Thieves (1977) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Sally files for divorce because the pregnancy forces her to confront the reality that she and Martin have grown apart. While pregnant, she moves away to stay with a friend while considering abortion, indicating she sees the pregnancy as another complication in an already fractured marriage rather than a reason to stay.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Sally expresses frustration about wanting a child while Martin has become distant from his idealistic past, hinting that the pregnancy would strain rather than strengthen their relationship.

• pregnancy
• divorce
• sally
• marriage crisis

Martin has an affair with Nancy, his neighbor, seeking emotional and physical connection that is missing from his marriage to Sally. The affair represents a pattern of infidelity that mirrors the growing distance between him and Sally, who is also exploring a connection with Gordon during this period.

Foreshadowing: The couple's early tension about Sally wanting Carlton to move in and Martin's reminder that Carlton stole from him revealed their diverging values and emotional gap.

• affair
• nancy
• martin
• infidelity
• marriage

Carlton uses their apartment as a covert storage location after stealing keys from the building's doorman Devlin. He offers the stolen loot in exchange for a passing grade from Sally, leveraging their vulnerability to further his own interests.

Foreshadowing: Sally's earlier proposal to bring Carlton into their home, despite Martin's objections, created the opportunity for Carlton to access the building.

• carlton
• stolen goods
• devlin
• theft
• apartment

Joe reveals that Sally is actually 32, not 33, because she was enrolled in school a year early. He had been holding onto that extra year as a birthday gift in his will, but decides she needs it now more than ever, during her crisis about the pregnancy and marriage breakdown. The revelation reframes her sense of time and aging.

Foreshadowing: Sally's argument about time being a thief, urging Joe to accompany her to the abortion procedure, connects thematically to the revelation about lost time.

• sally age
• joe
• kaminsky
• father
• will
• birthday

Martin breaks into the closed theater because it holds memories of his first date with Sally, they snuck into the Loew's theater when they were younger and broke. Returning to the transformed space (now a church), he confronts how much their lives have changed and seeks connection to their past.

Foreshadowing: The couple's reminiscing earlier in the film about their first date at the theater sets up this pivotal return.

• theater
• church
• first date
• memory
• orchard street

Devlin is found dead in the lobby after a night of violence and fear connected to Carlton's criminal activities. Sally returns to find both Devlin's body and her stolen suitcase, suggesting the situation escalated dangerously when criminals came to retrieve Carlton's hidden stash.

Foreshadowing: Carlton stole keys from Devlin to access the building for his stolen goods operation, creating this fatal connection.

• devlin
• dead body
• lobby
• carlton
• stolen suitcase

Despite everything, the affair, the pregnancy crisis, the police, and the body in the lobby, Martin pleads with Sally not to break up until they decide who is at fault. In a moment of fear and longing, they share a kiss and choose to run away together as police sirens approach, seeking refuge in each other rather than separation.

Foreshadowing: Earlier tensions about Martin's distant behavior and Sally's departure set the stage for this desperate reconciliation.

• reconciliation
• run away
• police
• kiss
• marriage resolution

When Carlton offers stolen goods in exchange for a passing grade, Sally proposes a more difficult alternative, she would adopt Carlton if he goes straight. This reflects her long-standing desire to have a child and her belief in redemption, even as she faces losing her own marriage.

Foreshadowing: Sally's earlier desire for a child and frustration with Martin's distance motivates this maternal offer to Carlton.

• adoption
• carlton
• reform
• passing grade
• student

Sally had sent their valuable antique furniture from the Orchard Street apartment to be stored, but the current tenant sold it for only forty dollars. Martin discovers this loss when he returns, symbolizing how their shared past and possessions are slipping away.

Foreshadowing: The couple's move from Orchard Street to the Upper East Side marks their transition into a life that feels increasingly disconnected from their roots.

• antique furniture
• orchard street
• sold
• forty dollars

When two police officers arrive to arrest Martin for breaking and entering the old theater, he pulls a gun and flees the scene. This desperate act heightens the stakes and represents his complete break from the steady, practical man he was earlier in the film.

Foreshadowing: Martin's earlier emotional decline and the cumulative stress of his marriage crisis and Sally's departure drive this reckless behavior.

• arrest
• escape
• gun
• police
• theater

Sally phones Gordon, a man she met in the park, seeking emotional support during her crisis. Gordon reveals he is married with children and cannot obtain a divorce, so they agree to remain friends. This connection shows Sally reaching outside her marriage for support while considering her options.

Foreshadowing: Sally's loneliness and Martin's emotional distance create the conditions for her to seek connection elsewhere.

• gordon
• phone call
• park
• friend
• support

The film uses time as a thief as a central metaphor. Sally invokes this idea when arguing with her father about the abortion, suggesting time steals opportunities, youth, and chances at happiness. Joe's revelation about her actual age directly connects to this theme, time had literally stolen a year from her that her father now returns.

Foreshadowing: The couple's aging, the loss of their Orchard Street life, and Martin's distant behavior all embody this theme of time eroding what once felt solid.

• time thief
• aging
• opportunity
• joe revelation