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Powerful

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

For some reason, I very much love "heist" movies, perhaps because I would never steal anything in my life and I guess opposites attract. While I don't quite like this one as well as I love the Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway "Thomas Crown Affair," another heist movie with great style from the 70s, the marvelous Henry Mancini soundtrack and the involvement of Ryan O'Neil, Jacqueline Bisset, and Warren Oates make this one a winner in my view. All those reviewers who declared the movie "dated" or "slow" are revealing their MTV-generation mind-rot, where if each frame doesn't flicker by in a quarter second or if the film isn't loaded with computer graphics or special effects, they get bored, because I really don't know what they are talking about--the movie moves along just fine for an adult. It seems that most of the action in the movie, and particularly each robbery, is practically a dance which is fluidly paired with the Mancini music. This is set up almost at the very beginning when the thief is perfecting his lock-picking, safe-cracking, and breaking-and-entering techniques, and it never lets up from there. I suppose, though, that if you don't like Henry Mancini, this movie is not for you.O'Neal demonstrates here his skills for comedy that he had put to even better use in the absolutely hilarious "What's Up Doc" with Barbra Streisand and Madeline Kahn (possibly the funniest movie ever made), also sharing with this movie cast members Austin Pendleton and Michael Murphy. Whereas O'Neal succeeds here with his charm and definite good looks, and he is clearly a good match for the beautiful, somewhat rebellious and "alternative" Jaqueline Bisset, the best pairing is probably the "cat and mouse" interaction with insurance investigator Warren Oates. This, too, is psychologically another example of "opposites attract," as despite being on nearly opposite poles, the two form a kind of mutual bond. Like prison guard and prisoner, they exist in the same realm of life, I guess.I also enjoyed O'Neal's two partners in crime, the nervous-but-excited fence played by Ned Beatty and his humorous boxer sidekick, played by Gregory Sierra.It was fun to see the early mainframe computer technology shown in the film (current at the time the film was made), which is what computers WERE when I started my adult working life (and which it seems they are going back to with all the servers and workstations, now). And I appreciated seeing the Houston setting, not often shown in films. As America's oil capital, Houston's prosperity rises and falls with the energy cycles and probably at the time the film was made, Houston was at one of its prosperity peaks. The beautiful mansions of the Texan oil rich (who aren't at all shy about spending their wealth on jewelry, art, and other luxury goods) quite reasonably make an attractive target for a thief.Thanks to video, I've been able to watch this movie many, many times, much in the same way that I might watch a music video--for the interaction of music and action, although in a more languid and less frenetic way. Not slow, not dated, but very much fun and quite beautiful and enjoyable.

Webster McGee (superbly realized by Ryan O'Neal) is bored into stupor by his career and life, so much so that his wife (Jill Clayburgh, sparkling in a minor but memorable appearance) left him, and he has come to agree with her for doing so. He also has decided that what all work, all financial endeavors, and all life comes down to is -- thievery. He decides to be true to himself and his newfound convictions and to become "an honest thief." To set his plan into action, he must find and control an unwilling accomplice (terrific performance by Charles Cioffi), and find two cohorts to dispose of the merchandise (hilariously sanctimonious Ned Beatty and street-not-so-wise Gregory Sierra) for profit. That's the premise, and Yorkin adds some incongruous bits along the way for spice and fun. He seduces and is seduced by Jacqueline Bisset, and meets a man who is almost his match in insurance investigator Dave Riley (Warren Oates -- a multifaceted and brilliant performance). Austin Pendelton has an off-the-wall role for comic relief that's perhaps a bit too silly for the otherwise sophisticated quasi-European anti-establishment satirical tone taken by the rest of the movie's tone. But, you have to allow Bud Yorkin one of these, don't you? There's also a fun car chase (sequence perhaps directed by co-writer and later action-director Walter Hill??), and one more ironic twist. The second half of the movie is dominated by the engaging cat-and-mouse game between McGee and Riley.I have now watched this movie three times and find it more enjoyable each time. The imagery in the first-third slows the pace a bit, but stick with it, and I think you will be well rewarded.

"The Thief Who Came to Dinner" is a missed opportunity. It's a comedy that isn't very funny and part suspense/mystery that has neither.Ryan O'Neal plays a jewel thief who falls for (and who wouldn't?) Jacqueline Bisset. Meanwhile insurance investigator Warren Oates is hot on O'Neal's trail.It's a slight film with a few chuckles but nothing else. The film came and went quickly in 1972. It's easy to see why. None of the actors are given much of anything to do outside of O'Neal and his character is not interesting enough to sustain a whole movie.

Ryan O'Neal was so clever and seductive in this movie, I wanted to go to bet with him too. The focal point of the movie is the fascinating love story -- not between O'Neal and Bisset or between O'Neal and Jill Clayburgh -- both of which were quite entertaining, but the cerebral symbiotic linkage between Warren Oates and O'Neal. This has to be Oates' best performance of all time. Young Ned Beatty and Charles Cioffi are very good --leading a quite capable supporting cast. Very enjoyable movie.