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General: Minor Films   no photo.
TitleThief (1981)
Alternative/Original TitleViolent Streets
DisabilityGeneral Angina
CountryUSA
Length122
GenreThriller
Rating4
DirectorMichael Mann
CastJames Caan Tuesday Weld Willie Nelson James Belushi
NotesThis is an early Michael Mann heist thriller which forms the basis of the later "Heat" (1991). James Caan plays the leader of a small gang of specialist thieves who a mob try to take over. Caan is fiercely independent and has his own morality and loyalty. Willie Nelson is an old prison mate who says he has angina and is given only 10 months to live. He has 10 months to serve on his sentence and doesn't want to die in prison. Caan pays for a judge to be bribed and Nelson is released early and appears by the film's chronology to die almost immediately he's out of prison. It is unclear to me how a time of death can be set on someone who has angina. You can live for years with this heart condition. The film isn't as sharp as the later version. The 'talky' and the heist sequences are overlong but there are some interesting characters and performances, notably Caan and Weld.

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