The Thomas Crown Affair
THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (PG)
D: Norman Jewison
United Artists (Norman Jewison)
US 1968
102 mins
Crime/Drama
W: Alan R. Trustman
DP: Haskell Wexler
Ed: Hal Ashby, Ralph E. Winters & Byron
Brandt
Mus: Michel Legrand
PD: Robert Boyle
Cos: Theodora Van Runkle, Ron Postal & Alan
Levine
Steve McQueen (Thomas Crown), Faye Dunaway (Vicky
Anderson), Paul Burke (Eddy Malone), Jack Weston (Erwin Weaver), Biff McGuire (Sandy), Yaphet Kotto (Carl)
Steve McQueen gives one of his most notable performances as
Thomas Crown, a self-made millionaire who masterminds a bank robbery simply to see if he can get away with it, even with sexy insurance investigator Vicky Anderson turning her focus to him and
eventually falling for his charms.
The story does get a little bogged down under the weight of
artistic directorial flourishes and gimmicks from Norman Jewison, such as split screen multi-images and other gimmicks, which only detract from the story.
This being said, it's a film which came out at the right time,
capturing the coolness of the late 1960's, but watching nowadays it's very much style and technique over story and characterisation, it's still worth a watch for the iconic chess scene, in which
the two leads smoulder over each other as they match wits.
The film was remade in 1999, starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene
Russo.
7/10
