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Thieves Like Us, 1974
Bowie (Keith Carradine) breaks out of prison with Chickamaw (John Schuck). The two later join forces with T-Dub (Bert Remsen) to commit a series of bold robberies. While laying low, Bowie meets the lovely Keechie (Shelley Duvall), but he has no intention of giving up his life of crime.
Strong in its performances and sense of realism, constantly frustrating character dynamics make this one more interesting than involving.
I don’t think that it’s necessary to like the characters in a film or to agree with their choices. Obviously some of the best movies involve either unlikable characters or very questionable decisions. But for me there’s a line where characters behave in ways that are so frustrating or off-putting that I start to lose interest in spending time with them.
The hinge in this film is the relationship between Keechie and Bowie. Understanding her love for him really challenged me. Like, I guess he’s sort of a bad boy, but also he’s kind of nice? Sort of? Even though he helps murder people?
I think that in order for me to latch onto this film, I’d have needed Bowie to be more interesting. Instead, I found him to just be irritating. And a lot of that is annoyance by association. He pals around with T-Dub, who blatantly lusts after his teenage niece, Lula (Ann Latham). His morals are all wishy-washy. And while that is very true to life---people will justify all sorts of behavior if they perceive it as necessary for survival--at a certain point I just got tired of Bowie and his immoral crew.
The best part of the film is just how lived-in it is. These feel like real people, in real situations, in real homes. I particularly loved Louise Fletcher’s annoyed performance as T-Dub’s sister-in-law Mattie, who reluctantly takes the men in and later gives Keechie a place to stay. As much as I complain about the time I spent with the characters, they somehow manage to feel spontaneous despite falling into some very predictable patterns and tropes of this kind of film.
As I write about this movie (and read other peoples’ writing about it), I do find myself a bit perplexed at how cold it left me. I think it’s a film that I can appreciate on an intellectual level, but I can’t pretend that it engaged me emotionally.
Glad I watched it, but just not my cup of tea. (Or should I say, not my bottle of Coca-Cola).
Thieves Like Us, 1974
Bowie (Keith Carradine) breaks out of prison with Chickamaw (John Schuck). The two later join forces with T-Dub (Bert Remsen) to commit a series of bold robberies. While laying low, Bowie meets the lovely Keechie (Shelley Duvall), but he has no intention of giving up his life of crime.
Strong in its performances and sense of realism, constantly frustrating character dynamics make this one more interesting than involving.
I don’t think that it’s necessary to like the characters in a film or to agree with their choices. Obviously some of the best movies involve either unlikable characters or very questionable decisions. But for me there’s a line where characters behave in ways that are so frustrating or off-putting that I start to lose interest in spending time with them.
The hinge in this film is the relationship between Keechie and Bowie. Understanding her love for him really challenged me. Like, I guess he’s sort of a bad boy, but also he’s kind of nice? Sort of? Even though he helps murder people?
I think that in order for me to latch onto this film, I’d have needed Bowie to be more interesting. Instead, I found him to just be irritating. And a lot of that is annoyance by association. He pals around with T-Dub, who blatantly lusts after his teenage niece, Lula (Ann Latham). His morals are all wishy-washy. And while that is very true to life---people will justify all sorts of behavior if they perceive it as necessary for survival--at a certain point I just got tired of Bowie and his immoral crew.
The best part of the film is just how lived-in it is. These feel like real people, in real situations, in real homes. I particularly loved Louise Fletcher’s annoyed performance as T-Dub’s sister-in-law Mattie, who reluctantly takes the men in and later gives Keechie a place to stay. As much as I complain about the time I spent with the characters, they somehow manage to feel spontaneous despite falling into some very predictable patterns and tropes of this kind of film.
As I write about this movie (and read other peoples’ writing about it), I do find myself a bit perplexed at how cold it left me. I think it’s a film that I can appreciate on an intellectual level, but I can’t pretend that it engaged me emotionally.
Glad I watched it, but just not my cup of tea. (Or should I say, not my bottle of Coca-Cola).