Thief (1981)
Thief is the story of a Thief - Frank, his buddy, mentor; love of his life, and his journey through crime. One day an associate of his dies, he meets a shady character who offers him a big job. He takes it. He gets in trouble. He fights his way through.
If you've seen or read Parker then you know the type of movie. It's not the shoot-them-up style of action, but rather the plan-ahead-drive-sneak-and-kill type. The props are all very professional, and you get the feeling that you're actually breaking into a vault when they do. The technicalities; thug talk is all perfect. They throw around furniture like any normal criminal would (though I hope crooks don't get impressions from this movie specifically - and decide it's 'professional' to destroy property while they6're doing their thing - rather than simply efficient). James Caan plays Frank, and he's a surprisingly rare appearance in the list of movies I've watched, it seems, even though he's been around a long time and taken parts in such legendary classics like The Godfather (which I have seen - btw).
To sum I'd up I'd say it's one surprisingly professional and clean movie, with surprisingly little cops. It's not cops and robbers. It's robbers and robbers. The cops are trying to get in, digging around above the realms of the underworld, but they're not quite there yet. When there's a fight to fight out, they fight it out amongst themselves, and Frank is one tough main character, touch, charismatic and kind in his own way. Or maybe I should say: honest. He's done his time. He works for himself. He doesn't bullshit. I enjoyed this movie. Rated 4.
rated 4/5: fo shizzle