Thieves Like Us
1974 Directed by Robert Altman
Synopsis
Bowie, a youthful convicted murderer, and bank robbers Chicamaw and T-Dub escape from a Mississippi chain gang in the 1930s. They hole up with a gas station attendant and continue robbing banks.Bowie, who is injured in an auto accident, takes refuge with the daughter of the gas station attendant, Keechie. They become romantically involved but their relationship is strained by Bowie's refusal to turn his back on crime.The film is based on the novel Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson. The novel is also the source material for the 1949 film They Live by Night, directed by Nicholas Ray.
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Thieves Like Us is an Altman adaptation of the same-titled Edward Anderson novel that follows three criminals robbing banks in the American South. Those familiar with Altman's work will recognize his style and have an idea of what to expect from the get go. Others may be surprised by how the film sneaks comedy bits into a big chunk of drama and avoids almost anything action-related despite having the tagline "Robbing 36 banks was easy. Watch what happens when they hit the 37th".
It's quite an uneventful film where most of the time is spent presenting the robbers' mundane existence, as they hang out in their scruffy safe houses joking around or have everyday conversations with their lovers. They seem…
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Who would win in a fight: Shelley Duvall or a pack mule?
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Altman's never not interesting. When the American dream is a bottle of Cola and your name in the paper (give or take an armed robbery or 37) what more could one want?
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Thieves Like Us is an Altman adaptation of the same-titled Edward Anderson novel that follows three criminals robbing banks in the American South. Those familiar with Altman's work will recognize his style and have an idea of what to expect from the get go. Others may be surprised by how the film sneaks comedy bits into a big chunk of drama and avoids almost anything action-related despite having the tagline "Robbing 36 banks was easy. Watch what happens when they hit the 37th".
It's quite an uneventful film where most of the time is spent presenting the robbers' mundane existence, as they hang out in their scruffy safe houses joking around or have everyday conversations with their lovers. They seem…
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I'm a big Altman fan, and THIEVES hits many of the traditional Altman notes but doesn't quite mesh with the best. It's imperfections, however, become charming like Shelley Duvall, in well, just about anything. Great dialogue fuels the film.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Under-seen Altman period crime film shot by French New Wave cinematographer Jean Boffety and featuring an opening tracking shot nearly as impressive as that in "The Player" but set in rural Mississippi and with a tone more akin to "McCabe and Mrs. Miller." With its unadorned acting and honest embrace of roughshod characters, this should be included in classic 70s film retrospectives. Altman staple Bert Remsen's laugh as he reads a note ("If you can't trust a trustee, who can you trust?") alone is priceless. In summary: "Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The shadow knows!" "My only love, sprung from my only hate."
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Quietly desperate portrait of a trio of Depression-era bank robbers, as their last times tick away on a wristwatch, this is a poetic study of modern America in the making as radio fiction, news and advertising start dealing everyone the cards with the roles available for the big game. Shelley Duvall's and Keith Carradine's performances are a special highlight in what adds up to way more than a remake of 1948's "They Live by Night"
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Weird Robert Altman adaptation of the novel of the same title. I'd read the novel, but it's been long enough that I'm not 100% sure what he changed, exactly. Still some nice "slice-of-life" stuff with poor bank robbing white trash in 1930s Mississippi, but Shelly Duval really didn't fit my image of Keechee "Little Soldier" Mobley. A decent drama if you want something off the beaten path.
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Altman's take on the 'outlaw couple' is fittingly honest and human. A charming young Bowie (Keith Carradine) falls into a life of crime, his folksiness giving him a decent edge as bank robber. Hardly the scheming sort, he falls in with more mature players and enjoys success until the heat catches up.
He and Keechie (Shelley Duvall) become involved during a radio play rendition of Romeo and Juliet. They share as star-crossed a romance as any relationship of this kind might, with enough naivety and hope to keep things interesting.
Great images of 1930's Mississippi.
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Who would win in a fight: Shelley Duvall or a pack mule?