''Thief'' is the first theatrical film to be written and directed by Michael Mann, who received an Emmy for his television movie ''The Jericho Mile.'' Mr. He avoids any continuing gang connections, that is, until he meets Jesse (Tuesday Weld), a tarnished but exceptionally chic cashier in a coffee shop, a young woman with a mysterious past that apparently includes having lived with a now-dead, big-time narcotics dealer.Īfter Frank pushes Jesse around a bit (he's expressing his affection for her), the two of them decide they love each other and that, perhaps, they can beat fate and together achieve what the old song describes as ''blue heaven,'' a house in the suburbs and a baby to make them three. He enjoys the freedom of the open contract. He makes a good living acting as his own boss. Though Frank works with Barry (James Belushi), a faithful, Tontolike assistant, he is essentially a loner. Frank stays away from bulky loot like furs and from things that can be traced - bonds, treasury notes, coin collections and such.
The title character is a youngish, used-car dealer named Frank (James Caan), an ex-con who makes his real living as a thief specializing in safe-cracking and big hauls in cash or diamonds.
''THIEF,'' which opens today at the Cinerama and other theaters, takes place mostly in Chicago though the actual setting is in the twilight land halfway between gritty gangster melodrama and that world where writers meditate self-consciously on the sorrows of life.