The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Directed by Norman Jewison. Starring Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston, Biff McGuire, Astrid Heeren.

Luxuriant crime caper with McQueen as Thomas Crown, a millionaire who hatches bank robberies more for the thrill than the payout, and Dunaway as the insurance agent investigating (and romancing) him. Empty entertainment, with hardly any meat to the plot or refinement to the characters. It’s all about the photography, the affluent style, the unconcerned attitude; all three aspects may steam up when the chic leads approach combustion, particularly during the famous “chess seduction” scene, but no real emotion is ever cracked, resulting in climactic indifference at their fates. The Christopher Chapman-designed “multi-dynamic image technique” is more an unneeded distraction than eye-filling exhilaration, so be grateful that it’s used sparingly. Viewers who love soaking in the “lifestyles of the rich and famous” milieu may rate this higher. Shot by Haskell Wexler and scored by Michael Legrand; the latter won an Oscar (alongside lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman) for the hit song, “The Windmills of Your Mind.” Yaphet Kotto has a small role as one of Crown’s unknowing accomplices. Remade in 1999.

67/100