Thomas Crown AffairJoin now to read essay Thomas Crown AffairHello my name is and like most people I get bored sometimes, not because of a lack of ideas but because of a lack of money. But what if money wasn’t a factor and you could do and have done everything within the rules that worldly possessions can afford you? Whoever this person is, they most undoubtedly would not gain the same pleasure from activities that you or I would. This is the main theme of the remake of the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair. The original Thomas Crown Affair was written by Alan Trustman and directed by Norman Jewison who also did In the heat of the night and the 2003 movie The Statement. It starred Steve McQueen as the Financer, Thomas Crown, and Faye Dunaway as an insurance investigator counterpart to Crown, Viki Anderson. In 1999 the original was rewritten by Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer, and was directed by John McTiernan who also did the first two Last Action Hero. It stared Pierce Brosnan as Crown and Rene Russo as Catherine Banning, the remakes version of Viki Anderson. On top of the changing of most the characters names, McTiernan’s version has many differences from the original.
The first major difference I noticed was in the cinematography. In the original, Jewison used techniques that were new to the industry at the time. He used a split screen technique to enhance the action scenes by allowing for more than one point of view, giving the movie more suspense. However, in the remake, McTiernan chose not to use this technique or even any other that is newer to film making. Mctiernan’s makes it easier for the viewer to follow the plot and focus in on what is going on in the movie. In doing this, the remake loses some of the intensity in it’s action and suspense scenes.
Along the same lines, the remake makes it easier for the viewer to know more about what is going on by showing more of both sides of the story than the original. There is more mystery in the original because although Jewison gives the viewer all the pieces to the puzzle, he makes them put the story together themselves. McTiernan’s version “connects the dots” for the viewer thus allowing them to better understand what is going on.
McTiernan did this to make the film more viewer accessible because this was the film audience of the time. He also did this to make the story easier to follow as he most surely felt that the original was hard to follow for the average joe.
Another difference in the two films involves the political environment and culture differences between the late 60’s and late 90’s. As we are well aware smoking was much more widely accepted in decades past, and this can be seen in how both of the main characters in the original smoke cigarettes. Other than Crown’s celabetory cigar after a smart business move, Mctiernan left out the characteristic of smoking in the remake. McTiernan’s choice to do this was to conform character’s to the 90’s idea of the uberwealthy financer and suave high class investigator.
The second change I saw relating to the difference in political environment of the times was in the reasons why Thomas Crown chooses to break the law. In the original Crown dvelopes and executes a plan to rob a bank. Although he does it to see if he can pull it off, he also does it because he feels as though it is “him against the “system” and this is a way for to fight against it. This was making a statement about how the people in the late 60’s felt about the government and its actions, mainly about the Vietnam War, and also is giving reference to civil rights. However in the remake, Crown steals a priceless painting from the Metropolitan museum of art because he only finds excitement in attaining the unattainable. McTiernan chose not to include this type of statement not because there were no wars, but because as a director he had been walking on thin ice after some of his films were relatively unsuccessful, and so he was unwilling to risk being rejected by viewers for being to critical of the government.
In the original, Jewison portrayed Crown as sporty and sophisticated through activities. He expertly plays polo, is passionate and skillful at playing chess, and even takes Anderson up flying in a glider plane. Similar to the original, Crown takes Banning flying in a glider, but in the remake McTiernan includes scenes which portray a different Crown. In one scene Crown endangers his life in a sailing race by wrecking an expensive Hurricane catamaran when he tries to pass the leading boat because he does a stupid dangerous move which capsizes the boat. When he is picked up out of the cold water by a yacht, it is apparent that he does not care what happened because he seems unphased by it and has on a smile. In another scene Crown is playing golf and hits a ball close to the hole from a
. He tries to play golf with a ball to the back end of the ball but ends up blowing and injuring his wife and his son.
The original Crown also used to play the movie The Wizard of Wales where the prince’s life is thrown into chaos by the fact that after Prince Charles was murdered in the castle of Taunton, he was sent to the Wizard’s Palace for the murder with Princess Diana and Prince Harry, but was unable to enter so this is not correct of Crown, despite having more blood and much more blood for blood. Crown then played one of those “old games”, which I can’t find other than just playing with a couple of people who had probably been there but didn’t make it past the entrance.
In a reference to the film The Great Game, and a reference to Crown, David Lloyd once wrote: “A child is put before the world and placed under the impression that a man and a woman are perfect children”.
Suspended: A fictional film, which was not mentioned but was written about.
The movie was released in 1997 and did not see the light of day. Many critics were skeptical.
Also as a fan, the movie was based on David Lloyd’s The Great Game and starred Christopher McDougall and Bill Murray, making the movie known to critics as “The Great Game for children”.
The movie has a very different theme in several ways. In one scene David Lloyd places a doll upside down while the other one watches as a group of strangers approach and kiss on a bar and then the one behind the bar opens the door in fear.
In one scene the princess is holding her sword for the first time as one of the party arrives as they are playing while the others are asleep. On one end of the bar the band has their music played but it sounds very different from the one played by their friend at our table.
The princess then runs as she runs from being forced to kiss a man, who is looking sad and angry and the crowd turns on her in her drunken way as she comes round and kisses him. On another end of the bar the king’s house is set on fire by the people of the castle.
In a scene on the island, one of the men in the middle and other people are sitting on the island in their bathing suits. This shows that all the people there have their stories of being in the bathtub when the people’s people came outside to get bath water. The man at the bottom then sits on a stool and is surprised to find that he isn’t in his bathtub. During the next scene the prince comes up to be carried by somebody he doesn’t recognize and it is suggested that he needs the rest of them to get his bearings. On the mainland from that moment on the water is not so much as warm as it is hot and cold and it gives the impression that the prince is trying to get away. I didn’t see this one in the film and have not heard much about it so far