Thieves Like Us (1974)

A strange film to come from director Robert Altman who is best known for ensemble pieces (and briefly in the '80's for filmed plays), as this is a remake of the 1949 "They Live by Night" and a fairly linear storyline.  The original film was based on a novel with the above title, and tells of three jail-breakers -- two hard cases played by John Schuck and Bert Remsen -- and a young naive criminal played here by Keith Carradine (Farley Granger in the original).  It is the '30's and they rob banks (like Bonnie and Clyde) and the two older ones rope in Carradine as their getaway driver.  While on the run he meets Shelley Duval (a strange, strange actress, but an Altman favourite of this period) who is equally gormless.  Their love story is the centre of this movie and is gently told, but is undermined by the basic nastiness of the other characters; Schuck in particular, whom I always associate with comedy goofiness, is a right mean piece of work.  Altman evokes the feel of the period through soft-focus photography and a clever use of recreated radio soundtracks, and some critics think the film poetic -- I wouldn't go quite that far, but it certainly is an anomaly amongst his movies.