The Thomas Crown Affair 1968
There is a reason why Steve McQueen is regarded as the coolest man on the planet, and it has a lot to do with The Thomas Crown Affair. The classic neo-noir film sees McQueen play bored millionaire Thomas Crown, who accomplishes the perfect crime by orchestrating four men to steal $2.6 million for a Boston bank. When independent insurance investigator Vicki Anderson arrives on the scene, she immediately suspects him as the mastermind behind the crime. Where The Thomas Crown Affair was groundbreaking was in its character development. Unlike almost every other film in the genre that follows a man in desperate need of money, Thomas Crown has no desire for wealth, having already amassed a considerable fortune. Instead, he views the crime as a game, one that he intends to win.
One of the best bank robbery movies ever made, The Thomas Crown Affair is McQueen at his most charismatic.
The film is know for being a stylish heist thriller that is a flashy, picturesque and an undemanding technical achievement, with a well-recognized musical score that implements a photography that’s typically unusual for a mainstream Hollywood film, in using a split-screen mode dynamic. Director Norman Jewison paring of the elements of character, plot and motive to promote entertainments in which the vogues of unrestrained directorial technique are ultimately the star, protracted commercials in which the helmer is both progenitor and featured product. Its among new beginnings and abrupt endings, how the narrative connects itself to a culture of loss as this mirthless emotive fluctuates through its romantic vitality as the movements throughout the drama are calculated with a careful precision while passion only propels it, that’s enhanced by the marquee power and chemistry displayed by Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in this caperingly savvy, romantically vibrant, sexually steamy and enjoyably entertaining exemplar. The film is based from original idea by Alan R. Trustman, it went on to receive a mixed leaning positive reception but the film has since garnered a status over the course as being cult classic of its genre.
Here’s what some of the critical receptions have been for the film over the years:
James Berardinelli from ReelViews says: “It’s worth noting that 30 years and dozens of caper films later, the closing twist isn’t nearly as startling as it once was, but it still makes for an effective conclusion.”
Variety Staff from Variety says: “The Norman Jewison film tells a crackerjack story, well-tooled, professionally crafted and fashioned with obvious meticulous care.”
Jonathan Rosenbaum from Chicago Reader says: “It’s no doubt dated now, but this heist movie starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway was considered pretty hot stuff back in 1968.”
Emanuel Levy from EmanuelLevy.com says: “Made at the height of Steve McQueen’s popularity, this romantic heist thriller contains one of the sexiest scenes in a Hollywood film.”
John Mahoney from Hollywood Reporter says: “Jewison continues to prove himself among the most facile and appropriative of the two-dimensional directors.”
As you can tell by the critical reactions, the film was consensually mixed though leans more on the positive side but it did capture some criticism for it being flimsy and dated in certain respects, as well as essentially feeling underwritten in terms of its style over substance. However, Jewison manages to pull this voguish affair into a respectable, even memorable caper that tells an adept story, that’s well forged, efficiently devised and lively formed. This eye catching and provocative light and dazzle set up of a push and pull between the gender dynamics in unraveling the perplexities surrounding the objects of one’s affection, all the while, camouflaging the motivations and thoughts that lie just beneath the surface as its fashionably bolstered by the charismatic and alluring performances of McQueen and Dunaway in this entrancing, cucumber-cool, highly polished and glitzy escapist of a stealing high jinks of a pilfering prototypical thrill ride. But I’ll let you decide…
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TEXT:S. AnthonY
