This was director Michael Mann's(Collateral, Heat) first and in my opinion greatest film. James Caan plays a self employed diamond thief who has dreams of a normal life, complete with a house in the suburbs, a wife, and a child. He realizes that in order to do this he must give up his career as a thief. This all gets even more complicated when powerful gangster Robert Prosky gives him the opportunity to work with him on one last big score, which will give him enough money to quit and retire to a normal life. He soon realizes that if he stopped working for the gangster, his family will die and everything he owns will be taken away. This is a terrific film about a man with dreams that progessively get destroyed as he descends further and further into the world of crime. ***1/2 out of ****.
Review of Thief
