The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)-Norman Jewison

I remember around 1999 when the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair was released featuring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo and how I had little interest in seeing it. This was during the days of my utter distaste for the rich and powerful and based upon the sneak previews it seemed to be nothing more than opulent and beautiful people playing a game of cat and mouse.

Time goes on, horizons become broadened, tastes change. Surprisingly though, after having viewed the original from 1968, my original assumption proved to be rather accurate. Maybe not to a T, but close enough.

I hadn't really seen much of anything Steve McQueen had done up until about 5-6 years ago—his first film I watched in its entirety being The Getaway—and I rapidly came to be a big fan. In my youth, I never really gave much thought to the stars of yester-years unless they were in either an Friday the 13th or Halloween film. But as I grew older I came to realize that there is substantial merit behind the automatic reverence attached to names such as Wayne, Bogart, Cagney, Eastwood, Cooper, and McQueen. The ultimate anti-hero's of masculine cinema. The heavyweights that could both act and speak for men everywhere. Women wanted them, men wanted to be them.

After The Getaway I saw Bullitt, Papillion, and The Cincinnati Kid. Two stoic roles and one of a battered soul trying to survive a strenuous life of captivity.

In The Thomas Crown Affair, we see McQueen put on the shoes of a carefree playboy who becomes so acclimated at having everything for very little effort that he decides to challenge the system, in all of its entirety, to a heavyweight boxing match. The Police, Insurance companies, The IRS, Banking Institutions and all of their intimidating security are thrown to the ground and spit upon by this multi-millionaire that robs—not for the money, mind you—but for simple kicks. The thrill of dune-buggies and international travel is fun, sure, but masterminding a heist, and getting away with it, now that sounds like a blast!

The character of Thomas Crown felt like a natural fit for McQueen and he seemed to genuinely enjoy himself from the opening riffs of "The Windmills of Your Mind" all the way to the very end.

Faye Dunaway seemed pretty convincing as the private detective on his tail, and the array of the money-hungry heist men all fit in pretty well. The inevitable romance between Dunaway and McQueen felt like a more serious version of "What's Up Doc's?" Striesand and Ryan O'Neill, except that Dunaway wasn't nearly as quirky or skilled.

It was a fun flick. Surface deep with very shallow depth, but not too much that really creates an itch to re-watch and search for Easter eggs. Let alone necessitate a re-make, but Hollywood is always good for recycling old ideas instead of taking a chance on new ones when it wants to make a quick buck, so nothing new there.

Cool split screen action too. But, overall, rather pedestrian.

Stars: ***

Verdict: Pass

Cousins: Oceans 11, The Italian Job, The Great Gatsby, The Hot Rock, Entrapment, Swordfish