At first I cast about for a digital stream of To Live and Die in LA (1985), the movie, directed by the great William Friedkin, that helped launch Dafoe's productive film career.
Unable to find anything other than a Blu-ray Disc, one of the titles that did pop up during my search was Michael Mann's Thief (1981), probably because William L. Petersen is in both (in Thief he has a cameo as an out-gunned bartender trying to defend Tuesday Weld's honor from an angry James Caan):
I have seen Thief several times. The first time was not much longer after its theatrical release. I was a high-school student staying at a motel with the rest of the debate team during a tournament at the University of Oregon when HBO televised it. I remember vividly the shoot-out climax and immediately prior to the shoot out, during the scene where James Caan arms up and boots Tuesday Weld out, the cleanliness and modernity of the bathroom and bedroom of their home.
I have probably watched Thief a couple more times since that first viewing. It is two hours and there is plenty of excellent dialogue . This time I wore headphones to make sure I would capture all the audio. That helped. I picked up a lot of minutiae that in the past has blown by me.
Tangerine Dream provides the soundtrack. The opening heist sequence with all the electronic paraphernalia on display announces that, along with the score provided by Tangerine Dream, in 1981 we are in a new era.
James Caan is brilliant. His performance is timeless. Michael Mann captures the essence of the male search. How do I get what I want and stay a true warrior?
The answer?
Give up what you want.
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