A group of criminals daringly escape from prison in depression-era Mississippi. They survive by robbing banks and hole up with a gas station attendant where injured Bowie (Keith Carradine, Nashville) falls in love with the attendant’s daughter Keechie (Shelley Duvall, 3 Women). Made within one of the great runs of back-to-back classics by any filmmaker, Robert Altman followed multi-award-winning classics like M*A*S*H and The Long Goodbye with Thieves Like Us, an adaptation of Edward Anderson’s pulp novel. Previously adapted by Nicholas Ray as They Live by Night, Altman's film takes a more faithful approach to the source material, preserving the original tone and period of the novel, going back to historical and American myth themes that Altman mined so brilliantly in his earlier McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Critically praised, noted critic Pauline Kael described it as “the closest to flawless of Altman's films – a masterpiece.”
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Audio commentary by director Robert Altman
- Brand new interview with co-screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury who discusses the film and her working relationship with Altman (2023)
- Brand new interview with star Keith Carradine (2023)
- Geoff Andrew on Thieves Like Us - the critic discusses the film and its place within Altman’s work
- Two classic radio plays featured in the film - The Shadow written by and starring Orson Welles and Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police starring Ed Gardner
- Trailer
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by critic Pamela Hutchinson; archival writing by Robert Altman; and a piece looking at the script development from the novel by professor Alan Schroeder