Synopsis: Ace safe-cracker is unwisely tempted to join the Mob for 'one last big job'
Director: Michael Mann
Actors: James Caan. Tuesday Weld, James Belushi, Robert Prosky, Willie Nelson
Date: 1981
How viewed: Lovefilm rental
Rating: 4/5
David Meyer says:
Stylish, moody, trendy in the best possible way, nice explosions, guns galore, ex-cops as character actors, and plenty of Armani...
I say:
This film has such a lot going for it that it ought to be a 5 star, but something somewhere jars. James Caan is Frank, an ace safe-cracker who dreams of a normal life - home, wife, family - but takes a risk by doing a job for the mafia in order to make a pile of money quickly. Of course, once he's in, he can't get out. The 2 robberies are fantastic - a crash course in safe-cracking to a pounding Tangerine Dream soundtrack - it must have been stunning in the cinema! Indeed the one aspect that makes this really worth watching is the style - every scene is beautifully set - the rainy streets of Chicago, the reflections, the wind in the trees, external scenes of bars, houses and factories, and the shot where Frank sits back and has a cigarette after the second safe-cracking is wonderful. I can even put up with the fact that it was made in the 80's - big cars, big hair, big shoulders, big Aviator glasses - and Caan and Tuesday Weld are (nearly) great, but Belushi is a bit jarring, the whole family back-story slows the action, and Willie Nelson is a strange choice! So, I think it's the final scenes that lose this film a star - this was no real violence until the end, which made the shoot-out feel a bit of a cop-out. Anyway, still worth a watch - for Michael Mann's style, the music by Tangerine Dream, AND the Mighty Joe Young Blues Band, and for numerous shots of Chicago's Green Mill Cocktail Lounge - yay!
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