Thieves Like Us (1974)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Edward Anderson (novel)
Robert Altman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 February 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Robbing 36 banks was easy. Watch what happens when they hit the 37th.

Plot:

Two convicts break out of Mississippi State Penitentiary in 1936 to join a third on a long spree of bank robbing...

Plot Keywords:

Mississippi | Media Hype | Limp | Southern U.S. | Murder

Cast

Keith Carradine	...	Bowie
Shelley Duvall	...	Keechie
John Schuck	...	Chicamaw
Bert Remsen	...	T-Dub
Louise Fletcher	...	Mattie
Ann Latham	...	Lula
Tom Skerritt	...	Dee Mobley
Al Scott	...	Capt. Stammers
John Roper	...	Jasbo
Mary Waits	...	Noel Joy
Rodney Lee	...	James Mattingly (as Rodney Lee Jr.)
William Watters	...	Alvin
Joan Tewkesbury	...	Lady in Train Station (as Joan Maguire)
Eleanor Matthews	...	Mrs. Stammers
Pam Warner	...	Woman in Accident

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2005) | UK:15 (video rating) (1998) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Canton, Mississippi, USA

Company:

George Litto Productions

Trivia:

Robert Altman personally cut Shelley Duvall's hair for the scene between Bowie and Keechie on the porch.

Quotes:

Bowie: Miss Keechie, do you know what the Mississippi state animal is?
Keechie: What?
Bowie: You know, the state animal.
Keechie: I don't know. A deer, maybe?
Bowie: No, sir! It's a squashed dog in the road!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Grosse Pointe: Thieves Like Us (#1.2)" (2000)

Small Diamond in a Coal Mine!

Another under-valued R. Altman flick (compared to Bonnie and Clyde), but more similar to Gun Crazy crossed with They Live By Night, has yet to achieve ANY kind of respect, critically or "financially".

In the 1970's Altman was cranking out quirky, Americana, hopeful, black comedies and satires, that this one slipped under the radar, just like California Split did. Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall found themselves working with this old Cat and were never the same without him (any they knew it), but they got wonderful careers out of it, so pity the poor beggar as Dylan would say. Add in spunky, disturbing performances from John Schuck and Bert Remsen as ghoulish career small-time criminals, Louise Fletcher (just before Cuckoo's Nest), great cinematography as usual, and a simple story that scares some folks because it involves sacrifices, naivety, and hopelessness (almost).

A lot of people drank Cokes in those days like Shelley Duvall's character does (incessantly)...so what? What should she be drinking - Root Beer? An under-rated gem that will never be looked at for what it might be - a tale of survival with minimal options down the long highway of hope. An 8 out of 10.