“The Thomas Crown Affair” is criminally enjoyable in remake
Many movie remakes prompt the question of why they were even attempted. In the case of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” though, the result is surprisingly good.
Originally filmed in a 1968 version with Steve Mcqueen and Faye Dunaway as romantically entangled adversaries in a heist investigation, the story was updated in 1999 with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo as the amorous opponents. Produced by Brosnan’s company and directed by John Mctiernan (“Die Hard”), the revision – which Cinemax shows Wednesday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, Feb. 10 – is engaging and stylish in its own way, standing successfully without taking anything away from the first edition. And that is no simple feat.
Brosnan is fashionable in more ways than one as title character Crown, a New York-based business tycoon and billionaire who gets kicks from stealing priceless artworks (a change from the Boston-set Mcqueen variation, in which bank robberies were the crimes of choice). His latest theft draws the attention of a police detective wryly portrayed by Denis Leary, as well as the glamorous insurance investigator represented by Russo. (In a nice nod to the original film, Dunaway has several scenes in a cameo appearance as Crown’s psychiatrist.)
In their bountiful screen time together, Brosnan and Russo have great chemistry and a playful spirit as Crown’s pursuer tries to get the goods on him … though she ultimately him irresistible, especially as he plies her with aspects of his posh lifestyle as glider flights and getaways to exotic locations. As she continues to live the high life apparently under Crown’s spell, the Leary-played cop casts a very skeptical eye toward how she is conducting the probe … and herself.
Ben Gazzara and Frankie Faison also are in the well-chosen cast, as are a number of actors with physiques that could pass for Brosnan’s, which the clever adaptation (by Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer) of Alan R. Trustman’s initial script requires as it proceeds. Not surprisingly, Brosnan never loses his cool as the tale unfolds; conversely, Russo has some nicely emotional moments as her ploy to ensnare Crown backfires on her, putting her heart at more risk than she had gambled on.
Bill Conti supplies a music score that features an appropriate bounciness, mirroring the nature of Crown’s approach to larceny, and encompasses an update of the theme song “The Windmills of Your Mind” performed by Sting (Noel Harrison sang the Oscar-winning original). While it’s nice that the later “The Thomas Crown Affair” has ties to its forerunner, the second picture also has its own merits, and they remain highly enjoyable 25 years later.