Thief (1981)

poster by Midnight Marauder

Man oh (Michael) Mann is this an angry picture! It's kind of hard to believe that this was his first feature. The fury and venom that is spewed in this film's final fifteen minutes is so intense you'd think this the work of someone who had been kicked around the system for decades. Absolutely no mercy. I guess in the end this was a reaction against his time in the television trenches. I'm sure the speed of a TV shooting schedule in the 70's wasn't very conducive to Mann's perfectionist tendencies. This film is Michael Mann showing what he could do when given free reign. This was him putting it all on the table just in case this was his only shot at feature filmmaking. This was his statement of intent, and boy has his career delivered on that promise.