The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers (WGA):

Alan Trustman (story)
Leslie Dixon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 August 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

How do you get the man who has everything?

Plot:

A very rich and successful playboy amuses himself by stealing artwork, but may have met his match in a seductive detective.

Plot Keywords:

Trust | Painting | Art | Museum | Billionaire

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality and language.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Polish | English | German | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:L | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Denmark:7 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | South Africa:PG | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Brazil:16 | Australia:MA (2009 DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG (original rating) (cut) | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

18 East 68th Street, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

In the elevator after the boardroom meeting, Thomas Crown and his subordinates quote from the 'Leonard Cohen' song "The Stranger Song": "Ah, you hate to see another tired man lay down his hand like he was giving up the holy game of poker."

Goofs:

Factual errors: The picture Crown steals is not the painting "Impression, Soleil Levant" that gave impressionism its name, but a picture of Venice, painted about 30 years later.

Quotes:

[at Crown's tropical resort]
Catherine Banning: Oh! This must go over!
Thomas Crown: With whom?
Catherine Banning: Whoever you bring here.
Thomas Crown: I never bring anyone here.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Tracey Fragments (2007)

Soundtrack:

BACK PORCH

Worth a Look

Without having seen the original version with Steve McQueen, I cannot give an opinion to which I like best. I did however enjoy this Pierce Brosnan remake. At the time of this writing the votes on this site between the two movies were only separated by a tenth of a point. It has mediocre to poor acting, but it is still quite entertaining. As a bit of trivia Faye Dunaway played Thomas Crown's shrink in this film. She also played the investigator in the earlier version, however the name of her character (Vicki Anderson) is different than the name of the investigator played by Renee Russo (Catherine Banning) in this updated version.

The story is about a rich thief named Thomas Crown (Brosnan)who steals a 100 million painting by Claude Monet, but to what end. Catherine Banning (Russo) is the investigator working for the insurance company to recover the artwork. The story has some nice twists and turns. I would recommend taking a look at it. However if you have young children you may want to see the film after lights out, because of the nude/love scenes performed by Renee Russo and Pierce Brosnan.