In the twilight of his reign as James Bond, the effortlessly magnetic Pierce Brosnan was recruited for one more job by legendary Die Hard director John McTiernan. What was most surprising was McTiernan’s choice to keep the film as old-fashioned as possible in remaking 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair. Brosnan, in the role formerly filled by Steve McQueen, brought 007’s suaveness and box-office command. Rene Russo, taking over for Faye Dunaway, brought a more overt, modern, and mature sexuality. The heist film sizzled, thanks to all of it.
Released the same year as Brosnan’s third Bond outing, The World Is Not Enough, The Thomas Crown Affair was a box-office hit, earning back more than double its budget. Considering its R-rating and generally more adult tone, the $124 million take was unusual, though possibly due to Brosnan’s 007 bonafides. Today, it’s notable as one of the most sheerly pleasurable blockbusters of the 1990s. Its chilled-out tone and restrained, legible direction make it a bit of an anomaly, while the chemistry between Brosnan and Russo burns off the screen and a sublime retro jazz score takes the film to a whole other level. For audiences seeking more of the James Bond vibe, it’s a vacation well worth taking. Thankfully, it’s free to stream on Tubi.
‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ Updates the ’60s Original With Key Plot Points
In bringing The Thomas Crown Affair to 1990s audiences, McTiernan and screenwriters Kurt Wimmer and Leslie Dixon turned the titular billionaire from a bank robber to an art thief, who initially steals a priceless Monet purely for the fun of it. McQueen’s Thomas Crown also came from old money, while McTiernan envisioned more of an enigmatic antihero who stole for fun, according to the film’s production notes.
“He came from nowhere, got himself to Oxford on a boxing scholarship and took that pugnacity to just pushing further,” McTiernan said. Now, it’s 20 years later, he’s in his mid-40s, he’s got a fortune, and he’s kicked the hell out of just about everybody he’s come up against. Basically, he’s out of challenges.”
Brosnan brings so much patented James Bond charm to the character that viewers could be excused for mistaking some of an early heist sequence (scored brilliantly to Nina Simone‘s “Sinnerman”) for a scene from The World Is Not Enough. However, once Russo’s insurance investigator, Catherine Banning, enters the picture, much of the Bond-ian smirk fades away as a genuine, adult relationship develops between the two. It’s an elegant, box office-friendly update to the original’s romantic cat and mouse game.
McTiernan’s Style Makes Every Moment of ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ a Pure Pleasure
Image viaMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Throughout its 113 minutes, The Thomas Crown Affair offers the same basic delights the Bond pictures do: beautiful people in expensive clothes, in expensive locations, doing clever things. But McTiernan’s confident, patient direction and the jazz score by legendary composer Bill Conti conjure real magic in the heist sequences, as well as the seduction scenes between Brosnan and Russo.
The climactic heist sequence cuts together Crown and Russo and the feds as they monitor him on multiple CCTV cameras and “Sinnerman” fades back onto the soundtrack. McTiernan’s work along with the music is beautiful, as the viewer slowly realizes exactly how Crown plans to get away. It would be criminal to spoil here, but the whole sequence plays almost like a musical, with a slow push-in on Russo’s face as she realizes the same thing as the audience and starts to smile in admiration.
Handsome and old-fashioned in more ways than one, The Thomas Crown Affair deserves a new audience today — especially for those itching for a proper Bond-style film post-No Time to Die. It’s a purely pleasurable cinematic experience designed for adults all the way through — and a welcome antidote to much of today’s insipid blockbuster entertainment.
- Release Date
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August 6, 1999
- Runtime
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113 Minutes
