In 1985, Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre," one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, was cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the painting was found hanging in a New Mexico home.
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The criminal exploits of a New England couple are revealed in The Thief Collector. In 2017, while claiming material for his antique store from the estate of Rita and Jerry Alter in Cliff, New Mexico, Dave Van Auker finds a painting behind their bedroom door, which turns out to be Willem de Kooning’s painting “Woman-Ochre,” which was stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art 30 years earlier. This opens the door to the Alters’ secret life of crime, which happened to be documented in Jerry Alter’s book of short stories “The Cap and the Lip.”
The Thief Collector is a true-crime documentary by director Allison Otto, which makes heavy use of reenactments to illustrate the short stories written by Jerry Alter, which appear to be a veiled confession for the real crimes committed with his wife Rita. The theft and recovery of Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” is just the start of the story, as the Alters’ family and the police try to piece what part of the stories are true and what is fiction.
Above everything else, I have to praise The Thief Collector for the quality of its reenactments, which are produced in a very cinematic manner. While the story starts being about a stolen painting being recovered after three decades, The Thief Collector does start to go down the rabbit hole a little bit, especially after the connection between Jerry Alter’s crimes and short stories is established. Overall, The Thief Collector ends up being a very fascinating and entertaining true crime story.