Thief Of Hearts (1984) Full Review

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00:12hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review with me beau here on the film scene

00:19investigation channel thank you so much for checking out this review in today's video i'm

00:27going to be taking a look at the 1984 erotic thriller thief of hearts before we get into it

00:37guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is

00:44greatly appreciated so thief of hearts from 1984 was written and directed by the screenwriter

00:53douglas day stewart and starred the actor stephen bauer in the lead role the movie's script went

01:01through several alterations several variations and drafts before production finally began in february

01:08of 1984 now before seeing this movie i must admit i had no idea that this film even existed

01:17i ended up watching the trailer on youtube and saw david caruso was involved which immediately

01:27piqued my interest as i've mentioned before in other videos i'm a big fan of david caruso and

01:36i've seen you know a majority of his work but this one specifically had escaped me so in terms of

01:44the

01:45film's narrative it followed the character scott muller a career criminal who was played by actor

01:52stephen bauer the character buddy calamara was played by actor david caruso who was a friend of scott's

02:01and his partner in crime he and scott worked closely together to burgle a series of homes across the

02:10san francisco area at the start of the movie we saw a really great opening sequence where scott

02:18burgled the home of mickey and ray a rich couple who frequently dined at the same restaurant buddy

02:25worked in while mickey and ray sat in the restaurant having a nice meal together they had no idea that

02:32their home was being raided by scott he caused major damage taking the place apart bit by bit

02:40and we saw him take the contents of the couple's safe which included mickey's diary he then made his

02:48getaway and then we saw the couple come home to see all the carnage that had been left behind

02:54panicked panicked and confused the couple decided to ring the police but when they showed up they

03:03weren't much use over the coming days scott would end up reading mickey's diary and became amazed by the

03:14intimate revelations that were inside scott became so consumed by mickey's diary he ended up deciding to

03:25infiltrate mickey's life pretending to be a businessman who was looking for an interior designer scott

03:33basically manipulated his way into mickey's life pretending to be someone he wasn't and when it came to

03:44mickey actually meeting scott for the first time in person she was enthralled by him he wowed her with his

03:54charm and it was pretty evident early on that there was some serious sexual tension between the two

04:02mickey was drawn in by scott's apparent understanding of her innermost thoughts but of course scott had

04:14secretly read her diaries so he knew all the right things to impress her so the two would go on

04:24to

04:24have this love affair all the while mickey's husband ray was becoming more and more suspicious over time

04:32ray could sense that you know something was off something was wrong but he couldn't seem to

04:41identify the problem separately to all of that we saw buddy kill a cop during a botched robbery attempt

04:50with scott the two had been burgling yet another house when a cop randomly showed up the death

04:58definitely caused a rift between the two with scott telling buddy that he had gone too far and that

05:06there was no need to kill the police officer as you can imagine given the severity of the crime

05:14the san francisco police made it a priority to catch the killer the authorities had an idea of who was

05:24responsible and were closing in so buddy decided that it was time for him to leave town for good

05:30now one of my biggest takeaways after watching thief of hearts was how the film portrayed good and bad

05:41ultimately this movie romanticized the idea that cheating on your husband is an acceptable thing

05:52which of course is not i mean when you when you break it down mickey was

06:00i don't know she was a bit of a twisted individual when you really think about it since she was

06:06happy to

06:07have an affair behind her husband's back or because she felt neglected you know if you ask me i actually

06:16felt bad for the ray character i mean he was a hard-working guy who yes got a little preoccupied

06:24with

06:25work but i mean you know that's no excuse to cheat i mean even one of the arguments that they

06:33had

06:33ray told his wife that she should confide in him she should talk to him rather than write her feelings

06:41down in a diary it was a lack of communication and of course that works on both sides so yeah

06:48i just

06:49thought it was um kind of sleazy that the film portrayed this situation as if it was some

06:56liberating experience for mickey maybe if their relationship was an abusive one then maybe i could

07:06understand mickey's motivations more but their relationship seemed pretty normal up until the

07:14robbery the ray character also seemed like a pretty down-to-earth nice guy so yeah i mean to see

07:24him

07:24get played like he did i couldn't help but um feel sympathetic towards the character i also want to bring

07:34up how the scott muller character was betrayed i mean in the film he was shown to be this cool

07:42anti-hero

07:43that used a gun you know and this was also evident from the promotional material we saw when the film

07:49was released back in 1984 in reality the scott muller character was a criminal who was stealing and

08:00basically getting rich of other people's misery and also you know when you think about it and looking

08:09at the actions of what scott did he's kind of a weirdo kind of a creep because you know he

08:16got

08:16someone's diary and then proceeded to use the information to infiltrate their lives stalk them

08:23and then seduce them whether it be a man or a woman you know doing that kind of stuff is

08:31it's just weird so yeah i found it pretty interesting that the film leaned into the

08:41romantic side of things when in actuality the relationship between mickey and scott

08:49was pretty sordid evidently with how things turned out you know you kind of also have to put some blame

08:58onto the mickey character because she was pretty shallow in what she did cheating on her husband

09:05because what she never got enough attention when it comes to the performances in the movie

09:12i thought david caruso did a great job as the character buddy calamara this was an early role

09:22for david caruso so yeah i mean given the limited experience he had i was actually quite impressed with

09:30uh what he was able to deliver he had a limited role but he certainly made the most of the

09:39screen time

09:39he had which left a lasting impression as for the actor stephen bauer i thought he did a pretty

09:48okay job but i can't say that i was wowed by his performance you know there was nothing

09:57particularly wrong with the performance i just thought um bauer lacked charisma in certain areas

10:08i've enjoyed stephen bauer's work over the years but to be completely honest with you guys

10:15i've never really seen him as a convincing leading man he is better in supporting roles but still he was

10:25solid in this movie and i must say i really did like the chemistry he had with actress barbara

10:33williams williams williams herself was very good in the role as mickey davis a woman who was

10:41conflicted with staying loyal to her husband ray while also feeling compelled to go on this journey of

10:52self-discovery while i can't say that i'm a big fan of mickey and her actions in the film

11:01you know i have to give it up to barbara williams who delivered a compelling and nuanced portrayal

11:08i should also mention the chemistry that she had with actor john getz who played her husband ray

11:16together they felt like a real couple who were going through some communication issues

11:24which ultimately led to mickey cheating on him and saw dislikes for thief of hearts from 1984

11:35my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the somewhat confusing ending with buddy getting shot

11:46so in the final moments of the movie we saw mickey and ray return home only to find buddy at

11:55the top

11:55of their stairs pointing a gun at them before leaving town buddy had decided to burgle mickey's house

12:03one more time mickey would then pull out her own gun pointed towards buddy and warned him to stop

12:10suddenly a gunshot went off and we saw buddy fall down the stairs he was instantly dead and it was

12:20made to

12:21look like mickey had pulled the trigger even though she didn't remember doing so in actuality scott was the

12:30one that pulled the trigger as he was upstairs in mickey's room at the time now i'll be honest

12:38i just don't understand why the filmmakers tried to be ambiguous with who actually shot buddy

12:46it confused me to the point where i actually went back and re-watched the ending just to you know

12:54make sense

12:55of it all if you take a moment to break everything down bit by bit the whole thing was kind

13:04of silly

13:04because how could mickey not remember if she pulled the trigger or not i know she was in a state

13:11of

13:12panic but you would remember if you know you pulled the trigger also her husband was standing right next

13:20to her so he would also know whether his wife had pulled the trigger and shot the intruder yet he

13:27just

13:27stood there thinking yeah mickey had done it if they had removed the ambiguity from the scene and

13:36maybe inserted a shot of scott shooting the gun then yeah i mean it would have been fine they played

13:44this

13:44whodunit scenario before eventually revealing that it was scott all along i just thought it was a

13:51bad editing choice to be really honest and yeah i don't know i mean as i said how would mickey

13:59not know

14:00whether she pulled the trigger or not it's just i don't know i found it to be a very weak

14:05ending

14:06and so ratings for thief of hearts from 1984 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid 5.5

14:17out of 10

14:19thief of hearts was a really enjoyable 90 plus minutes of intrigue and suspense that also touched upon

14:28the themes of identity and desire the film also encapsulated that mid 80s era with the synth pop

14:40soundtrack the glamorous visuals and the unconventional romance overall i really liked the look and aesthetic

14:51of the movie as it was littered with some really great visuals throughout from the

14:58designer clothes to the sleek interiors yeah this was a very stylized production that definitely captured

15:08that materialistic 80s attitude one of the scenes i enjoyed the most was its opening sequence with scott

15:18burgling mickey and ray's house with the brooding 80s synth music you know building up the tension

15:27i must say the sequence did remind me a lot of the 1981 movie thief that uh michael mann directed

15:37there

15:38was just some you know similar elements and yeah i'm not too sure if that was what the filmmakers were

15:45attempting but um it definitely felt like that to me if you have seen thief of hearts then please let

15:54me

15:54know your thoughts and memories in the comments section below for those who haven't it's a recommendation

16:01from me especially if you're someone that really likes the 80s aesthetic and 80s music then um yeah

16:10you'll definitely like this movie and well that is all from me today guys i do hope you have enjoyed

16:17this review of thief of hearts from 1984 i will be back next week with another movie review don't forget

16:25to like and subscribe a big thank you to all the supporters out there who obviously come back and

16:30watch all my content do appreciate you guys and yeah i'm gone take care

16:39so

16:55you

16:56you

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