Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro
James Caan in Thief (1981)

Goofs

Thief

Edit

Continuity

The door Frank closes when he first backs out of Attaglia's office is closed, but in the next scene it is slightly open and Frank slams it shut on his way out.
When Frank is with Joe Gaggs at the restaurant in the booth, Frank looks straight ahead to see Jessie at the counter. Yet, when Frank gets up to pay the tab he has to turn to his right to go to the counter; therefore, the line of sight is inconsistent, and there is no way Frank could have seen Jessie from where he was sitting.
When Sgt. Urizzi pulls over Frank for the first time, there is a gold sedan coming the other way, but when the scene immediately cuts to Urizzi going up to Frank's car, the gold sedan is gone.
When Frank arrives outside with Barry at the L & A Plating company, it is overcast. When Frank arrives in Attaglia's office only a minute later, the weather outside is completely different.
When Frank blows up his house, the lighting and camera position clearly changes in the cut between him leaving and the bombs exploding.

Factual errors

It is unthinkable in any hospital (and against procedures) that any type of surgery cleanup instruments would be left next to the patient's bed, especially those showing visible body fluids--the forceps and pans with blood on them next to Okla's hospital bed. Presumably, this was done to make Okla's angina condition more believable.
During the gunfight in Leo's house, no empty shell cases are ejected from Frank's Colt semiautomatic as he fires it.
Frank is clearly drilling through wood at the beginning of the film, the rpm is too high for cutting steel with a large drill bit like that. Drilling through steel produce much larger chips that doesn't crumble to dust.
One of the cops surveilling Frank as he meets with the broker who wanted to meet him, says "There's 2 inches of money out there."

A two inch stack of hundreds is about $30 to 40,000. Frank was supposedly getting $185,000, which is far too much in hundreds to be able to pass hand to hand. It makes a large bundle that would have to be carried in a bag or box.
Gas tank used for Mg lance is green, denoting an inert gas while lance would only function with blue oxygen tank.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

Frank's mentor at the steel mill said, "Seven-, Eight-thousand degrees. Portable equipment! Sonny, if I can build it, it's going to be a son-of-a-bitch to use." Given that and the small hole cut at the top of the elevator shaft, getting into the vault room with all the welding equipment, oxygen and acetylene tanks would not have been easy but they could have winched it down. When planning the heist, it is mentioned they would be spending 16 to 18 hours inside the building.
As Frank reloads his pistol in the final sequence, the slide of the weapon is forward, not locked back, as would be normal in a Colt semi-automatic, magazine-fed pistol. But if you count the shots before the reload, he only fired five shots, not seven, so the slide would be forward, since there was at least one round left in the magazine.

Revealing mistakes

During the L.A. heist, the device intended to remove the key-lock assembly from the door leading to the vault is screwed in (undiscernibly) and jerked back without removing the lock, i.e., having no effect whatsoever. In the next shot, the lock assembly is gone. (Maybe it took more than one try.)
After Frank puts the transponder on the bus bound for Des Moines, the scene reveals the police car holding back traffic for the shot behind.

Miscellaneous

Frank is handed an envelope supposedly containing $185,000. Considering bank notes larger than $100 were withdrawn by the time of this film, the envelope should have been much larger to contain 1,850 $100 bills weighing about four pounds.

Crew or equipment visible

When Barry is cleaning out the vault, a stage light is visible in the bottom of the jewel tray.
Late in the film, when Frank gets out of his car to plant the bomb at his bar, the Green Mill, the lights used to illuminate the scene are clearly visible in the car door as the door's angle changes. When he opens the car door to get back in, the lights are visible again.

Plot holes

Character error

When Frank goes to visit his friend Sam at the steel mill, Sam's totals about the load of copper tubing are incorrect: "18% zinc, 42% copper, 38% tin, and one percent I don't know." This adds up to ninety-nine percent.

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
James Caan in Thief (1981)
Top Gap
What is the Hindi language plot outline for Thief (1981)?
Answer
  • See more gaps
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb app
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb app
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb app
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.