Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Thomas Crown Affair
(1968)

60%

A slick and modish thriller that never fully escapes its genre roots because the love affair at the heart of the story fails to convince. Partly this is because Steve McQueen is not a good enough actor to pull off such a demanding role. And partly because the script has no real idea how to present its theme of a materially successful man and his inability to find inner happiness. The characters are too thin and the movie thus ends up being as spiritually empty as many of its characters because it posits no other environment than the 'funny, dirty little world' they all inhabit. What should have been an elegant and stylish ménage à trois falls somewhat flat.

Faye Dunaway does not disgrace herself here and makes the most of her leading yet meager role by doing a kind of Diana Rigg impersonation. Each scene features her in a different, modish and fetching outfit that keeps viewer interest running along just nicely. But the final emotional climax does not live up to its self important musical scoring because the two stars simply lacked sexual chemistry over and above the merely erotic. This movie is fun so long as you do not take it too seriously and, in the final analysis, let us hope the leads were paid enough money to make it all worth their while.


Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

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