JAMES CAAN

The actor James Caan sadly passed away and perhaps he is best known for his role of Sonny Corleone who perished in a hail of bullets, or Jonathon E the anti hero of future violent sport Rollerball. His turn as the author beset by a super fan with an obsession verging on lunacy in Misery or his many muscular and intense performances will be remembered with respectful pleasure.

For me, his turn in Michael Mann's Thief (1981) as the main protagonist Frank, is his most important role. Important as it's the defining and most influential Neo Noir performance of all.

The Neo Noir aesthetic showed early signs of definition in the seventies but really became identifiable in the eighties Frank in Thief is almost a blueprint for what followed with the likes of Drive, Heat, Payback, The Grifter, Momento and many others.

Caan plays an antihero of real intensity who gets caught up in a web that he has little control of. His performance as the existential protagonist struggling to complete his journey is superb.

With Thief James Caan may very well be the godfather of Neo Noir.

James Caan 1940-2022