MovieChat Forums > Thief (1981) Discussion > Great film - I would pick a knit about t...

Great film - I would pick a knit about the big heist at the end

posted 11 years ago by Kroyall1962
3 replies | jump to latest

I always found it unrealistic that Frank calling in the code word to the alarm company after they broke in didn't raise any concerns. Earlier on you see these 2 guys who run the office, they come and go on some sort of schedule and nobody else works there. There are only 2 desks in the place.

I would think the alarm company would find it odd that someone was coming in at that hour. It would have been easy to send a guard or cop to check it out. I know its just a movie and I shouldn't expect realism but the rest of the film stays within the realm of reason.

[–] DoctorVanNostrand 11 years ago

I thought the same thing and the only explanation I can come up with is perhaps when radioing in the codeword, there is not a human on the other end listening. I'm not sure if there was technology in 1981 that was capable of spoken word identification, but maybe that's the answer. But, then again, why did the guard say "Mexico were in?" That certainly sounds like he was talking to a human not a computer. So who knows?

[–] Kroyall1962 11 years ago

I don't think there was reliable voice recognition in 1981. I ran a warehouse that just had auto parts in it and I would get calls in the middle of the night if there was anything amiss around the place. Sometimes I would go down there and walk through with the cops. It seems a place that had millions in diamonds would be working with a security company that would catch an anomaly like that.

Barry actually taped the real guy saying the code word, I would have thought they would have just played that back into the phone when they came in.

[–] nitebelow 11 years ago

These guys were in the jewel business - I don't think it would be impossible for customers to be coming in very early or very late from Europe or South Africa and doing some business.