Movies lost one of the greatest ever tough guy actors this week when James Caan passed away at 82. While his filmography is long, containing such classics as The Godfather and Misery, on this special episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, we look at perhaps his greatest role – in Michael Mann’s feature debut Thief!
In it, James Caan plays a professional thief named Frank, who values his independence above all things. His life gets complicated when he falls in love and wants to start a family, putting him under the thumb of a mob boss, and if Frank wants to stay free, it’ll cost him everything. Featuring a score by Tangerine Dream, Thief was ignored when it hit theaters in 1981 but has come to be acknowledged as a classic, even if it’s a film a surprising number of Michael Mann fans haven’t seen. If you love Michael Mann movies, this is a must-see as it’s the prototype for everything he’d become known for later in his career. It has slick, neon-lit visuals and the stoic tough-guy lead. Robert De Niro’s Neil McCaulay in Heat seems very much in the mould of James Caan’s Frank, with both movies feeling like they take place in the same universe. The film also has an incredible climactic shootout that marks Michael Mann’s first big action movie set-piece and even introduces the late Dennis Farina as one of the bad guys Frank takes out. Truly, Thief is a total masterpiece, and with Caan having passed away recently, now is a great time to revisit it.
PLUS – as a bonus, we count down some unseen James Caan gems, such as the Sam Peckinpah martial arts flick, The Killer Elite, and more. This episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw is written and narrated by Chris Bumbray, and edited by Lance Vlcek.
Have you seen Thief, and how does it rank for you among Michael Mann’s movies? Let us know in the comments!