James Caan appearing at "Thief" Double Bill event

Today's Los Angeles Times gives mention of James Caan, star of Michael Mann's Thief, appearing in person at a double bill event this Friday.


Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Fri, April 15
7:30pm

http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/thief-hide-in-plain-sight


Here is an extract:

Caan will be appearing in person with Friday's double bill: 1981's "Thief," which marked Michael Mann's acclaimed feature debut, and Caan's own directing debut, 1980's "Hide in Plain Sight." Though the reviews were strong for the drama about a man who discovers that that his ex-wife's new husband has been put in the witness protection program and she and his children have joined him, the film was barely promoted and languished. He was so disappointed with the outcome, Caan never directed another film.

Full article here.

Tristan's Thief

It was a pleasure recently to read a new post by Tristan, a "follower" of this blog (using the term "follow" in the loosest of terms), in his blog Kirby Dots. It features an intelligent appraisel of Mann's film Thief, that brings an interest in the roots of film noir, it's french origins and influence on Mann. Michael Mann was of course in Paris a short time, involved with documentary film making. It would be a stretch though to see this as having any particular influence. Such influences come from a far deeper place.

There is much to Tristan's insightful study of Thief, and yet such examinations yield more questions. Tristan mentions towards the end the heroic, yet tragic nature of Mann's protaganists. Anti-heroes if you will. I think of The Insider, and how both characters gain something, but at the same time lose something.

Read Tristan's blog for youself, and enjoy his panache, using vocabulary such as Peckinpahesque, Mephistophelian and simulacra. Good stuff! (a term to stretch my own level of expository!). I look forward Tristan to future posts.

You can see Tristan's blog repeated on www.hollywood-elsewhere.com, where there are some useful pieces of information fed by those leaving comments.

See a classic clip from Thief below:

Thief Opening Sequence

Here is a youtube clip of the Opening Sequence to Mann's very early film, Thief, with James Caan. THere is one clip where a car disappears down a converging road with converging lights, which is very reminiscent of the the opening shot in heat, the train that De Niro steps off. Mann seems to repeat a lot of visual symbolism in his films and I really respond to that. It's an artist's stamp.