THIEVES is based on Herb Gardner's 1974 play that ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. It's not an easy film story to watch, but the performers are all so good you can't stop watching. Marlo Thomas repeats her stage role as Sally, the feisty teacher in a ghetto school married to dullard Marty (Charles Grodin) who's the principal at a posh private school. Fifteen years before they had been social rebels, demonstrators, and involved. Now they've become increasingly isolated in their comfy high-rise world. Sally has retained some rebellious fire, but she's afraid to admit the marriage is over. Over the course of a fateful night and the following day, they meet a series of people who help them examine and define their lives. While Sally tries to confront her loveless marriage and a possible abortion, Marty tries to find his own roots in an abandoned theater. Solid supporting cast has John McMartin, Ann Wedgeworth, Hector Elizondo, and others living in urban isolation. Best of all and an amazing surprise is Irwin Corey as Sally's cab-driver father and one-time Vaudeville player. His seemingly senseless rants that become monologues about finding cohesion in a splintered world are often very funny but also sad in their truthfulness. Others in the film are Mercedes McCambridge, Gary Merrill, Bob Fosse, Alice Drummond, and Zvee Scooler. Grodin had directed the stage version. Best thing I've ever seen Marlo Thomas do.
