Thief (1981)

Plot: A Jewel Thief hooks up with the mob, and learns to regret it.
Stars: James Caan, Tuesday Weld

Thief suffers from some big problems.

• We get a lot of scenes where we see Caan stealing stuff, but none of it is interesting or clever. It’s all tension free.  We never think Caan is in danger of being caught. And the ending shoot-out is bloody but boring
• Ala "Miami Vice" we get a pounding soundtrack.  But that cant make dull scenes exciting. 
• The entire Tuesday Weld subplot is boring. Its seems to serve two purposes: To pad out the movie and draw in women viewers. But Weld is given no believable dialogue and her character is paper thin.
• James Caan is usually a likable actor.  But the dialogue and delivery makes him unlikable. And he simply isn’t “Cool” enough or tough enough to carry off the Film noir dialogue. One hundred minutes of Jimmy Caan is too much, he just doesn’t  acting chops to carry a movie. This one needed Pacino or De Niro.
• I didn’t care about lead character. But then what’s to like? His surly attitude? His arrogance? His desire to be rich without working? His willingness to steal and kill?
• Unrealistic characters, dialogue, and situations. Caan is always the smartest guy in the room. Also, tougher, more skilled and more courageous. He’s a film-noir superman. His only mistake is trusting the Mob Boss in order to get a baby for his wife. Otherwise, he can out-talk, out-cuss, out-fight, out-steal, and out-shoot everyone. He always knows exactly where to go, and exactly what to do. And somehow, after 11 years in jail, he has no problem running a successful used car business. Or penetrating the mob bosses lair. Or stealing zillions in jewels
• In order to make this criminal our “Hero”, Michael Mann makes Caan the crook with the heart of gold. He owns a bar and used car lot and everyone loves him. After a heist, he shares a bag of bagels and small talk with an old black man fishing on the lake. He wants a family and a house with a white Pickett fence (just one more score), he rescues a damaged waitress who can’t have kids and marries her, he grieves for his “The father I never had” who dies in prison, and he wants nothing to do with stealing from homes, just big jewel heists or “cash”.
• And he’s the most noble man in the film. Unlike the mob boss, the corrupt cops, the crooked judges, and the nasty unfeeling social workers and adoption agency employees, this “Thief” just wants what’s right. Sure, he’s a crook who steals other people’s valuables, but damn it, he has principles!
• So when the mob boss betrays him, and kills his “Jimmy Caan worshipping” sidekick, he does what any superman/filmnoir/noble person would do. He blows up his car business, his house, his bar, and sends his wife/baby away with $400,000 dollars. And then kills the mob boss and six henchmen and then walks away. The only man in America with a code of honor.

Summary:  This was Michael Mann's first draft for Heat.  Watch that instead.