| The Good Thief | |
| Director: | Neil Jordan |
| Producer: | Seaton McLean John Wells Stephen Woolley Neil Jordan |
| Starring: | Nick Nolte Emir Kusturica Nutsa Kukhianidze |
| Music: | Elliot Goldenthal |
| Cinematography: | Chris Menges |
| Editing: | Tony Lawson |
| Studio: | Alliance Atlantis |
| Distributor: | Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom and Ireland)[1] TFM Distribution (France)[2] |
| Runtime: | 108 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom France Ireland |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $30 million |
| Gross: | $5,756,945 |
The Good Thief is a 2002 crime thriller film written and directed by Neil Jordan. It is a remake of the French film Bob le flambeur (1955) by Jean-Pierre Melville. The film, shot in both Monaco and Nice, France, follows a heroin-addicted retired thief through the setup and completion of one last job.
The film received mostly positive reviews. Critic Roger Ebert notes of Nolte: "it is clear, that he was born to play Bob. It is one of those performances that flows unhindered from an actor's deepest instincts."[3]
Reviewer Pam Grady, writing for Reel.com, also praised the film: "The Good Thief has many virtues, beginning with the sheer wit of Jordan's screenplay and Chris Menges's neon-saturated cinematography that renders Nice both beautiful and sinister, trapping the characters in the glare of its lights. The heist itself is a complicated affair — Jordan took Melville's original idea and added a distinctly 21st-century twist — and all the more satisfying for it."[4]
The film holds 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Bolstered by Nolte's strong performance, The Good Thief brims with seductive style."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
See main article: The Good Thief (soundtrack). The film's score was composed by Elliot Goldenthal.