Thieves Like Us (1974 film)

Plot

Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the narrative follows fugitives whose criminal plans are complicated by human relationships that form on the road. Rather than presenting bank robbery as glamorous, the film dwells on everyday gestures, the strain of life on the run and the quiet moments between violent episodes. A central romance develops and brings into focus the tangled loyalties and eventual consequences that arise when people pushed to society’s margins try to find connection and normalcy.

Cast and characters

The principal cast includes Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall in the lead roles, supported by Louise Fletcher and Tom Skerritt. Altman favored understated, conversational performances, encouraging actors to inhabit their parts in a way that foregrounds realism over melodrama. This approach contributes to a feeling that the film observes characters rather than announces them.

Production and style

Altman’s direction on Thieves Like Us is comparatively spare and observational. He employs long, unobtrusive takes and a preference for ensemble staging that allows incidental detail to accumulate into mood. Production design and costume work aim for a lived-in look of the period, and the film’s pacing is deliberately measured: moment-to-moment behavior and small interactions are given weight alongside the more conventional rhythms of a crime story.

Source material and earlier adaptation

The screenplay draws on Edward Anderson’s novel. The same source had earlier inspired a 1948 Hollywood film, often cited under the title They Live by Night, which took a different stylistic tack. Altman revisited the material with his characteristic sensibility, turning the story into a character study as much as a genre piece.

Themes

Major themes include the marginality of people who live outside social norms, the search for intimacy under duress, and the intersection of fate and choice in an economically harsh era. The film balances sympathy for its protagonists with a clear sense of consequence, avoiding celebration of crime in favor of a morally attentive portrait.

Reception and legacy

On release the film received mixed to generally positive notices: critics praised performances and atmosphere while noting its deliberate pacing and low-key tone. Over subsequent decades it has been reassessed by some viewers and scholars as a distinctive example of Altman’s 1970s work — valued for its quiet melancholy and for blending genre elements with realist character study. The film is often discussed in surveys of American cinema of the period and in studies of Altman’s evolving style.

Availability and further reading

Thieves Like Us has been issued in home-video formats and appears periodically on streaming services, subject to distribution rights. For more detail consult filmographies, critical studies of 1970s American cinema, and resources devoted to Robert Altman and the principal cast (Carradine, Duvall, Fletcher, Skerritt), as well as records relating to its original release by United Artists.

• Literary source: Edward Anderson’s novel of the same name.
• Earlier adaptation: They Live by Night (1948) adapted from the same novel.
• Directorial approach: observational, character-focused direction by Altman.
• Key performers: Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Louise Fletcher, Tom Skerritt.
• Distribution: released by United Artists.