Rating: 
Summary: The elegant cheat !
Review: A sophisticated bank robber and an unscrupulous insurance investigator will be the central focus of this brilliant picture . Add some emotional tricks , smart verbal sparring , the presence of Steve Mc Queen and Faye Dunaway two potent icons of the sixties , the talented camera of Norman Jewison , a n extraordinarily well built script and the most erotic chess game ever made in the cinema story and after that you will obtain one of the most gratifying movies in that decade .
Norman Jewison confirms why he was one of the most innovative filmmakers in those ages when he decides to make a film with basic structures close to the Film Noir but with a handful of surprising twists along this clever film . He put elegance , refinement , eroticism , humor and cynicism and the mix was very successful . The last influences received from the European style specially Henri Verneuil in his film Any number can win are clear , but the seduction process in which investigator and thief are involved is carried with aristocratic style .
A cult movie all the way
Rating: 
Summary: Has It Been THAT Many Years?
Review: After enjoying the remake of this movie I ordered the DVD of the original. I loved it at the theater back in the sixties and hadn't seen it since then. For once in a blue moon, I discovered I liked the remake better! The plot is only vaguely the same for these two movies. I remember this film was a great departure for Steve McQueen and he still seems to have a thug-like quality to me. Ms. Dunaway is a walking parade of late-sixties fashion, with lots of makeup and eyelashes. Strange, I didn't ever realize she had a scar on her forehead. Regardless, the style of cinematography is extremely dated now. Sort of like what today's jerky-camera commercials will look like a few years from now. Oh, it's fun to watch. It's just not as good a story as the remake.
Rating:
Summary: Has It Been THAT Many Years?
Review: After enjoying the remake of this movie I ordered the DVD of the original. I loved it at the theater back in the sixties and hadn't seen it since then. For once in a blue moon, I discovered I liked the remake better! The plot is only vaguely the same for these two movies. I remember this film was a great departure for Steve McQueen and he still seems to have a thug-like quality to me. Ms. Dunaway is a walking parade of late-sixties fashion, with lots of makeup and eyelashes. Strange, I didn't ever realize she had a scar on her forehead. Regardless, the style of cinematography is extremely dated now. Sort of like what today's jerky-camera commercials will look like a few years from now. Oh, it's fun to watch. It's just not as good a story as the remake.
Rating: 
Summary: Provacative and entertaining
Review: After having just seen the latest version of the Thomas Crown Affair I much preferred the original version with Steve McQueen & Faye Dunaway. It had subler shadings in it and even though it wasn't as slick as the Brosnan-Russo "Affair", I felt it was more stylish, and had more substance. It really kept you guessing more, and the ending was more in keeping with the nuances played out during the film itself. The newer one threw in so much unnecessary nudity it grated on me. Too much of the "90's obligatory gratuitous sex" trying to make a good movie better. It didn't succeed. Steven McQueen gave you much more of a feel of a man who had his finger in many pies and was simply bored with his predictable (boring, rich life) and out to pit his considerable brain power against his antagonists. There too, there was more of the picture of the Law against the man who believed he could beat the odds. All in all, McQueen's Thomas Crown Affair had both style AND substance; the Brosnan Affair had only the style.
Rating: 
Summary: What?
Review: After seeing the new Thomas Crown Affair in the theatre, I was pumped. It had me going from beginning to end. I figured since remakes tend to be worse then the original they are based on, the original Thomas Crown would be absolutly brilliant. Boy was I wrong. The only thing it had going for it was the experimantal camera work and the constant 60's pop culture split screening that made it feel like an episode of Love American Style, just not a funny. I was bored to tears and found myself fast forwarding through the tedious music montages. The bank heist was drab, at least compared to what our short attention span, MTV directors give us, and McQueen and Dunaway play to each other like a pair of dead fish. There is no eroticism and the famous chess scene made me feel dirty. Take my advice. See the new one. It's sleek and well paced. Don't listen to your parents who haven't seen this movie since it came out in the theater. Or watch it with them and hear them say, "You're right. That movie sucks. What was I thinking." It's like Who's the Boss. We remember it as being a great show, but watch it now and you will see the light.
Rating:
Summary: Awful, awful, awful
Review: After seeing the terrific Brosnan-Russo remake, I wanted to see the original, since they are always supposed to be better. This has to one of the most idiotic movies ever made. It's not only that it's dated but the story makes no sense. That Dunaway looks at some pictures of men who've gone to Europe recently and picks out McQueen as the robber--can we really believe that? And with no evidence, nothing to tie him to the crime, McQueen goes along with it and returns the money. Because some dumb blond tells him he's guilty? Duh! This was even too dumb for the swinging 60s. I can't understand how people rave about this dumb movie. It lacks any real plot or suspense, and the chemistry between Dunaway and McQueen is about as enticing as two dead fish meeting.
Rating:
Summary: The King at his Coolest
Review: Although the style and sophistication of Thomas Crown would seem light years from the on-screen persona of Steve McQueen, he translates into one of McQueen's most vivid and definitive characters.Whether in jeans and a leather jacket or a Brooks Brothers suit, Steve McQueen is smooth, and never more so than here. You can't take your eyes off him in this film - there's some small, subtle bit of behavior going on in every frame. Sure, the multi-panel, quick-cut style seems dated and "The Windmills of Your Mind" now sounds like a 60's parody. Remember, everything old is new again. Just kick back and enjoy a smart and stylish Norman Jewison caper film with Steve McQueen at the top of his game and Faye Dunaway never more dazzling. RVC
Rating:
Summary: A True Classic
Review: An incredible movie from the 60's that still holds up today. Makes me want to take up Chess again.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Sixties Glamour Film
Review: Director Norman Jewison's high-style caper heist film is probably a touchstone for anyone looking for what glamour was in the late 1960s. The film has a crackling heist, star turns by Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, and terrific cinematography and editing--particularly in the use of multiple screens. The characters are emotionally a bit frigid; they're like spiders falling in love, and you don't know if they're going to love or devour each other. The emphasis on glamour sometimes obscures the plot, which slows down a bit towards the middle: we get a few too many A Man and a Woman scenes of lovers on a beach. Crown regains its bearings, however, in its last scene on the beach, which sets up the film's excellent,twisty conclusion. That scene provides Dunaway with an acting opportunity that she doesn't miss; she (and Jewison) infuse it with a surprising amount of emotion. Michel Legrand provides a great score and provided the music for Alan and Marilyn Bergman's lyrics in "The Windmills of Your Mind", Oscar-winner for Best Song.
Rating:
Summary: A Stylishly Chic Affair to Remember
Review: Even in 1968, audiences knew The Thomas Crown Affair was a film of style over substance. It had an interesting premise dreamt up by a Boston Lawyer who had never written a screenplay before-and there wasn't a lot of story or character development. It's the films' style and gimmicks which endeared it to audiences. And the coolest of the cool stars,Steve (I move like a panther) McQueen, on the planet teamed up with the fascinating mix of earthy sultriness and ice princess that is Faye Dunaway at her peak. So does this film hold up? Is it worth watching? The first half hour of the film - - the robbery is still an exciting, stylish, entertaining sequence that few films will top in terms of hipness. It's here the multiple screen gimmick works best. It's here that Hal Ashby's editing and Walter Hill's second unit work is most impressive. It's the best part of the film and it works beautifully. (Yes that's future directors Hal Ashby and Walter Hill I just mentioned). Affair is directed by Norman Jewison (a former editor/turned director who had just directed In the Heat of the Night, and The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming). United Artists didn't put much pressure or time constraints on Jewison, and Jewison took this very weak screenplay with an interesting premise and worked with writer Alan R. Trustman to create a sandbox for him and legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler to play in. They were young, they were anxious to break rules and try new things and they happened to wind up at Montreal Expo 67 and in the audience of a ground-breaking multi-screen extravaganza called Habitat. Habitat was created by film/maker and graphic designer Pablo Ferro. Jewison, Wexler and Ashby had found the gimmick they were looking for. It wasn't really until the film was in post production that they began putting together the multi-screen effects, and none of the film was story-boarded . A lot of improvisation was used for the film. The premise of the story (for the few who don't know) concerns a very wealthy corporate millionaire, Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) who is so used to winning at every game he plays, he challenges himself by quietly setting up and master-minding a huge bank robbery. It's one of the things that amuses him, one of the few thrills he has in life, his way to rebel and protest against his own corporate greed. The police are baffled, Paul Burke as top cop Eddie Malone is willing to work with a very unique insurance investigator to break the case. The investigator turns out to be Vicki Anderson (played by Faye Dunaway). She earns ten percent of the money she recovers and she's willing to do just about anything and break all the rules to earn her money- which frustrates the by the book Eddie Malone. Now there's never much time taken with conventional things like dialogue. Most of the characters speak in short phrases and sentences. The music is loud, intrusive, and obvious. It's used throughout the film to drive the pacing of the scene or over-emphasize minor moments. Today it plays a bit more campy than it used to, but it's a lot of fun. Vicki Anderson quickly decides that Thomas Crown must be the master-mind behind the bank robbery. She doesn't really have any evidence, or really much of a reason to come to this conclusion, but she does. The film expects you to accept this. So the rest of the film is a cat and mouse game. Vicki and Thomas are attractive jet-setting type people and they are attracted to each other, flirt, make love, drink port, play chess (in an extremely low key erotic fashion), buy fresh produce, go for dune buggy rides, and sit in sauna's together. They both know however that they are adversaries. McQueen's acting is also very stylized. He pauses before making facial gestures. He laughs somewhat forced, and his every movement feels calculated. It works. Although the film becomes less logical as it progresses, its inventive style held my attention throughout. And perhaps because of how dated it's hip chicness is, it's even more fun now,then when it was first released. The re-make is actually a better film than this one. The screenplay is much better constructed, and the film is structured better as a conventional narrative. But the first 30 minutes of this film is not easily topped, and Steve McQueen was a one of a kind screen presence. If your in the mood for a style over substance film from the late 60's complete with the title Academy Award Winning song Windmills of your Mind, you won't be disappointed. Three and Half .... make it Four... Chris Jarmick...
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