IS “THIEF” (1981 MOVIE) A MARXIST-THEMED INDICTMENT OF CAPITALISM?
“I want you to work until you are burned out, you are busted, or you’re dead.”
— Leo (the mob boss played by Robert Prosky in Thief)
Thief is a Marxist movie.
Really — it is.
And that’s what makes Michael Mann’s directorial debut so compelling, so timeless, so riveting, and so multi-layered….though the deeper meaning and hidden message was missed by audiences when this crime thriller-caper was released 45 years ago.
Thief (1981) was shown on one of the classic movie channels this past weekend. I put it on as background noise. But, I soon found myself pulled into this vastly underrated film that I hadn’t seen, nor remembered, in many years. It’s worth revisiting, and re-evaluating, now.
This isn’t your typical crime drama. James Caan, in one of his very best screen roles, plays a safecracker who agrees to pull off one last heist and big score. He’s hoping to do this one final big job, get out, take his money, and retire. Caan is us. He becomes our working-class hero.
The connection and conflict between contradictory forces are all right there in the dialogue. Motivation and ambition are driven by Marx’s “labor theory of value.”
“I can see my money is still in your pocket, which is from the yield of my labor.”
“You’re making big profits from my work, my risk, my sweat, but that is okay. because I elected to make that deal. But now, the deal is over and I want my end.”
(and delivered with dripping sarcasm) ….. “Join a labor union.”
As great as Caan is as the “Thief,” the mob-boss villain (played by Robert Prosky) may be even better. Prosky, often typecast as the jovial grandfather, or Santa Claus, or the family’s favorite uncle in so many smaller roles, including Robin Williams’ jolly boss in Mrs. Doubtfire, isn’t someone to be crossed. He seems to have his laborers’ best interests at heart, but the loin’s share of profits are going straight into his pocket. When that’s threatened, he devolves into a vicious and vindictive sociopath.
Organized crime as a metaphor for capitalism is nothing new. While the perpetual class struggle between owners and laborers has been explored before in movies, Thief makes no attempt to mask these comparisons. Caan slowly becomes wielded to responsibilities which turn into a chain of obligations — money, home, family…..force Caan to do one job, and then another. Life becomes a hamster wheel.
Throughout the movie, from one scene to the next, Caan plays by the rules. He doesn’t make waves. He obeys the chain of command. He goes along with the system. That is, until they all betray him.
This scene perfectly sums up the socio-economic game and then shows the rug pull — 3 min. video:
