movie has many similarities. The still of Frank holding a gun on Attaglia as he attempts to recover his money in an early scene was used for one of the movie's posters. Near the end of the film, Frank destroys his house. The film company built a false front onto a real house and attempted to destroy it with explosives. The explosions severely damaged the real house, however, leading to its demolition. Music Mann has gained a reputation as a director who uses cutting-edge music for his films. Thiefs moody soundscapes were composed and performed by Tangerine Dream, and was their second of many notable film scores composed by the group throughout the 1980s. The film was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Musical Score, but that didn't deter Mann from choosing them a second time to compose the music for his next feature film, the ill-fated 1983 WW II fantasy horror The Keep. Mann stated that he was always a jazz and blues fan and wanted to use that style of music for the film. He made a director's decision to use Tangerine Dream to showcase the style and themes of the film better than blues might have. He utilizes jazz/blues in one scene when Frank races to meet Jessie after the offer from Leo, transitioning from the meetup, all the way to the jazz club. Reception The movie received widespread critical acclaim. It holds a 79% rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The consensus states: "Thiefs enigmatic conclusion will rob some audiences of satisfaction, but it's an authentic and sleekly rendered neo-noir, powered by a swaggering James Caan at the peak of his charisma." Roger Ebert described Thief as "one of the most intelligent thrillers I've seen" and gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, writing that the film's only major flaw was a failure to develop the subplot featuring Willie Nelson's character more fully: "Willie has played the character so well that we wanted more." See also Heist film References External links Thief: Where Nothing Means Nothing an essay by Nick James at the Criterion Collection 1981 films 1981 action thriller films 1981 directorial debut films 1980s crime thriller films 1980s English-language films 1980s heist films American action thriller films American crime thriller films American gangster films American heist films American neo-noir films Films based