you like cops and robbers this is a classic. 3 stars reflects the quality of DVD reproduction I experienced.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Great movie. Probably the best. What makes it so great is that it keeps building and building until the final 20 minutes when all the actions start. Its not really a action film, its a real life crime movie and very realistic. This has got to be one of the most realistic movies of all time.
Rating: 
Summary: A dramatic film from the early eighties, powerful even now.
Review: This is the first time I have seen the film. And I have to say it has the usual high standards of a Michael Mann film. Even now in the late ninetys it has a powerful on screen pressence. I was most excited by the sheer brillence in the later part of the movie. If you are a Michael Mann fan, then this is one film you should not miss.
Rating:
Summary: First customer reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about
Review: I say what I mean, the movie is in fact based on the book by Frank Hohimer "The Home Invaders" and about the first seen that wasn't in the movie,it wasn't in the book, I don't know what he's talking about, but the movie followed the book very closely, excellent score and great first for Mann, Caan was excellent as well.
Rating:
Summary: "Don't You Know You Gota Come Up?
Review: James Cann at his best, by far. "A little triva". The movie is based on the life story of John Santuccie, who plays Sgt.Urizie. Once again, one of the greatest "SCORE" movies of "ALL" times. It's a shame they cut out the entire first scene. Which shows his cheating wife and how he woundup in jail. This was also Dennis Farina's first movie, who was a Chicago cop.
Rating:
Summary: An Ode to Macho Masochism
Review: Just so you know: I do like this movie in certain ways. I'm a fan of Michael Mann's stuff and James Caan is The Man, pure and simple. As a portrait of a man undone by his single-minded (or, perhaps more appropriately, simple-minded) devotion to macho fatalism THIEF is strikingly effective and has never been equaled. And that's the problem: This is a terribly joyless, hopeless film. Yes, yes, I know..."it's noir...it's supposed to be fatalistic and downbeat -- that's the point". To which I say, that would be just fine if the filmmakers made any indication that they were at all aware of the irony inherent in the protagonist's self-imposed plight. But Mann aparently takes the melodramatic, existentialist hell he creates for his "hero" seriously. The film seems determined to turn Caan's character into some kind of tortured martyr: The Manic-Depressive Cat Burglar/Saint who sacrifices all vestiges of happiness and joy on the alter of Machismo. In the end all he ends up looking like is a monumentally self-involved and unimaginative loser. Maybe I'm missing the point, but what are we supposed to take away from this? Is THIEF supposed to be tragedy? What's tragic about it? The guy's a dunce: At the end his problems have been solved in a hail of lead but he chooses to walk away from everything simply because that's the only way he can remain true to his manly "code". Sorry, but that's just S-T-U-P-I-D. I thought this sort of he-man posturing went out with Hemingway. To much to ask for, I guess. Anyway, like I said at the beginning, I do admire this film for the skill with which it was made. The technical credits and acting are unimpeachable, so it's not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a really hollow, empty-headed film and that's a shame. Oh, well. See Michael Man's HEAT. It's a much more satisfying meditation on similar themes.
Rating:
Summary: Very intelligent crime thriller
Review: James Caan is in top form in Michael Mann's Thief. Caan plays a used car dealer Jewewl thief to perfection. Also Look for James Belushi and Willie nelson in a fine cameo. Besides great acting all around the intelligence of the script and direction is what makes this movie stand head and shoulders above most crime movies. Music by tangerine dream, who seem to have done all the music for the movies in the late 70's early 80's. Great movie. I'd get the DVD if I had one
Rating:
Summary: James Caan hauntingly portrays a one-day-at-a-time ex-con.
Review: James Caan's portrayal of the ex-con jewel thief in this movie is very powerful. Strikingly breaking life down to one home made collage carried in his wallet! Great character roles for James Belushi and Willie Nelson, combined with Tangerine Dream's powerful sound track give this movie even more depth. Michael Mann's use of reflection and off center lighting entwine with the music and actors to yield a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: Mann's First Feature Showed His Style
Review: The man who gave us TV's Miami Vice and the Movies' opus 'Heat' cuts his teeth in 'Thief'. The story of a master thief, who wants to make one last score and live a respectable and peaceful life with his woman and new son, but gets pulled in by the mob; where he must put everyting on the line for his own survival. In watching the movie, I felt like I was watching a prequel to the movie 'Heat', where James Caan was playing the Robert DeNiro character at an earlier age. The visual style and music add to a hypnotic ride through an obvious 'no-one's going to win' journey, but grips the viewer to ride it out. Mann has always had his own style (love it or hate it), but diffently it is his own. If you loved 'Heat'... get the 'Thief'
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