Two more great movies about thieves: Michael Mann's tight "Thief," with a spicy script and one of James Caan's best performances as a high-stakes jewel thief drawn in for one last score. It has the bones of a cliche, but the flesh is full of life, particularly when Caan tries to walk the straight and narrow with Tuesday Weld, (his futile attempts at adopting a black-gook kid are hilariously desperate and naked). Fantastic, quotable movie. Only the shoot-down cowboy finale let me down. Willie Nelson co-stars briefly but memorably.



There's also  Peter Greenaway's grand guignol tale: "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and His Lover." Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren star in a moving Jacobean play, (moving because the camera tracks down the scenery changes: we go from stage to stage in some clockwork operatic scheme of horror.) Fantastic morality tale, leading to one gross-out pay-off that Dante would have grinned at approvingly.