Directed by Michael Mann • 1981 • United States
Starring James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky
The contemporary American auteur Michael Mann’s bold artistic sensibility was already fully formed when he burst out of the gate with THIEF, his debut feature. James Caan stars, in one of his most riveting performances, as a no-nonsense ex-con safecracker planning to leave the criminal world behind after one final diamond heist—but he discovers that escape is not as simple as he’d hoped. Finding hypnotic beauty in neon and rain-slick streets, sparks and steel, THIEF effortlessly established the moody stylishness and tactile approach to action that would also define such later iconic entertainments from Mann as MIAMI VICE, MANHUNTER, and HEAT.
Up Next in Noir
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The Naked City
Directed by Jules Dassin • 1948 • United States
Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart“There are eight million stories in the Naked City,” as the narrator immortally states at the close of this breathtakingly vivid film and this is one of them. Master noir craftsman Jules Dassin a...
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Homicide
Directed by David Mamet • 1991 • United States
Starring Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, Ving RhamesIn David Mamet’s cinema, nothing is as it seems—so you better know what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the protagonist of Mamet’s nightmarish urban odyssey HOMICIDE, inner-city police detective...
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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Directed by John Cassavetes • 1976 • United States
Starring Ben Gazzara, Timothy Agoglia Carey, Seymour CasselJohn Cassavetes engages with film noir in his own inimitable style with THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. Ben Gazzara brilliantly portrays a gentleman’s club owner, Cosmo Vitelli, desper...
