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Steve McQueen plays a millionaire who robs a bank just for shits and giggles, and Faye Dunaway plays the insurance investigator who will either turn him in… or fall in love with him. Director Norman Jewison embraces the French New Wave to give the film a unique tone that favors style slightly higher than substance, and I’m okay with that. The result is a pretty cool movie that reeks of the ’60s. The film utilizes split-screen images better than any I’ve seen, especially when we’re watching multiple characters prepare for the opening bank heist. Jewison employs other interesting photographic and editing techniques, whether its slowly racking focus or juxtaposing sound effects during his scene transitions, which are some of the coolest I can remember.

All of this makes The Thomas Crown Affair cinematically self-aware, and some might call the approach pretentious. I think the approach works — without it, the film would be far less interesting. McQueen and Dunaway both give icy, deliberately restrained performances that fit well with Jewison’s design. Michel Legrand’s Oscar-nominated music leaves an indelible mark, especially during the film’s sexually-charged chess match (possibly one of my favorite scenes in movie history). Legrand scores the scene with percussive rumbling and occasional strums on a harpsichord, aiding McQueen and Dunaway in their preparation for one of the longest on-screen kisses in movie history.

Academy Award: Best Song (The Windmills of Your Mind)

Oscar Nomination: Best Score (Michel Legrand)