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Thief

1981 · directed by Michael Mann · 123 min · R
24,396 feet · Prominence
703rd of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Thief’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan →

How this film scores

Draw47

Lifetime worldwide gross $11m, re-releases included; about $42m in 2026 money.

Rank4,615 of 11,051In 198154 of 90

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise79

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics79 baseAwards0 signal → +0 lift

No award rows on file, usually missing data rather than missing honours. Wikidata is thin for older and non-English films.

How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy62

Judged directly: Mann debut, hugely influential crime aesthetic.

Verdict62 of 100IMDb7.4 from 42kWikipedia30k views a monthAge45 years

On the listsCriterion Collectionevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 516 of 4,039 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 47 praise 79 legacy 62averages 63, placing it at24,396 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

In these careers — elevation for this film

James Caan20,024 ftRobert Prosky18,659 ftTuesday Weld18,451 ftWillie Nelson18,098 ft