The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)

Memorable, crazy movie

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Although "The Thief Who Came to Dinner" has been branded a comedy, it really isn't - it's more of a drama with some lighter moments. The lighter moments, incidentally, aren't really all that amusing, possibly because they try to be extremely realistic at the same time instead of doing something absurd or satirical. The movie isn't that much more successful in the drama portion. There are some interesting ideas floated around, like the fact that the title character has an interest in being in high society, but these ideas don't really get worked on that much. The performances are okay; Ryan O'Neal does make his thief character somewhat likable (until the climatic museum heist, where he hurts people), and Warren Oates gives another solid performance, though he isn't give that much of substance to do. In the end, the movie is pretty forgettable, so much so that this die hard movie buff hadn't even heard of this movie until it appeared recently on Turner Classic Movie's schedule.

Look, this is 2010 or later. You've checked out Serpico, Mean Streets, The Godfather---all the obvious choices. But I just watched The Thief Who Came to Dinner last night, and it made me realize that there's probably a lot I've been missing. A lot of terrific movies that were maybe ignored or under-estimated when they first came out (for some reason or another) that are actually pretty great.Let me put it to you this way. if you're a guy (or a gal) with a sort of boring job, who's occasionally fantasized about chucking it all and just becoming a professional jewel thief---this is the movie you want to live in. Ryan O'Neal is handsome and charming, Jacqueline Bisset is beautiful, and Warren Oates is very Warren Oates-y. The story(by Walter hill, based on a novel) works, and you won't be left hanging by some typical early 70's drag ending (thank God)---I don't know what else to say. The Thief Who came to Dinner is a really good time. It should have made $100 million dollars in 1973. It's a tragedy (possible slight overstatement) that it didn't.

Okay, what do you need to perfect or make a good movie about theivery? A strong plot or a good source to base it on. B.fleshed out and fun characters C.a fun storyline or D.all of the above. If you said all of the above, that's right. These are the central elements that makes "The Thief Who Came to Dinner", worth checking out. Okay, first off this a dated 70's film that will probably turn off most people, but if you don't take it seriously as it tries to be, it's worth it's running time. Ryan O'Neal stars as Webster McGee, a computer programmer who one day ups and quits his somewhat cushy job and becomes a burglar. McGee is a very cocky, fun-loving guy, who you wouldn't suspect as being someone who'd break into your home and steal things. That he does it with such precision, so much so that he has an investigator played by the late Warren Oates hot on his trail. While playing mind games with Oates, he falls in love with Laura (Jacqueline Bisset), who knows what he does and accepts him for it, which goes unexplained in the movie. Director Bud Yorkin does a very good job here directing from Walter Hill's adapted screenplay. But it if was tighter paced, it would've been a lot more fun. There are times where the film lags and it really feels as it's missing something. There are alot of nice and breezy sequences prefectly shot by Director of Photograph Phillip Lanthrop. Henry Mancini's score is absolutely fabulous and arguably one of his more underrated gems. A little more energy would've gone a long way with this one. On the whole, I'd recommend it for it's performances and definetly rooting for the Chess Burglar.

A movie I finally got to see the whole way thru. Warren Oates made this flick. VERY 70s but still lots of fun. Slow and sappy at times but fun to watch to identify all the actors and try to place them in other flicks they've done. Great cast and just plain fun. Did I mention fun?