![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/t/thomascrownaffair68.jpg)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) is a wealthy New England currency trader with a tony mansion and lots of expensive, dangerous hobbies — including robbing banks. When he hires five strangers to nab $2.6 million in a daring daylight robbery, the job is so well planned that it leaves Boston's finest stumped. But after comparing airline tickets to Switzerland with former bank customers, insurance investigator Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway) picks out Crown as the perpetrator and chooses to confront him. Their subsequent love affair raises numerous questions of motive. Does she love him? Is she loyal to her job? Is he hoping to get caught? Or does he just get off on the danger of sleeping with the woman who wants to put him behind bars? Perhaps best-remembered for its use of multiple split-screens (gleefully mocked in one part of Austin Powers) and its swinging '60s score, much of director Norman Jewison's stylistics in The Thomas Crown Affair seem to have passed their sell-by dates, but the story still remains interesting, and McQueen delivers an unusual, enigmatic performance as the millionaire who seems to have it all but still needs more out of life. Also starring Paul Burke and Jack Weston, and with a brief appearance by Yaphet Kotto. MGM's second DVD release, included as part of their "Steve McQueen Collection," features a new, crisp transfer from a source-print that's nearly flawless. The Dolby Digital 1.0 audio is unimproved, although it's clear and pleasant. Also returning from the original disc are a commentary from director Norman Jewison and a theatrical trailer. Keep-case.
—JJB
