The Italian Job (1969)

Director:

Peter Collinson

Writer:

Troy Kennedy-Martin (written by)

Release Date:

3 September 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

Introducing the plans for a new business venture: "The Italian Job."

Plot:

Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Gold | Sewer | Car Chase | Mini Cooper

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Charlie Croker
Noel Coward	...	Mr. Bridger (as Noël Coward)
Benny Hill	...	Professor Simon Peach
Raf Vallone	...	Altabani
Tony Beckley	...	Freddie
Rossano Brazzi	...	Beckerman
Margaret Blye	...	Lorna (as Maggie Blye)
Irene Handl	...	Miss Peach
John Le Mesurier	...	Governor (as John le Mesurier)
Fred Emney	...	Birkinshaw
John Clive	...	Garage Manager
Graham Payn	...	Keats
Michael Standing	...	Arthur
Stanley Caine	...	Coco
Barry Cox	...	Chris

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | Australia:PG | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 (original rating) | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (cinema version) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:U (original rating) | USA:G | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alembic House - 93 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London, England, UK

Company:

Oakhurst Productions

Trivia:

This is a movie primarily about cars and driving. Michael Caine, the star, could not drive at the time the movie was made, and in fact he is never seen driving a car. The only time in the movie that Charlie Croker is assumed to be driving is the cut between when he picks up his Aston Martin at the garage, and in the next shot we see it arrive outside the hotel. But Michael Caine gets out of a stationary Aston Martin after a further cut. Throughout the drive to Turin and the entire heist, Croker is always a passenger.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Several of the top tiers of "gold" jiggle around upon hitting the ground when lowered from the plane; too light weight to be real gold.

Quotes:

Lorna: [after hearing a rapid knock at the door] It's the Law, Charlie!
Charlie Croker: What you tell 'em?
Lorna: Charlie, would I tell them anything?
Charlie Croker: ...Yes you would.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Klatretøsen (2002)

Soundtrack:

The British Grenadiers

"Everybody In The World Is Bent!"

Clean, slick, hyperpatriotic and 1960's chic, 'The Job' is an interesting museum piece. The cars sum it all up. The mini cooper was the funky little vehicle that sold a million, and its sports version won a string of international rallies at the end of the 60's. The car rode the wave of 'cool Britannia' confidence that embraced Carnaby Street, The Beatles and the soccer World Cup, and also added to that mood by being successful. The mini cooper proclaims, "we may have lost an empire, but we're a spunky little country with a role to play in the world." Dinky and diminutive, but with plenty of poke under the bonnet, this car was the spirit of Britain 1969.

It is clear that this chirpy cockney gold robbery movie was made for the American market. When the Turin police chief reckons the loss to his city, he does so in dollars rather than lire, even though he is talking to fellow Italians. Twee London stereotypes are everywhere, and the weak script is larded with compliments to America, the land which recognizes youth and talent. 'Inside' becomes 'inside of', all for the benefit of "our American cousins".

Mister Bridger is a bigshot in the London underworld. He is currently in the slammer, but so important is he that he is able to rule the prison like a decadent Roman emperor. Noel Coward plays Bridger to camp excess. The toilet scene with Charlie resembles a homosexual pick-up, curiously mimicking Coward's meeting with Alec Guinness in "Our Man In Havana". Charlie (Michael Caine) is the lovable cockney wide boy who needs Bridger's approval if The Italian Job is ever to happen.

Gold bullion is shipped out of Turin every week at the same hour. British ingenuity can defeat Italian precautions, just as the World Champion English soccer team will be beating the Italian team in the Turin stadium. The robbery is a military operation, drawing on British folk memory and a century of life in uniform. Indeed, the robbers wear a uniform, and if Bridger represents the officer class, with its lofty habit of command and aloofness from anything resembling dirty work, Charlie Croker is the redoubtable NCO who works with the men and controls the operation on the ground.

Some things are done well. Quincy Jones's incidental music is great, especially the complex arrangement of "Self-Preservation Society". The mini coopers driving along the pipeline is a splendid visual image, and the accompanying guitar chords resemble Paul Simon's strumming in the almost exactly contemporary "The Graduate". The film's climax is the boarding of the bus by the mini-coopers, the whole thing executed at speed.

Other aspects, alas, are not quite as impressive. Charlie and Lorna walk around the airport asphalt while the gold is being unloaded. Even if this were believable, why would they draw attention to themselves so ostentatiously? The film is packed with gaudy racial and cultural stereotypes, the underlying premise being that Italians are pushovers. Charlie and his team escape from the hideout just as the Turin police batter down the front door. Isn't it just conceivable that the cops might have thought about covering the rear exit? The soccer fans' van is ridiculous, and finds it ridiculously easy to work its way through the traffic jam. I didn't like the scene on the parabolic roof - it seemed slow and pointless. And why would cops and robbers race around a velodrome track? What benefit is gained by pushing the cars out on the mountain road, apart from obtaining some nice images to put in the movie?

'The Job' is very much a product of its era. Robert Redford turned down the role of Croker in order to play Sundance, and it is interesting to note how this film has dated markedly, while "Butch Cassidy" hasn't at all. Admittedly, part of the ageing process is attributable to the 60's setting - attractive villains live in and among fast cars, swish hotels and pretty girls, and wicker chairs hang from ceiling chains, while apartment walls are festooned with 'pop art' posters. Jokey camera work is a must in this type of film (for example, the zoom-ins on the van during the count-down).

"The Italian Job" is like the Turin computer - cumbersome and amusingly quaint, but fascinating to look at, if only in order to marvel at the way things used to be.

Verdict - Charming period piece.