In September 2001 Nick Nolte was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs. The actor, who played an alcoholic in 1997’s Affliction, said that the arrest spurred his decision to give up, finally, all his various forms of substance abuse. Presumably he has now done so, but his experiences in that area surely helped him play the junkie gambler and thief who is the protagonist of Neil Jordan’s new film, The Good Thief.
The movie is based on a 1955 French film noir, but Jordan’s version is not so much noir as neon. Set among the glittering casinos of the Côte d’Azur, The Good Thief has Nolte as the junkie etc who is planning one last big heist. In the meantime, he has to deal with an abused prostitute (Nutsa Kukhianidze) he takes under his wing and the rather chummy police officer (Tchéky Karyo) who’s trying to catch him out.
This is an amiable, fast-talking caper movie, with some new technology to spice up the heist theme — Yugoslavian director Emir Kusturica has a small but delightful role as a guitar-playing computer expert enlisted to help with the theft. But it’s Nolte’s movie all the way, a showcase for his larger-than-life style. He takes full advantage of the opportunity, stopping just short of full-scale scenery-chewing in his portrayal of this loveable rogue.
Nolte has a long history of playing the loveable rogue. South African television viewers will remember the skidmark he left across our screens when he played the tearaway brother in the series Rich Man, Poor Man. In The Good Thief there is a brief glimpse of that much-younger Nolte, the baby-faced Nolte everyone fell in love with back in the late 1970s. Now the face is practically falling on to the floor, but he’s still a loveable rogue. At one point in this slickly made movie a Leonard Cohen song appears on the soundtrack, and it all falls into place — Nolte today is a Leonard Cohen song come to life.