Thief

One of the great forgotten movies of the early 1980s is Thief, a crime thriller starring James Caan as a diamond thief who, searching for a way out of his life of crime, manages to enmesh himself deeper and deeper until there seems to be no way out.

It starts pretty simply: Caan, as Frank, is a car dealer by day, high-powered diamond thief by night. The movies starts with him making a heist, then meeting his fence at the local coffee shop. When his assistant (James Belushi) goes to make the pick-up, there's a problem: the fence has taken a walk out of a high window with Frank's money, and the money is nowhere to be found.

In pursuit of his now missing ill-gotten gains, frank runs across Leo, played by a surprisingly menacing Robert Prosky (another one of those actors you've never heard of but know on sight). Leo gives Frank the missing cash and offers an interesting proposition: Frank can work directly for him, pulling down jobs all over the country, guaranteed cash, fixed prices, and a solid safety net.

This appeals to Frank, because he's looking for a way out. A big score or two, and he can retire from the business and settle down with Jessie (Tuesday Weld), a cashier at the local coffee shop. He gives Leo the thumbs-up, and the two set to work on a major heist that will net Frank close to a million in cash, which is enough to set him up for life.

In the meantime, Frank uses Leo's connections to keep himself out of the hands of the crooked police who want in on the action, get himself and Jessie a house and a black market baby, and get his mentor Okla (Willie Nelson, yes, Willie Nelson) out of prison.

After the job, Frank wants out, but Leo isn't happy with that arrangement, and takes action to keep Frank on the job. What happens is really the bulk of the movie, as Frank disassembles the life he has carefully put together, figuring he'd rather life without his perfect life than live it on someone else's terms.

I won't spoil exactly what happens here, because the fascination of the movie is watching this man who wants nothing more than the real American dream--house, kids, cash, good job, etc.--build up this life for himself and watch it all come to pieces. Frank carries with him a picture he pieced together of everything he wants, and when he achieves it, he finds it comes at much too high a price.

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