On the theme of MASSACHUSETTS ON FILM: 

The Thomas Crown Affair

1968, 104 minutes

There have been two versions of this film, both of them cinematic confections that could be described as ink-blots for their respective eras. The most recent film from 1999 is set in New York, and it captures the Giuliani Era in all its hubristic glory, presenting a financially flush, fun and safe metropolis (an illusion that would be swept away two years later).

The earlier film is very different in that it catches the ennui of the late sixties­­—embodied by Steve McQueen’s Thomas Crown, a self-made millionaire who masterminds a bank robbery for the hell of it. He soon finds himself in a romantic duel with Faye Dunaway’s oh-so-glam insurance investigator, and the result is an exercise in essential sixties cool set against a backdrop of grotty old Boston.

Please Note--This film is RATED R, with lots of smoking, drinking, violence that is mild by current standards, sexual innuendo, period racial slips, and a heady weekend spent wrecking fragile coastal environments.