The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

It could have been so much better, 12 August 2006

Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) is a wealthy man. Wealthy – yes. Satisfied with life – no. He needs some excitement in his life. He needs a challenge. Crown concocts a plan to rob a local Boston bank. He hires five men who know nothing of each other to carry out his scheme. Things go just as Crown planned – Crown has the money, no one was caught, and the police are completely baffled. The perfect crime! But Crown wasn't counting on the ruthless, hard-nosed insurance investigator (Faye Dunaway) sent to find the daring bank robbers. And Crown certainly wasn't expecting the insurance investigator to be so beautiful.

The Thomas Crown Affair starts off with a bang. The film opens with an intelligent, well-planned, and cleverly written bank heist. Unfortunately, the bank heist only takes 20 minutes of the film's runtime. The 60s were full of these ingenious crime/caper/heist films and had the remainder of The Thomas Crown Affair lived-up to the promise of the first act, it might have been one of the better examples of the crime/caper/heist film ever made. But things fall apart shortly after Dunaway makes her appearance. She's neither very believable in her role nor do she and McQueen have any on screen chemistry. I will admit that the first meeting between McQueen and Dunaway was interesting, but their cat and mouse game soon gets very tiring. Their scenes together feel forced and unnatural. Many of the reviews on The Thomas Crown Affair highlight "the chess scene" and go so far as to call it "sexy". If by "sexy" they mean too long, too drawn out, and too dull, then I guess it's "sexy".

Director Norman Jewison seems intent on using every single ridiculous camera trick at his disposal. Split-screens, gel lenses, and psychedelic colors are only a few examples of what Jewison has up his sleeve. Here's an idea – just tell your story. The camera tricks do nothing but help to destroy whatever flow and pacing the film might have had. A few of these techniques is okay, too many becomes distracting.

Other than the opening 20 minute heist scene, the only other real highlight is the film's final twist as Crown pulls the wool over the eyes of the insurance investigator. It's a nice ending for The Thomas Crown Affair and helps to make up for some of what came before. And fortunately for us, it's a signal that we will no longer be subjected to the terrible on screen pairing of McQueen and Dunaway.

6/10