The Thomas Crown Affair | | Cast : | Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway | | Director : | Norman Jewison | | Studio : | Mgm/Ua Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 19, 1968 | | DVD Released Date : | January 07, 2003 | | Language : | French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 11, 2005 | | Summary | Keys That Jingle In Your Pocket ! | Content
 | Thomas Crown was a mega-millionaire Ivy League educated Boston Brahmin (Dartmouth undergrad, Harvard M.B.A.) in search of adventure and identity..At a time when America outwardly celebrated the protestations of the anti-hero: this was the late 60's when Viet Nam, Watergate, and the Cold War were in play..Thomas Crown's caper involved clipping the insurance companies, through a circuitous backchannel..By robbing a bank, hence knocking off the establishment..And Crown pre-planned the heist in geometric detail, executed like a stealth Wallstreet takeover, the crime without trace, including never meeting his accomplices face to face, nor they meeting each other..Therefore, he couldn't give them up, nor they him, if the job derailed..Faye Dunaway (Vicki) was the Coco Chanel coutured super sleuth, brought in by the insurance company to bust the brainiac behind the elaborate caper for a fee of 10% of all monies recovered..Unfortunately, our nemesises found themselves to be more than mildly simpatico..Both unrepetant mercenaries, and beautifully chiseled people, in a word, heartless soulmates..Vicki plucks Crown from a cross-file of suspects who had previously worked at the bank, and knew the inside layout, and had made multiple overnighters to Switzerland..But Vicki id'ed Crown moreso from a photo: was aroused by his monochromatic blue eyes, his apparent charisma, thought he was the likely leo behind the heist..And the cat and mouse charade was game on..Vicki stalks Crown at polo matches, art house auctions, and makes conspicuous home movies of Crown..Crown spots her at an art auction and approaches her..On first introduction he asks, who are you and what is your racket?..She says insurance, I'm a headhunter..He says, just whose head are you after..She says, yours of course, you know, the bank caper! He says, do you always get your your man..She says, oh I hope so!..Inevitably, romance ensues..The plot thickens when Crown tells Vicki, post an intimate moment, he will rob the bank again, because he's gotta know if Vicki will fink him out again, given a second swipe..Norman Jewison, the film's director, found the story of the Thomas Crown Affair in a forgotten stack of manuscripts, and went to see the author..Found the writer to be a novice screenwriter, and a restless Ivy League attorney turned daydreamer, who lived in an apartment with a 180% view of a high payroll Boston bank..Norman Jewison was the ideal director to make this Francois Truffaunt inspired film, and to mentor Steve McQueen through the process..McQueen was never ever better, though on first blush McQueen was the unlikeliest actor to play the part credibly, since at the time he didn't own a single suit..But McQueen was Thomas Crown, the ubiquitous Phi Beta Kappa key hanging dapperly from his 3 piece Oxford suits, a subtle yet obvious conceit..On the first date, Vicki asks Crown, "Are you taking me home to meet Mother", Crown replies humorously, "Wall to wall carpeting..something"..Vicki had illegally surveiled his townhouse by pretending to be a carpet measurement crew to Crown's butler, to gain access to Crown's Queen Anne Brownstone, resplendent with priceless oriental rugs?..Vicki's obvious underestimation of Crown's sense of aesthetics..And sicced the IRS on Crown, had him thoroughly staked out, monitored around the clock..So Crown renews an old fling with a European model to remind Vicki who holds the high cards in their blood stakes game of cops and robbers..The surveilance photos of Crown with another woman drives Vicki to kinetic fits of jealousy..Even Vicki is shocked at her territorialism!..Paul Burke, a New Orleans born actor/detective tells her, "Vicki girl you're being had,, you want to know where he went last night after he left you? that's the third time he's seen her this week, here see for yourself"..Crown knows Vicki better than she knows herself, and reckons Vicki will in the end betray him..Crown robs the same bank a second time, but confides in Vicki when and where the drop-off will be..And Vicki awaits Crown in a cemetery with her colleagues to nab him..Only to receive a telegram from Crown's driver in his Rolls-Royce..Sorry Vicki I left early, bring the money or you keep the Rolls-Royce..While Jewison cuts away to Crown on the Concorde first class to Europe..Though Crown wins the near-term will of wits, both he and Vicki lose the big prize..They both know, but never say, they will remain in character and sell-out their hearts to achieve some other metric of glory..Though they shared some champagne and caviar trying!..Oh, and what to make of those overly dedicated career people? |
| Rating | | | Date | June 06, 2005 | | Summary | Harmless fluff. | Content
| I didn't see this when if first came out, so perhaps I'm unfairly comparing it to the remake, which I thought was very well done and interesting.
Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway are two of my favorite actors. They were both terrifically talented people, but I don't think they are at their best in this film. They are nice to look at, but the script doesn't give them much to work with. The chess scene is very good, until they start smooching, when the soundtrack and choreography go out of control.
The soundtrack is beautiful on its own, but is too intrusive during the film.
It's a fluffy film with a thin plot, but it's fun to watch, if only to see McQueen and Dunaway in their prime. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 03, 2005 | | Summary | BEWARE! Overrated, badly dated '60s caper film ahead! | Content
| The Thomas Crown Affair exhibits all the worst excesses of late '60s filmmaking. From the annoying, omnipresent theme ("Windmills of Your Mind") to Faye Dunaway's bizarre hairdos, Barbie doll wardrobe, white eyeshadow and false eyelashes, to the pointlessly "mod" directorial quirks of Norman Jewison (multiple scenes onscreen simultaneously, quick cuts, diffusion, etc.), this is one bad acid trip of a movie. The plot is slim, and the characters are all remarkably unintelligent for a caper film. Usually, such films hinge on their characters' extraordinary expertise and/or analytical ability, but that certainly isn't the case here. For instance, Faye Dunaway's character, a supposedly brilliant insurance investigator, takes one look at a picture of Steve McQueen and announces, "That's it! He's our man!"
Within minutes, Faye and Steve are falling in love. We know they're falling in love because the film skids to a halt in order to treat us to endless scenes of the two of them playing chess, riding in a dune buggy, haggling over melons in an outdoor market, and sharing the newspaper at breakfast as Michel LeGrand's overheated piano compositions thunder over the soundtrack. The chess scene in particular is a dilly, close-up after close-up of Faye's shoulder undulating, Steve's eyelids flickering, Faye's finger stroking the oh-so-phallic bishop, Steve's lips quivering, etc. This all takes place over a period of YEARS before somebody finally kisses somebody, at which point the camera - you guessed it! - does not one, not two, but several dizzying 360 sweeps around the osculating couple.
Finally, Faye asks Steve why he robs banks when he is, after all, a zillionaire. Steve clenches his jaw, then smiles that brief, weary, cynical smile of his and says with a straight face, "It's not about the money. It's the system. It's me against the system." Apparently, you could actually say this in 1968 without people exploding into gales of laughter. Unfortunately for this film, the same cannot be said in 2005. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 21, 2005 | | Summary | A classic... a pity Dunaway wardrobe looks so OUT... | Content
| Probably one of McQueen's more sophisticated films... down to the Rolls-Royce Coupe (why they ever did a two doors eludes me...)... the butler... and the cigars...
VERY COOL FILM for it's time... I still prefer this version to the recent remake...
The only thing wich does not stand well the passing of time is the wardrobe of Dunaway (specially the hats!...), contrary to the stylish Hitchcock's outfits for his "blondes"... see "The Birds", or "North by Northwest" and see the difference it makes... they look NOT AT ALL OUTDATED... but well... that is the only minor criticism...
The use of a fragmented screen with different action playing simultaneously is still a major breakout in film narrative...
AND THE SCRIPT IS GOOD/AVERAGE...
A CLASSIC MUST SEE FILM.
(and do not forget the excellent soundtrack with NILSSON...) |
| Rating | | | Date | November 07, 2004 | | Summary | The elegant cheat ! | Content
| A sophisticated bank robber and an unscrupulous insurance investigator will be the central focus of this brilliant picture . Add some emotional tricks , smart verbal sparring , the presence of Steve Mc Queen and Faye Dunaway two potent icons of the sixties , the talented camera of Norman Jewison , a n extraordinarily well built script and the most erotic chess game ever made in the cinema story and after that you will obtain one of the most gratifying movies in that decade .
Norman Jewison confirms why he was one of the most innovative filmmakers in those ages when he decides to make a film with basic structures close to the Film Noir but with a handful of surprising twists along this clever film . He put elegance , refinement , eroticism , humor and cynicism and the mix was very successful . The last influences received from the European style specially Henri Verneuil in his film Any number can win are clear , but the seduction process in which investigator and thief are involved is carried with aristocratic style .
A cult movie all the way
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