Customer Reviews

The Italian Job

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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?

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

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...

This is the movie that defined the word, 'Classic'.

Michael Caine plays Charlie who's just been released from prison. Rather than trying to keep on the straight and narrow, he immediately embarks on trying to steal gold bullion from the Italian's. He gets the backing of Mr. Bridger, London's head of crime, who's in prison himself.

To help him carry out the plan, he gathers together an array of colourful people including Benny Hill as the clever professor who has a penchant for big women.

Add to the mix three Mini Cooper's as the unlikely get away cars and you're in for a fun filled, action packed film that sees Charlie and his gang trying to outrun both the police and the Mafia.

The build up to the heist is interesting and funny but the unique get away at the end is the scene stealer. Through underground sewers and subways, down church steps, through rivers and up to the very rooftops, it's gripping and highly entertaining. I think anyone that watches the film will just yearn to have a Mini Cooper afterwards.

Of course, the cliff hanger of an ending just fits so perfectly too.

To add; I also think the soundtrack is great and the film produced one of the most, if not THE, memorable quote of all time from Michael Caine when he sees the truck explode into thousands of pieces during a practice run and then turns to the unfortunate explosives 'expert' and says, "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off."

Mr. Caine has said that he still has people come up to him in the street and say that to him, even now!

To conlcude, The Italian Job is very patriotic, even the cars are red, white and blue, and I think it's the masterpiece for all British classic's.

So, "get your skates on, mate" and buy it now - your collection is lacking if this film isn't a part of it.

It is true that original ideas in Hollywood are even rarer than lasting show-biz marriages, but the remake of the '60's British classic "The Italian Job" stands out as the glaring example of the industry trying to pass off flash and flair in the guise of eye-candy actors and high-tech special effects in place of the human elements of acting chemistry and film craftsmanship.

The 1969 version of "The Italian Job" succeeded on so many levels; it was a fantastic film that was well-indicative of its time (the afterglow of the sexual revolution as well as the London fashion boom seen recently only on a second-hand basis from the Austin Powers movies in addition to Ing-er-lund's winning of the 1966 World Cup, British hipsters could actually display the Union Jack and sing "Rule, Britannia", unthinkable for the UK apologists of today) as well as a crime caper with a decidely different twist to the wit of say, the Rat Pack version of "Ocean's 11". And the distinctly European take on the car chase already iconocized in Steve McQueen's "Bullitt" demonstrated by the use of the ORIGINAL bumper-to-bumper crumple zoned Mini Coopers as opposed to the full-throated Detoit muscle flexed by "Bullitt"'s Dodge Charger and Ford Mustang is ably accentuated by some of the best stunt driving seen in a generation among some of the most beautifully picturesque backdrops in the world.

This is an admittedly dated, though terrifically quirky and extremely fun movie to watch. It's a fine example of why Michael Caine was one of the most charming actors of his generation and another example of what a movie can be when given over to human inspiration and creativity as opposed to a cookie-cutter script handed over to an overzealous special effects department. Rent the Wahlberg/Theron/Norton remake if you must; it's a good enough example of the quick fix mentality that prevents anything new and original from succeeding in Hollywood today. But for an example of a wonderfully produced and well-filmed classic MOVIE, this one's worth adding to the serious film afficinado's collection.

I love this movie. I have a video copy. They are currently filming a remake of the movie using the new Mini Cooper. My guess is that the release of the original movie on DVD is being deliberately delayed in the United States pending the release of the remake or even the DVD of the remake. In England the original 1969 movie was rereleased to theatres ayear or so ago and the DVD followed quickly thereafter.

I grew up with The Italian Job in the UK. It was one of those films the BBC used to show all the time. My friends and I have been watching the video for years - we put it on whenever a boozed-up night of shouting out the classic lines is required, e.g. "He was put away for doing something disgusting with a net." Just typing it in makes me laugh, see the film and you'll see what I mean. Add to that a bizarre Mini car chase, a singalong Cockney soundtrack and an authentic swinging London 60s setting and it's a must-see.

The 60's Italian Job is well known to British audiences, for whom the movie is as regular a fixture of Christmas television scheduling as James Bond films, The Great Escape and the Queen's speech. Negative reviews by US viewers are as much a result of the lack of a culture context and unfamiliarity with many of the ensemble cast. The film has aged well and provides an amusing, if rather rose-tinted, snapshot of 60's British culture.

The cast includes Noel Coward as Mr Bridger, the criminal mastermind, and Michael Caine as the foppish Charlie Croker. British audiences will recognise a host of well known actors in cameo roles, including Benny Hill and John Le Mesurier.

The stars of the film though are undoubtedly the cars. Amusingly, the array of 60's supercars including a Lamborghini Muira, E-Type Jaguars and Charlie's Aston Martin are overshadowing by the three Mini Coopers which lead the Italian police on an amazing car chase through Turin. Remy Julienne and his stunt driving team produced one of the most amazing and well known, at least to British audiences, car chases on film. Arguably it still rates as one of the best car chase sequences and all the more so because the stunts were actually filmed on location in Turin (and Coventry in the case of the sewer scenes) and in cars with minimal modifications.

There are many memorable moments in the movie beyond the Mini Cooper sequence. Caine's 'blow the doors off', Benny Hill's larger lady obsessed Professor Peach on the tram in Turin and the 'hanging' ending stick out in my mind.

The extra features on the DVD are good but not truly outstanding. The 'Making Of' documentary provides a number of interesting insights into the movie. The commentary overlay track is a little stilted but worth a listen. There is only really one deleted scene, the rather amazing 'Blue Danube' car ballet on ice.

In summary, this is a true British classic with a great cast, score and storyline. A nice snapshot of 60's London, a fantastic (at least for UK audiences) cast and the superb car chase scene make this one to buy. The Hollywood remake, whilst not a bad movie in its own right, shares only the title, a storyline based on a gold heist and the updated BMW Mini with the original.

And for anyone wondering about the original Mini's, they really are that small and that much fun to drive.

Much like remaking "Ocean's 11", today's Hollywood not only can't come up with original titles, but their ability to better the original movies they are remaking is lacking as well.

The original "Italian Job" is a classic. Paramount has also done an admirable job in releasing this DVD....COMPLETE with some GREAT deleted scenes (the mini ballet has to be seen to be believed).

Looking for a good heist movie. Ignore the tripe coming out of Hollywood today, and go for the originals...."The Italian Job" and "Ocean's 11". Now THAT'S entertainment.

The original ITALIAN JOB is one of those "little" movies that won't go away as it continues to reap the dividends of having been done with panache and style.
Michael Cane's Charlie character is an artist working effortlessly in aloof charm. He's the kind confident character you'll admire like Murphy in CUCKOO'S NEST in spite of the obvious reasons not to. There is seductive music and beautiful scenery and plenty of restrained continental humor.
I have no interest in cars, but even I admitt the classic models of the time featured here are beautiful and add to the ambiance of elegance infusing the scenes .
The chase is more clever than thrilling although the site of four cars performing on the top of a tall rounded building still makes me shake my head when I see it thinking they must have been mad. Remember, no remote control models or studio set ups were used here. That car jumping from roof to roof is real.
Don't come here looking for an action adventure though - it's more adult than that albeit geared for adults of another generation.
Director Collinson's influence makes the movie as good as it could possibly have been. The art direction also contributes strongly throughout. Because this version is so good, I am not tempted to see the remake. Why?
Basically; it must have been pretty impressive then and it's definately fun now. Sometimes all you want is a little fun with a dash of style.