12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Warren Oates chases jewel thief O'Neal with amusing results., November 19, 1999
This review is from: Thief Who Came to Dinner [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Ryan O'neal plays a computer programmer who after a divorce decides he is tired of his programmed life and becomes a cat burgler, leaving chess moves at each robbery as his calling card. Warren Oates plays the insurance investigator obscessed with bringing him in. Jacqueline Bisset plays the love interest who tumbles to Ryans life of crime but loves him anyway. This film has aspirations of being in the same league as To Catch A Thief and How To Steal a Million but doesnt quite make it. However this film isn't without it's fair share of charm. Especially in the interplay of cat and mouse between O'Neal and Oates. But just which one is the cat, and which is the mouse? <g>
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an honest thief - realistic portrayal of disgruntled NASA rocket scientist, March 4, 2007
This review is from: Thief Who Came to Dinner [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The opening scene is filmed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston showing buildings 5 (mission simulator) and 29 (centrifuge), and realistically portrays the kinds of things engineers there discuss and occasionally do.
I know because I was there. One intense intellectual guy suddenly quit to join the Hell's Angels. Another sailed around Latin America and married a Venezuelan woman half his age and hosted a strip club calendar shoot in his house. The recent incident in which an astronaut allegedly tried to kidnap a romantic rival wasn't unusual so much as it just got more media attention because an astronaut was involved.
Webster McGee is a Control Data employee (yes, they had Control Data computers onsite and a few employees) is tired of corrupt contracting at work and his corrupt accountant and is broke because his wife thought he was too boring and left him. A straight up guy, he's tired of the games and decides to become an "honest thief." He confronts the first guy he robs, admits he broke into his house, and asks to become his "friend." When the girl he meets asks what he does, he tells her he's a jewel thief. That's pretty honest.
David Riley, the overly serious insurance investigator, reminds Webster so much of his former self that Webster befriends him and helps him along by dropping clues. Still David cannot seem to quite catch Webster. Even the ex wife notices their similarity, which annoys David. Finally David realizes his own employer is corrupt. Eventually he is bound to get the drop on Webster. What path will David choose?
The ex notices the new Webster and feels cheated. How can she not have seen this exciting side of him? Webster says it was there all the time, deep inside. That's a pretty typical conversation between an engineer and an ex wife. Lots of guys I new at NASA got dumped by their wives in mid life for exactly this reason. They were reliable steady partners but their wives wanted to go wild. The wives never saw the true potential. In that respect this movie complements Something Wild in which wild girl Melanie Griffith spots the hidden rebel in Jeff Daniels right away.
Rocket scientists mess with the laws of nature for a living, and for fun. How can one expect they will not mess with the laws of society as well? And the laws of relationships? :D))
The movie is also filmed in Houston's posh River Oaks neighborhood, home to the execs who later cheated Enron's employees and shareholders out of billions. It accurately lays the foundation of the good old boy network that produced such excesses of corporate bad behavior. This seemingly superficial movie has a lot of stuff if you look for it, especially if you have ever lived in Houston. I just added a 5th star after reading my own review!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorite movies, January 17, 2005
This review is from: Thief Who Came to Dinner [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I discovered this movie back in the mid-1980s. It was playing on late night T.V. at the time. I watched it and loved it and went out of my way to watch it every time it was on T.V. Luckily, it later got a video release and I was able to buy a copy. Hopefully, it will come out on DVD sometime soon, too.
I've always thought Ryan O'Neal was underrated. The guy's great at comedy and drama. In this movie you get to see him do both. It's one of my favorite performances by him.
Also great in this movie is Warren Oates. Prior to seeing this, the only movie I'd seen him in was Stripes (he was Sarge Hulka.)
Even though he's sort of the bad guy in this, Oates is very likeable in his part. Plus, the relationship between his and O'Neal's characters is interesting. They're enemies, but they develop sort of a respect for each other. It's fun to watch.
I could see this movie being remade someday. Part of me would like to see that happen, but part of me hates the idea. This is one of those movies that is already perfect as it is. I can't see how a remake could even come close to the original.
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