The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1968 movie starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. The film was unsuccessful at the box office; however, it has since become a cult film. It was the object of some attention in Pauline Kael's essay Trash, Art, and the Movies."--Sholem Stein |
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The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1968 film by Norman Jewison starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. It was nominated for two Academy Awards and won the Award for Best Song with Michel Legrand's "Windmills of Your Mind". A remake was released in 1999.
Plot
Thomas Crown, a millionaire businessman and sportsman, pulls off a perfect crime by having five men rob a Boston bank and dump the money—approximately $2.6 million—in a cemetery's trash can. Crown never meets any of the five face-to-face, before or after the crime. He retrieves the money later and deposits it at a bank in Geneva.
Vicki Anderson, an independent insurance investigator, is contracted to investigate the heist. She will receive a percentage of the stolen money if she recovers it.
Crown does not need the money but is in need of diversions. He plays polo and golf, flies a glider and drives a dune buggy, but is generally bored and welcomes Vicki's sudden interest in him.
She begins seeing Crown socially, openly admitting she is investigating him. Their relationship evolves into an affair. But it is complicated by Vicki's vow to find the money and help Detective Eddie Malone bring the guilty party to justice.
A reward offer entices the wife of the bank robbery's getaway driver, Erwin, to "fink" on him. Vicki finds out that he was hired by a man he never saw. She tries putting Erwin in the same room as Crown, but there is no hint of recognition on either one's part. Vicki is clearly closing in, though.
Crown decides to organize another robbery exactly like the first one, simply to test Vicki's feelings for him. He asks her to join him afterwards, but she instead betrays him. Moving in with the cops at the cemetery to make the arrest, she finds Crown has sent a messenger in his place with a salutation. Crown is then shown flying away in a jet, a smile on his face.
Cast
- Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown
- Faye Dunaway as Vicki Anderson
- Paul Burke as Detective Eddie Malone
- Jack Weston as Erwin Weaver
- Gordon Pinsent as Jamie McDonald
- Biff McGuire as Sandy
- Yaphet Kotto as Carl
- Addison Powell as Abe
- Astrid Heeren as Gwen
