The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)

For some reason, I very much love "heist" movies, perhaps because I would never steal anything in my life and I guess opposites attract. While I don't quite like this one as well as I love the Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway "Thomas Crown Affair," another heist movie with great style from the 70s, the marvelous Henry Mancini soundtrack and the involvement of Ryan O'Neil, Jacqueline Bisset, and Warren Oates make this one a winner in my view. All those reviewers who declared the movie "dated" or "slow" are revealing their MTV-generation mind-rot, where if each frame doesn't flicker by in a quarter second or if the film isn't loaded with computer graphics or special effects, they get bored, because I really don't know what they are talking about--the movie moves along just fine for an adult. It seems that most of the action in the movie, and particularly each robbery, is practically a dance which is fluidly paired with the Mancini music. This is set up almost at the very beginning when the thief is perfecting his lock-picking, safe-cracking, and breaking-and-entering techniques, and it never lets up from there. I suppose, though, that if you don't like Henry Mancini, this movie is not for you.O'Neal demonstrates here his skills for comedy that he had put to even better use in the absolutely hilarious "What's Up Doc" with Barbra Streisand and Madeline Kahn (possibly the funniest movie ever made), also sharing with this movie cast members Austin Pendleton and Michael Murphy. Whereas O'Neal succeeds here with his charm and definite good looks, and he is clearly a good match for the beautiful, somewhat rebellious and "alternative" Jaqueline Bisset, the best pairing is probably the "cat and mouse" interaction with insurance investigator Warren Oates. This, too, is psychologically another example of "opposites attract," as despite being on nearly opposite poles, the two form a kind of mutual bond. Like prison guard and prisoner, they exist in the same realm of life, I guess.I also enjoyed O'Neal's two partners in crime, the nervous-but-excited fence played by Ned Beatty and his humorous boxer sidekick, played by Gregory Sierra.It was fun to see the early mainframe computer technology shown in the film (current at the time the film was made), which is what computers WERE when I started my adult working life (and which it seems they are going back to with all the servers and workstations, now). And I appreciated seeing the Houston setting, not often shown in films. As America's oil capital, Houston's prosperity rises and falls with the energy cycles and probably at the time the film was made, Houston was at one of its prosperity peaks. The beautiful mansions of the Texan oil rich (who aren't at all shy about spending their wealth on jewelry, art, and other luxury goods) quite reasonably make an attractive target for a thief.Thanks to video, I've been able to watch this movie many, many times, much in the same way that I might watch a music video--for the interaction of music and action, although in a more languid and less frenetic way. Not slow, not dated, but very much fun and quite beautiful and enjoyable.

"The Thief Who Came to Dinner" is a missed opportunity. It's a comedy that isn't very funny and part suspense/mystery that has neither.Ryan O'Neal plays a jewel thief who falls for (and who wouldn't?) Jacqueline Bisset. Meanwhile insurance investigator Warren Oates is hot on O'Neal's trail.It's a slight film with a few chuckles but nothing else. The film came and went quickly in 1972. It's easy to see why. None of the actors are given much of anything to do outside of O'Neal and his character is not interesting enough to sustain a whole movie.

Okay, what do you need to perfect or make a good movie about theivery? A strong plot or a good source to base it on. B.fleshed out and fun characters C.a fun storyline or D.all of the above. If you said all of the above, that's right. These are the central elements that makes "The Thief Who Came to Dinner", worth checking out. Okay, first off this a dated 70's film that will probably turn off most people, but if you don't take it seriously as it tries to be, it's worth it's running time. Ryan O'Neal stars as Webster McGee, a computer programmer who one day ups and quits his somewhat cushy job and becomes a burglar. McGee is a very cocky, fun-loving guy, who you wouldn't suspect as being someone who'd break into your home and steal things. That he does it with such precision, so much so that he has an investigator played by the late Warren Oates hot on his trail. While playing mind games with Oates, he falls in love with Laura (Jacqueline Bisset), who knows what he does and accepts him for it, which goes unexplained in the movie. Director Bud Yorkin does a very good job here directing from Walter Hill's adapted screenplay. But it if was tighter paced, it would've been a lot more fun. There are times where the film lags and it really feels as it's missing something. There are alot of nice and breezy sequences prefectly shot by Director of Photograph Phillip Lanthrop. Henry Mancini's score is absolutely fabulous and arguably one of his more underrated gems. A little more energy would've gone a long way with this one. On the whole, I'd recommend it for it's performances and definetly rooting for the Chess Burglar.

A movie I finally got to see the whole way thru. Warren Oates made this flick. VERY 70s but still lots of fun. Slow and sappy at times but fun to watch to identify all the actors and try to place them in other flicks they've done. Great cast and just plain fun. Did I mention fun?