The Good Thief is a 2002 crime

Crime film

Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

 thriller film starring Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte

Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

, Emir Kusturica

Emir Kusturica

Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...

, and Nutsa Kukhianidze, and directed by Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan

Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...

. It is a remake of the 1955 French film Bob le flambeur

Bob le flambeur

Bob le flambeur is a 1956 French gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film stars Roger Duchesne as Bob...

by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film, shot in both Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

 and Nice, France follows a heroin addict, and retired thief through the setup and completion of one last job.

Cast

• Nick Nolte
  Nick Nolte
  Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
  
   as Bob Montagnet
• Emir Kusturica
  Emir Kusturica
  Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
  
   as Vladimir
• Nutsa Kukhianidze as Anne
• Tchéky Karyo
  Tchéky Karyo
  -Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:...
  
   as Roger
• Said Taghmaoui
  Saïd Taghmaoui
  Saïd Taghmaoui is a French actor and screenwriter. One of his defining screen roles was that of Saïd in the award winning 1995 French film La Haine directed by Mathieu Kassovitz...
  
   as Paulo
• Patricia Kell as Yvonne
• Gérard Darmon
  Gérard Darmon
  Gérard Darmon is a French movie actor and singer.Second husband to Mathilda May.He has three children: Virginie and the last two by Mathilda May, daughter Sarah and son Jules...
  
   as Raoul
• Julien Maurel as Philippe
• Ralph Fiennes
  Ralph Fiennes
  Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
  
   (uncredited) as Tony Angel

Reaction

The film received mostly positive reviews. Critic Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 notes of Nolte: "it is clear that he was born to play Bob. It is one of those performances that flows unhindered from an actor's deepest instincts."

Reviewer Pam Grady, writing for Reel.com, also praised the film: "The Good Thief has many virtues, beginning with the sheer wit of Jordan's screenplay and Chris Menges's neon-saturated cinematography that renders Nice both beautiful and sinister, trapping the characters in the glare of its lights. The heist itself is a complicated affair — Jordan took Melville's original idea and added a distinctly 21st-century twist — and all the more satisfying for it."

The film holds a 77% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, with the consensus "Bolstered by Nolte's strong performance, The Good Thief brims with seductive style."

Soundtrack

The film's score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 was composed by Elliot Goldenthal

Elliot Goldenthal

Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways...

.