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Bit 1
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Until now, the benefits of the Oxford Boxing Scholarship have never been
clarified for filmgoers. This has been rectified by one of the two films
featured in the Battle of the Bonds, where the 007 title-holder and the
latest contender slug it out for the caper championship of the world.
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Bit 2
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Entering the fine art theft arena--in the red corner (Entrapment)
is the ruling heavyweight Sean Connery, playing Robert "Mac"
MacDougall in Armani trunks; in the blue corner (The Thomas Crown Affair)
the challenger, Pierce Brosnan, playing Thomas Crown in
sometimes even less. As high-tech Scottish specialists in easel-painting
larceny, they seem to be evenly matched, though Crown could have an
advantage as an Oxford Boxing Scholar. As squillionaire principal of
Crown Acquisitions, he could also have a greater international reach, but
it may be that his ill-gotten gains are more prominently displayed.
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Bit 3
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In the rules of the movie fine art theft game, (1) ill-gotten gains are
used for the acquisition of more fine art (you steal a Rembrandt to
furnish your hideout with Modigliani, Lichtenstein, and Hopper, for
example). I don't recall the art education of Modigliani fan MacDougall
being mentioned, but Impressionist-loving Tommy Crown explained that he
got from Glasgow to Oxford on a boxing scholarship, and I just assumed he
did a double degree in art history and international business.
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Bit 4
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As their current stories show, both MacDougall and Crown have had to shape
up to canny opponents in female insurance investigators, "Mac" tangling
with Virginia "Gin" Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and Tommy sparring
with Catherine Banning (Rene Russo). These femmes are no lightweights,
and demonstrate another rule: (2) the second male lead hasn't got a
chance.
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Bit 5
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So when Banning flashes a black suspender and stocking top at Detective
Michael McCann (Denis Leary), shortly thereafter parking her pointy-toed
sling-backs on his desk, we have a fair idea that this poor sap is not
going to get into the act; similarly, when Hector Cruz (Will Patton)
hands over his gun to Gin before she sets off to nab Mac, we feel strongly
that he, too, has been relegated to sapdom.
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Bit 6
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Rule (1) has a corollary, connected with the loner character of the
billion dollar art burglar, namely that his thefts provide him with a
secluded hideaway (which may or may not be decorated with masterpieces);
though Tommy's New York mansion shows his artistic tastes, he also has a
villa on the tippy-top of a Martinique mountain ridge; on the other hand,
Mac has hung the walls of his one evident bolthole (a bijou castle on the
Isle of Mull) with his twentieth-century favourites.
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Bit 7
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Combining rule (1) with rule (2) leads to the next governing the movie
fine art thief: (3) take a female insurance investigator to your secret
hideaway and tell her you have never taken anyone else there before. As
the plot thickens, and thief and investigator get down to cross and
double-cross, the next imperative is rule (4): have occasion to go to a
ball so you can appear in a dinner suit. So it follows that Tommy is
dancing with a mysterious blonde at a Black-and-White Ball when Banning
cuts in; and Mac and Gin have to attend a gala at Bedford Castle to
steal an antique Chinese mask (worth gadzillions, but even that's not
their ultimate target).
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Bit 8
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Of course the rules of engagement can vary when things heat up between
thief and investigator, with the results affecting those in the ringside
seats differently. For example, my reaction to Mac and Gin was to reason
that the script demanded that the passion stem from her, because if
63-year-old Mac took the initiative, he would risk looking like a dirty
old man; and in the case of Tommy and Banning, as I watched the naked body
doubles working their way up the marble staircase and into the library of
the New York pied-terre, I kept thinking how cold and hard marble is, and
how skin can stick to leather.
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Bit 9
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From this corner, it's been a hard decision. The Thomas Crown Affair
has strong support in Denis Leary, but Entrapment has
charm in Ving Rhames. Production design, from Bruno Rubeo and Norman
Garwood, is fairly evenly matched, as is the costume design of Kate
Harrington and Penny Rose. But, on points, I'll have to give it to
Entrapment, mainly for more suspense, and Sean Connery's
collarless shirts. And now, let's hear from my fellow judges...
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Bit 10
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Details
The Thomas Crown Affair, by United International Pictures 1999.
Director: John McTiernan.
Screenplay: Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer.
Cinematography: Tom Priestley.
Production Designer: Bruno Rubeo.
Costume Designer: Kate Harrington.
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary, Ben Gazzara, Faye Dunaway.
Entrapment, by 20th Century Fox, 1999.
Director: Jon Amiel.
Screenplay: Ronald Bass and William Broyles, Jr.
Cinematography: Phil Meheux.
Production Designer: Norman Garwood.
Costume Designer: Penny Rose. Sean Connery's Wardrobe by Giorgio Armani.
Cast: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Will Patton, Maury Chaykin, Ving Rhames.
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Bit 11
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "Canvas Champs Compete: Convention Crowned." M/C Reviews 26 Aug. 99.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/crown.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "Canvas Champs Compete: Convention Crowned," M/C Reviews 26 Aug. 99,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/crown.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1999) Canvas champs compete: convention crowned. M/C Reviews 26 Aug. 99.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/crown.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://www.mcs.net/~klast/www/images/sc_entrap.jpg)