Watch Thieves Like Us For Free

Absolutely brilliant

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

After "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", film director Robert Altman returns to the period piece with this superb character study, the second film adaptation (after Nicholas Ray's 1949 "They Live by Night") of a story by Edward Anderson. In Depression era Mississippi, a trio of criminals - Bowie (Keith Carradine), Chicamaw (John Schuck), and T-Dub (Bert Remsen) - escape from prison and hole up temporarily in a farmhouse where Bowie makes the acquaintance of Keechie (Shelley Duvall), with whom he falls in love. While there are bursts of violence throughout, this is much more character than action oriented, with leisurely pacing by Altman that allows the convincing atmosphere to really take hold. The period recreation is stunning, from costumes to sets to cars, and helps the viewer to become really involved in the story, and the people on screen, who each have their own flaws and ambitions. One will notice that Altman goes for an unconventional choice of soundtrack here, as instead of a score he uses old radio programs to enhance scenes; programs like "The Shadow" are used for more serious scenes while a production of "Romeo & Juliet" can be heard over a lovemaking scene. This, more than anything, transports the viewer back in time, doing a better job than most any music score could. Sometimes funny, and sometimes shocking, "Thieves Like Us" is best when it gives its well chosen cast opportunities to really strut their stuff. They couldn't be better; Carradine has one of his best ever roles as Bowie, who's engaging whether he's sharing a scene with Keechie or a stray dog he's befriended. Schuck is vivid as the explosive, alcoholic Chicamaw, and the late Remsen is a delight as the cheerful T-Dub. These two are under rated performers whose names deserve a mention a little more often. Louise Fletcher has her first substantial film role as the tough, no-nonsense Mattie, Ann Latham is appealing as Lula, and Tom Skerritt contributes a scene stealing turn as the cantankerous Dee Mobley. This is one of those movies best appreciated by those who don't need a car chase or other kind of action scene every few minutes in their criminals-on-the-lam pictures. It really cares about character, ambiance, and nuance, and is about as good as this kind of thing gets, maintaining interest for a compelling 123 minutes of screen time. While watching, the viewer will be amused to note the fairly big part that product placement plays here, as the drinking of Coca Cola becomes a recurring theme. Eight out of 10.

I miss Altman. I miss the feeling of ease he allows.Some films are work. Some aren't worth it, while you do all sorts of conceptual shuffling to follow whatever structure the filmmaker designs. Or in the worst case which has not been consciously designed so needs to be mastered without help.But Altman doesn't create crystals with edges. He does not refract great truths. He simply observes. By this film, his technique of discovery is in full bloom. He never storyboarded or blocked a scene. He did not tell an actor where to go or look. He simply trusted the actors to inhabit their characters and trusted the camera to find them. The minimum was manufactured. This is dogma film-making before the oddly formed rigors of dogma were proposed to "free" cinema.What is remarkable about this film is not simply the flow of the images and narrative, but that of the sound. "McCabe" was, I think, his first serious work in understanding how sound can bleed. Later, he (and Malick) would explore other effective techniques of soundweaving. Here, we have a simple but very effective device. Most of the narrative comes not from what you see or are told. We hear the radio. We hear it when there is a radio turned on in the world we are watching. But we also hear it when our characters leave the world of repose and go do something. That something has a radio show — usually a crime drama — overlain. The immediate effect is that these guys are not robbing because they need money, or for some philosophical purpose. It is because it gives them identity, and that identity is defined here by radio. Just as the radio allows the imposition of identity on those we watch, the idea is that what we watch similarly imposes on us. Much of what we see the characters do is measure how effective their adoption of character is. "Bonnie and Clyde" was something notable among Hollywood films in 67. It advanced this notion a tiny bit, using a French film vocabulary. It will be hard to recognize that today because the French derived from Hollywood. Altman does a B&C that lasts, because his vocabulary is wholly original, discovered and adopted, not engineered.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

The novel by Anderson must not be very interesting because two noted directors have made average movies out of it: Nicholas Ray's "They Live by Night" in 1948 and this Altman version. At least Ray had the advantage of brevity; Altman's film moves very slowly and outstays its welcome. Carradine and Duvall don't click as well as Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell did in the earlier version. However, the supporting performances are better in the later film, including Fletcher in her film debut. This use of the radio as a commentary on the action is overdone, particularly in the scene where "Romeo and Juliet" plays on the radio while Carradine and Duvall are making out.

Back to the 30's, folks. I was there, I know. It wasn't that you saw Coke everywhere, it was the only soft drink you saw. There were no machines with a choice. There was a big red Coke cooler sitting at the service station, another outside the grocery. Some of them were serviced by the local ice company, that is; no motor, just ice. A lot of times they had a padlock on them, in other places you just lifted the lid, helped yourself and left your nickel. Later they graduated to some with slots where you could put your nickel. No point in showing people in this movie drinking anything else, except maybe iced tea. No one else had the coolers, and so all you saw was Coke. Add to that the amount of fountain coke we drank. And it took Robert Altman to make us all think about it.