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61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow, what a ride!, May 10, 2002
There are few genres as enduring in the movie biz as the heist and they don't come any more entertaining than this one. Michael Caine is at his best as a fresh-out-of-jail, small-time crook who decides to pull the job of the century. To achieve this, he sets about finding someone to bankroll the enterprise, in the person of Noel Coward. Coward, a big time syndicate boss is still running his business from jail and after some persuasion, agrees. Caine then sets about assembling a cast of idiosyncratic no-hopers to carry out his bold plan, among them Benny Hill, an electronics wizard with a fondness for fat women. After much practicing, three teams in Mini Coopers (driven by "chinless wonders") set off for Italy with a bus-full or two of supporters all dressed as soccer fans. The arrival on the scene of the Mafia does little to dampen their enthusiasm and the fun really starts. The climax of this action/farce is the car chase through the streets, sewers and even the skyline of Turin. Plenty of action, plenty of laughs and all very well paced. If anything, it's probably too short (though I don't mean the ending...) but I guess that just makes you appreciate it that much more. An old favorite which is hard to beat. Know wot I mean, Guv?
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Hilarious, Campy Caper! Great Comedy From Michael Caine!, December 7, 2003
A double feature was recently offered on cable TV that allowed me to view "The Italian Job" twice - the 1969 version with Michael Caine and the 2003 version. The two films have little in common except a gold bullion robbery, 4 million dollars worth in 1969, and 27 million in 2003, to allow for the decreasing value of the dollar and bigger and better ways to spend it! I enjoyed the 2003 thriller but the older film is really an excellent comedy. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see it, because I missed it, and lots of laughs, the first time around. "The Italian Job" (1969) is a campy caper packed with 1960s nostalgia. There are enough gadgets and girls in this film to make even James Bond content, although Bond would never work with the bumbling, quirky characters that Michael Caine, called Charlie Croker here, is forced to deal with. The film opens with a choreographed hit by the Italian Mafia. The choreography could have been done for the June Taylor Dancers. It's a riot! Anyway, Roger Beckerman, a brilliant thief, is murdered because he had masterminded a potential heist to take place in Turin, Italy, involving millions of dollars of Chinese gold bullion. Beckerman leaves a tape for Charlie Croker, who has just been released from a British prison. The video tape, to be viewed in the event of Beckerman's death, explains the entire caper and offers Charlie the opportunity to do the job. Charlie gets the funding for the project from Mr. Bridger, played by a wonderfully comic Noel Coward. Bridger is an inmate of the prison where Charlie had spent the last few years and he rules the UK underworld like a king, from his jail cell, with guards and inmates paying him homage. Croker fights off the advances of gorgeous blondes with one hand while he uses the other to whip into shape his motley crew of screwball bandits. The dialogue is hilarious at times, especially when the team of thieves, who seem to have a collective IQ of 75, go at each other like recalcitrant adolescent schoolboys. Croker who occasionally is forced to step out of his role as master-thief to play schoolmaster, yells at his men during a particularly delicate operation, "Get yourselves sorted out and shut-up! No one talks anymore except me!" During a meeting with the Mafia leader who threatens to kill Croker and his men if they pull-off the job, Charlie responds, "You will be making a grave error if you kill us. There are one-quarter million Italians in Britain and they will be made to suffer. Every restaurant, cafe, ice cream parlor, gambling den and nightclub in London, Liverpool and Glasgow will be smashed. Mr. Bridger will drive them into the sea!" This film is pure fun with the mother of all car chases as the grand finale. Not to be missed!
JANA
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why can't all movies be like this?, April 25, 2000
This is one of the finest heist films ever committed to celluloid. This is one of the finest ensemble performances assembled. This is, without question, one of the finest films of its genre. Michael Caine is, as always, smooth and calculating and funny in his subtle, English way. The heist and the set up to the heist are handled brilliantly. I am a longtime fan of all heist films and this has to be, alongside "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3", the best. From Caine's dead associate talking to him from beyond the grave on reels of black and white film...outlining the whole heist....to the flawless execution of the plan, the pure excitement of the chase scene (The BEST CAR CHASE SCENE EVER)and the twists and turns and even the theme song....everything is pure magnificence. Oh man. Get this movie. Love this movie. Cherish this movie and then watch it again and again. Never before have you seen the things you'll see in this movie. NEVER. I fear that any review I give will be more convoluted and uninforming than actually watching this movie. So that is what you must do. I guarantee you will be grinning from ear to ear and dancing that happy dance you dance when you discover a film as good as this one.... thank your lucky stars...
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