Unfortunately, the powerful Chicago Outfit boss Leo (Robert Prosky) has other ideas for how Frank could be useful to him.
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Though things are going well for Frank, our pragmatic professional is smart enough to know to quit while he’s ahead, especially as he hopes to build a life with his new girlfriend Jessie (Tuesday Weld) and adopt a son together. Once Snorky’s tax evasion landed him in federal prison and McGurn paid the piper in a North Milwaukee Avenue bowling alley, entertainment once again became the primary focus of the Green Mill, attracting icons like Billie Holiday and featuring the longest running poetry slam in the United States. The source material was the 1975 novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar by “Frank Hohimer”, a real-life criminal named John Seybold who served as an on-set technical advisor despite the pending FBI warrants against him.Īs the eponymous thief, James Caan’s Frank establishes an early template for the professional criminals that populate Mann’s work, subdued in appearance and demeanor but ruthless against any target getting in the way of his payday…and his freedom.įronting his criminal enterprises, Frank owns both a car dealership and the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, a real jazz club in uptown Chicago that opened in 1910 and grew famous for its associations with Prohibition-era figures like Al Capone, “Machine Gun” McGurn, and Texas Guinan. Michael Mann-born today in 1943-directed (and wrote) his feature-length debut, Thief, a moody neo-noir thriller that would portend his particular brand of stylized crime dramas to follow like Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral, as well as his work on the landmark series Miami Vice.
James Caan as Frank, professional jewel thief James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981) Vitals