Alright....so...I finally saw this after all the talk in the Drive thread.

Holy fuck.

That's Mann's first feature film?! Jesus.

Like someone said in the Drive thread, I can't think of seeing any other director's style and direction so honed in their damn first film in theaters. Granted...he had experience w/ commercials and TV but DAMN. It fucking hit me in the face w/ badass. How the fuck did I never see this before?! LOVE LOVE LOVE the ending. I don't know where I'd rank this but fuck...this may actually be my favorite Mann film. I love Heat...but...but Thief, man. I can't say anything bad about this film. It doesn't drag. Great music. Great Mann direction. Fuck. Just a fucking cool movie. It's just an all around bad motherfucker of a movie.

I'm glad to have seen it and I hope Criterion is seriously working on this film. Is that still just a rumor?

See it. Great film.

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i actually watched this for the first time a couple weeks ago and i too was blown away. so much so that i bought the MANHUNTER blu-ray immediately afterwards since i had never seen that as well. i've seen HEAT at least a half dozen times and everything else since then hasn't really impressed me much (except COLLATERAL...still need to see THE INSIDER) but i'm going to have say that THIEF is my favorite mann film. still need to see LAST OF THE MOHICANS too.

The music score was what I really liked most about this. Certainly a better representation of "80's music" than what was heard in Manhunter.

Thief is a fuckin' masterpiece. I knew it the first time I saw it almost 30 years ago.
Everything is just awesome, from the score by Tangerine Dream (have it on vinyl)
to the performances by James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky & James Belushi.
Anybody caught the part that someone is referred to as "Slick" just like in Heat?

Great movie. Just great throughout.

Hey, I was that someone who said that! You better recognize.

Riot, you should see Mohicans soon. I don't know how you fare with historical films (I don't do very well with them myself), but it's a damn fine film and the ending is incredibly intense. Just remember, you do NOT want to fuck with Russell Means.

Someone needs to bump my "Michael Mann/favorite film/poll" thread and give this movie some love.

Nice to see it finally getting some much deserved recognition around this place.

For Mann films, my favorite is Last of the Mohicans, then The Insider, Thief, Heat, Manhunter, and Miami Vice. I consider the first four to be near-perfect movies.

I haven't seen Collateral, Public Enemies, Ali, or The Keep.

Collateral is worth a watch.

One of the best debuts ever right up there with "Blood Simple." and "12 Angry Men". The recent film "Drive" was definitely influenced by this movie.

I did. No one ever said anything.

Absolute crime there hasn't been a SE blu ray release of this movie. I've loved it since the first time I saw it.

Watch Collateral ASAP

As much as I love many of Michael Mann's movies, Heat is really tarnished by some horrendous overacting from Al Pacino. Thief is wonderful and The Insider has no right to be as good as it is, given its fairly predictable storyline - almost a Hallmark movie if placed in the wrong hands. The Keep is a guilty pleasure and one I hope will someday be released on disc, or even better properly finished by Mann (though neither possibility seems likely).

Great movie indeed. I first saw this 15 years ago or so and a few times since. Robert Prosky was damn good in this.

yes

on the topic of Collateral. That is a film that I totally believe gives off a great look cuz of the digital cameras used. Gorgeous film.

Agree great film. Too bad the DVD release is damn near unwatchable...Hopefully someone is working on the blu.

I remember liking THIEF when I saw it on TV many years ago, but not enough to call it a masterpiece. As Michael Mann crime films go, I think COLLATERAL is far superior. I find Mann an interesting filmmaker, but I like Walter Hill's films from roughly 1982-1993 much better. I'll take JOHNNY HANDSOME and TRESPASS over anything by Mann and I prefer GERONIMO to MOHICANS by a huge margin.

rumor was that Criterion had it...and that's all we ever got I think.

Love the film, but only part I don't like is the weird action at the end. It's some kind of weird camera experiment. Like they shot in slow motion and then sped it up in post or something. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It happens any time someone gets shot.

I just picked this up from the library yesterday so I'll give it a shot this weekend.

That's just Mann's editing. He did similar effects during the climax of Manhunter.

When I was a kid, one of the greatest things I ever saw was one of the Starsky & Hutch episodes he wrote. It was my favorite until I saw Dirty Harry and realized he lifted the whole storyline.

I never seen it but no really want to. I tried to see if Netflix had it for streaming but nope.