Empire Australasia — December 2017

over weak coffee. It’s where you talk about your

dreams and fears while the blurry blue and red

lights of the city flash through the windows. It’s

where Frank lets hope in, knowing that hope

is an indulgence.

Thiefis the story before the fall, or more

accurately the story between the falls: it’s never

simple in a Mann movie when you’re a broken

guy trying to get fixed. It’s based on a book by

the real-life thief John Seybold —The Home

Invaders: Confessions Of A Cat Burglar, written

under a pen-name — who served as the technical

adviser on the set while he still had FBI warrants

outstanding, before ending up back in a New

Jersey prison in 1995.

While it may go down in the books as

Mann’s first feature film, a lot ofThief’s DNA is

found in his 1979 TV movie about a prison

inmate who trains for the Olympics. Mann has

said that working on The Jericho Mile helped

him understand what those years in prison would

be like for Frank inThief, what it would be

like to live outside society for so long and then

return to it. Plus,The Jericho Milegot him

his leading man: its theatrical release outside

of the US caught the eye of Caan, who was

growing steadily disillusioned with the

Hollywood system, turning down roles in

films such as 1979’sKramer Vs. Kramerand

Apocalypse Now.

Caan has said that next toThe Godfather,

Thiefis the film of which he is most proud. As

for the critics, Pauline Kael, writing inThe New

Yorker, thought it suffered from a surfeit of

adolescent angst in Frank’s frustration in not

getting what he wanted, but Roger Ebert loved it,

writing that “at a time when thrillers have been

devalued by the routine repetition of the same

dumb chases, sex scenes, and gunfights,Thiefis

completely out of the ordinary”.

It was one of the last films Caan made

before disappearing for most of the ’80s due

to depression following the death of his sister

from leukaemia, and “Hollywood burnout” after

starring in Robert Mulligan’sKiss Me Goodbye

(1982), a romcom he hated. Mann went on to

make supernatural Nazi thrillerThe Keep(1983),

which was an artistic disaster and a commercial

flop but had another great Tangerine Dream

score, and thenManhunter(1986) with William

Petersen, who had his first on-screen role as

the barman inThiefwaving a baseball bat at

Caan. All movies about driven men. All movies

at once that have nothing to do with, and

everything to do with,Thief.

But it’s the ending of this movie that really

hits home: Frank shedding his bulletproof

vest after a shoot-out, walking out of his own

life into the dark. The ethical fallout of his

abandonment plays in your mind as the credits

roll, and you’re left wondering what happens

with Jessie and the stolen baby they adopted in

the face of infertility — the act at the intersection

of Frank’s practicality, dreams and lack of time.

Though we’ve since watched Michael Mann

characters burn themselves out again and again,

it’sThiefthat started it: these films about

nihilistic men, their doomed hopes, and their

irregular-type lives.

THIEFIS OUT NOW ON DVD AND BLU-RAY

James Caan’s Frank:

no nonsense.

KIDS WATCH

CLASSICS

Big fi lms tackled by

little people

ILLUSTRATION OLLY GIBBS

Did you like the story?

Yes. I thought I’d get really bored

because I was young, but now that

I’m nine it’s interesting.

What did you like about Marty McFly?

I like that he was silly. He was sleeping in

a really funny position every time he woke

up. I like that he stood up for himself. He

was naughty at the beginning because

when his girlfriend was talking to him, he

was looking at other girls. But at the end

he only paid attention to her.

Did you like Doc Brown?

Yes, but he didn’t look any younger in

the past. He looked the same!

Was the story ever confusing?

At the beginning, just before Marty goes

back, Einstein the dog is in the van and

he suddenly has a yellow raincoat and

a hat on. How did he get that on?

What did you think of the DeLorean

time machine?

I like how it went really quickly.

WHOOSH! You’re in a different time!

What was your favourite bit?

When Biff was being naughty to

Lorraine in the car and George punched

him and Biff fell on the fl oor. Biff

deserved it!

Do you think there was a lesson that

the fi lm was trying to tell you?

Yes. Never go into the future. Or the

past. Don’t mess with time, otherwise

bad things will happen.

Do you think you’d get on with Mummy
and Daddy if they were nine years old
and at your school?
Yes, but I worry that the same thing
would happen. I’d have to make sure
Daddy didn’t fancy another girl, and
that Mummy fancied Daddy.
EYEVINE