Pluskylang Great Film overall

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Wizard-8 Although "The Thief Who Came to Dinner" has been branded a comedy, it really isn't - it's more of a drama with some lighter moments. The lighter moments, incidentally, aren't really all that amusing, possibly because they try to be extremely realistic at the same time instead of doing something absurd or satirical. The movie isn't that much more successful in the drama portion. There are some interesting ideas floated around, like the fact that the title character has an interest in being in high society, but these ideas don't really get worked on that much. The performances are okay; Ryan O'Neal does make his thief character somewhat likable (until the climatic museum heist, where he hurts people), and Warren Oates gives another solid performance, though he isn't give that much of substance to do. In the end, the movie is pretty forgettable, so much so that this die hard movie buff hadn't even heard of this movie until it appeared recently on Turner Classic Movie's schedule.

classicalsteve Ryan O'Neil is one of those actors who, given the right part, can hit it out of the ballpark. Like his con artist character in "Paper Moon", the thief is outwardly a comely young man, a charmer, even a gentleman. That's what thieves are supposed to be. They don't kill people, or use violence (at least these types of thieves never do in the movies!). They have wit, humor, and even a little humility, which is what makes their underlying darker side so much more terrifying, enigmatic, and also intriguing. These thieves don't hold up the corner liquor shops in the seedy side of Brooklyn or ransack cheap apartments in New Jersey. They procure their desired objects from jewelry shops in the upper-crust of downtown Manhattan or the large brick houses of the Brookline area of Boston. This is the only kind of thief O'Neal could swing at with a chance of hitting a homer, and he does.Webster (O'Neal) is nicknamed "the Chess Burglar" as he begins playing a hypothetical chess game with the police, leaving a chess piece and a move with every robbery. He mainly heists jewels from people who don't really need them, like a modern-day Robin Hood. He does his game, both the robbing and the chess, with deft finesse and surgical precision. The police, unable to figure out who their thief really is, at one point hire a professional chess master to oppose the nameless thief-artist to try and create a profile of him based on his moves. At one point, even the chess master comes to his wits end trying to deal with the chess burglar. You may find that a chess master and cunning thief have more in common than you might have expected...This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie and certainly one of O'Neal's best performances. (I always thought O'Neal would have been perfect as "The Great Gatsby".) This movie deserves DVD treatment, considering many god-awful Hollywood offerings have been released from this era. (I mean, are there people who would actually buy a copy of Airport 1975 or "The Towering Inferno"?) This is a highly intelligent and yet simultaneously quite entertaining film that does exactly what it wants to do, with enough twists and turns that do not foreshadow a very interesting and unexpected ending. And the script was by Walter Hill who made a career of raising lowlifes to the big screen. Please vote for this movie for DVD release.

Marco Trevisiol Considering that its been close to forgotten, TTWCTD was a pleasant and substantial surprise when I watched it a few years ago.This is far from a perfect film as it has several flaws. While the caper scenes involving central character Webster McGee's (Ryan O'Neal) are entertaining enough they're hardly groundbreaking and have been done better in other films. And as another reviewer said, the film probably could've done without the segment involving the arrogant chess expert Zukovsky (played by Austin Pendelton). While not without humour, in the context of the rest of the film it's played too broadly by Pendelton and doesn't really fit in.But there is much of interest in this film that make it well worth catching up with. The central romance between O'Neal and wealthy socialite Jackie (who gives him his chance to move into the upper echelons of society) played by Jacqueline Bisset isn't really that convincing, perhaps deliberately so. McGee's attraction to the vacuous and cold Laura only makes sense in the context of Jill Clayburgh's performance as McGee's ex-wife Jackie. In her brief on-screen time, Jackie comes across as a far more likable persona then the cold and chilly Laura (doubtless this is also because Bisset has always come across as a cold and unlikable personality for mine). But we can see in Jackie's one scene with Webster that she has tics and neuroses that remind Webster of his past and he has moved on with someone far more frivolous and insubstantial.But the really fascinating part of the film is the relationship between McGee and the insurance investigator Dave Riley. If this film were made today, Riley would most likely be portrayed as a harried, bumbling 'loser' with McGee (and the filmmakers) regularly mocking his failure to catch him at every turn.But TTWCTD does something highly unusual and daring. It has McGee display immense sympathy and empathy for Riley even as he's doing his best to catch him. Why? Because he knows that he was just like him previously - someone stuck in a dead-end job trying to do their best but feeling immensely dissatisfied about their life and feeling helpless to do anything about it.It's this relationship which is the real strength of the film, helped especially by Oates' marvellous performance as Riley and helps it stay in the memory long after one has finished watching it.And while it has its detractors, I also found Henry Mancini's music score very pleasing on the ear.

map-4 I saw this movie just last night on the late show (Feb.,00). O'neal did a great job. I never really thought of him as a physical actor, but he did a stellar job. The plot is good and I think it is the earliest performance by Austin Pendelton. I know, it's the earliest for me. I recommend this movie for everyone. Just good clean entertainment.