The Thomas Crown Affair
Directed by John McTiernan
- drama
- crime
- romance
The story
Bored billionaire executive Thomas Crown decides to plan a robbery and assigns a professional agent with the right information to the job. However, Crown is soon betrayed yet cannot blow his cover as he’s fallen in love.
What it’s like
Glossy late-nineties surfaces: sleek Boston offices in cool daylight, Manhattan penthouses in warm amber lamplight, and a Martinique sequence of saturated turquoise water and sun-bleached sand that turns the frame almost tropical. John McTiernan's camera loves split-screen flourishes, fluid tracking shots through galleries, and close two-shots that let a stare or a half-smile carry a whole scene. The score is brassy and lounge-jazzy, with Bacharach-style swing and a Sinatra-era sheen that gives the heists a playful, almost tuxedoed rhythm. Its vibe is stylish, flirtatious and cool-headed, a chess match you watch from a comfortable seat with a drink in hand, best for a late evening or a slow weekend when you want elegance rather than adrenaline. The pacing is brisk but unhurried between set pieces, and the tone stays light and sly even as deception piles up; the emotional arc follows a bored, controlled man slowly losing his grip to a woman who is always one step ahead of him. Violence is minimal and mostly off-screen, with brief scuffles and a few tense gunpoint moments; there is some sensuality but no explicit content. It suits viewers who love romantic caper movies, polished period-free style and a sophisticated battle of wits.
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