IMDb > The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
The Thomas Crown Affair
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The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) More at IMDbPro »

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The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) -- A very rich and successful playboy amuses himself by stealing artwork, but may have met his match in a seductive detective.
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Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   35,055 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 6% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John McTiernan
Writers (WGA):
Alan Trustman (story)
Leslie Dixon (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Thomas Crown Affair on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 August 1999 (USA) more
Tagline:
How do you get the man who has everything? more
Plot:
A very rich and successful playboy amuses himself by stealing artwork, but may have met his match in a seductive detective. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
3 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(69 articles)
Bradley Cooper To Star In Dark Fields
 (From Screenrush. 6 November 2009, 3:26 AM, PST)

Bradley Cooper Wandering Through ‘Dark Fields’
 (From Atomic Popcorn. 5 November 2009, 7:18 PM, PST)

User Comments:
A very good film, but a very average remake more (387 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Pierce Brosnan ... Thomas Crown

Rene Russo ... Catherine Banning

Denis Leary ... Michael McCann

Ben Gazzara ... Andrew Wallace
Frankie Faison ... Detective Paretti
Fritz Weaver ... John Reynolds
Charles Keating ... Friedrich Golchan

Mark Margolis ... Heinrich Knutzhorn

Faye Dunaway ... The Psychiatrist
Michael Lombard ... Bobby McKinley
Bill Ambrozy ... Proctor
Michael Bahr ... Proctor (as Michael S. Bahr)
Robert D. Novak ... Proctor (as Robert Novak)
Joe H. Lamb ... Proctor (as Joe Lamb)

James Saito ... Paul Cheng
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for some sexuality and language.
Runtime:
113 min
Country:
USA
Colour:
Colour
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS
Company:
United Artists more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The idea of unusual heat in the museum rendering thermal cameras useless came from director John McTiernan's earlier movie Predator (1987). In that movie, McTiernan's actual thermal cameras began to fail when the jungle temperature broke 90 degrees Fahrenheit. more
Goofs:
Continuity: The coffee cup Catherine is sipping from as she watches Crown leave the police station changes from standard NYC "Greek-style," to plain, back to "Greek-style" between shots. more
Quotes:
John Reynolds: Tommy, that's a hundred thousand dollars on a goddam golf swing!
Thomas Crown: It's a beautiful Saturday morning, John... What the hell else have we got to do?
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in La très très grande entreprise (2008) more
Soundtrack:
THE COMPLICATED MAN more

FAQ

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19 out of 29 people found the following comment useful.
A very good film, but a very average remake, 25 March 2000
6/10
Author: ~?~§íX~?~

Well, what can I say after watching this film, being a fan of the original. To begin with, I enjoyed it as it was almost a 90's play by play remake, and I am always pleased to see how a 60's or 70's classic would have looked 20 something years later. The early scenes in the film were very close to the original, with the business deal going through, and then Crown going to observe the heist; although participating this time around, and so, with what I saw I saw a hell of a lot of promise to shine up to the original. The heist seems in both are superbly conceived and very well filmed, with just the right amount of tension about the problems arising. Good stuff.

Enter Russo, dressed as a total Dunaway clone (Remember the headscarf?) and with some scenes of total over acting which could have worked well but on the whole didn't. Where Russo seems to let go and enjoy herself is a slip mistake that the character would never have done; Dunaway ALWAYS kept her cool in the original.

Enter the cat and mouse thriller element of the film. I have seen a few reviews here that say that this dragged the film along, slowing it down considerably. However, this film, in both versions, is not about a robbery, it is about the chase. The point of the film is the exchanges between the two protagonists, each trying to catch the other out; and this is the brilliance of the film, because it isn't a visual action plot with little in it that so many films are today. This makes you watch, this makes you observe and it makes you think.

Moving on to the character of Crown by Brosnan. Some people have said that Brosnan was hollow and one dimensional, with no background to his motivation to the robbery. This is EXACTLY the point and this is why the ending of the 1999 version does NOT work. Thomas Crown only has two things that he cares about: Greed and acquisition. The scene in both versions with the business deal at the beginning is the evidence at this, with the corporate suits joking about "Thomas Crown actually selling something" then we find out that he only sold it because, unknown to them, they were offering 30 million more than anyone else. All Crown cares about is possessing as much as he can, this is why he has been alone all this time. And, with this being the point of the character, that is why the ending of the film is so disappointing and unbelievable compared to the original. Crown desired to own the painting and he would not have given this up for the love of a woman, because, although it is obvious he wants a woman to love him, he cannot love women, because he can only love what he owns, and he wants to own everything. The original version, with McQueen deceiving Dunaway, after she betrayed him and then leaving her on the plane is a much more convincing ending.

Another unconvincing aspect is the comparison between the McQueen/Dunaway and Brosnan/Russo relationships. Firstly, the dance scene comes nowhere near comparison to the chess scene of the original; and the dance scene is very poorly filmed as well. The chess scene showed both characters attempts at dominance over each other, their lust to win over each other, and they sexual tension between them as they play with the chess pieces, slowly and seductively. The dance scene is a quick montage of unclear movement with the only piece of sexual tension being Brosnan laying his hands on Russo. All the dominance that Dunaway had in the original was disposed of and Russo caved into to sleeping with Crown very easily. Then, there is the Brosnan/Russo sex scene; which in my opinion was HIGHLY unnecessary. McQueen and Dunaway never needed to do a nude scene together, as the sexual tension between the two was so obvious that it could be cut with a bread knife. However, Brosnan and Russo do not have that touch, the spark was nowhere near as big, and the inclusion of a nude scene still does not bring it anywhere near the status of attraction that the original couple had.

This film could have been a classic remake if it didn't try to be so politically correct. The only reason why the remake switched from a bank heist to art theft is because, in today's world, armed robbery cannot be presented as an elegant theft. This is ridiculous, as the reason that the original's heist was so smooth was because of the planning, timing and element of no one of the criminals meeting until midway through the heist; all goes on while McQueen watches from across the road. Where was the planning and recruitment in this remake? Oh yes, Russo mentioned it so quickly, it would have been dismissed faster than one of Brosnan's butler's lines. And the idea of a happy ending, with both of the characters, now definitely lovers, flying off into the sunset with plans for happiness together. Garbage. These two characters are selfish and greedy because they only look at for number one in a dog eats dog world. McQueen's Crown saw this, knowing to drop Dunaway or go to jail; and this PC happy ending is just not compatible with this film; as with a cat and mouse thriller, someone has to lose.

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