Tue 29 Dec 2020
THE ITALIAN JOB. Paramount Pictures, UK/US, 1969. Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Maggie Blye, Rossano Brazzi. Screenwriter: Troy Kennedy-Martin. Director: Peter Collinson. Currently streaming on several platforms, including Amazon Prime Video (but ending there tomorrow).
When I spotted this movie on Amazon Prime on Monday, but that it was ending there soon, I thought I’d better finally see it while I could, and I’m glad I did. I saw the remake when it came out, but how I’d let this one get by me for so long, I have no explanation.
It is a heist film, of course, and as usual, heist films take a long time getting around to the heist itself: the planning, the gathering together of the people to pull it off, the obstacles they face while doing so. (In this case, since this particular heist is being pulled off in Italy by a high level gang of British drivers and miscellaneous thugs under the leadership of Michael Caine’s character, and the overall backing, moneywise, of criminal mastermind Noël Coward, safely ensconced in penitentiary, it is the Mafia).
But in all heist films, or 99.5 percent of them, as meticulously planned as the are, and this one absolutely is, something has to go wrong. A hitch in timing somewhere along the way, a slip-up in timing, a brief bit of conversation overheard by someone who shouldn’t have been there. The audience, expecting exactly this, even while watching events take place like clockwork, even if improvised when need be, only needs to sit back and wait. Second halves of heist films are always the best.
And the combination of Michael Caine (movie), Noël Coward (stage), and Benny Hill (TV star) may seem to have pulled out of a hat at random, but each in their own way were at the top of their artistic fields at the time, and they’re the glue at the core that holds the film together (some more than others).
Once the heist gets underway in earnest, some of the storylines get dropped completely. Michael Caine’s girl friend for one, and the Mafia, surprisingly, for another. What I think I’ll do, though, is stop here, rather than analyze the movie any longer (many others have) and amuse you with some photos I took along the way. And by the way, I loved the last line of dialogue: “Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea.â€
December 29th, 2020 at 8:18 pm
The ending may be the best twist on the old “we can’t let them get away with it” rule in Hollywood. Caine is just about perfect for this, and that car chase is still a dandy even on a Television screen.
The remake is far more a straight caper film than this, this never pretends to be the least realistic, and like THE JOKERS that is it’s greatest asset.
December 30th, 2020 at 12:15 am
For anyone to state that it’s merely a personal fave film (as I emphatically will) they are being a tad conservative. For, it’s a rollicking fan favorite and has been for a long time, and for scads of movie lovers. It’s a film to savor each morsel of; a silly unabashed boyish romp to somewhat even marvel at –rather than dissect too much. Although when you do dissect it, there’s wonderment in store even there in the liner-notes. So, I don’t blame anyone for analyzing it. I’ve looked up the cheaply-available production trivia for it myself I admit; and grinned while doing so.
Has anyone ever gone on record as disliking this movie? It’s immature and simplistic and off-color and slightly awkward, yes. But it’s also cool and calculated and audacious –both in front of and behind the camera. Not every film so conceived, succeeds –but this one does; and defines, ‘how to make it look easy’.
Michael Caine at his peak of glib, handsome, Britishness; shrewd and suave and helming a swaggering, nearly all-male action-fest in hilarious swinging Italy of the late ’60s. With that clipped English speech and get-it-done atmosphere; that much simpler world when a good idea would simply work just about as planned. “We’ll gridlock the whole downtown boys.” (Turin, was that where it was?) “Here’s how we’ll do it, see? In-and-out and bob’s-your-uncle, mate…”
“The boys” do indeed, make it work. No, not the first or last time traffic gridlock was used as a plot (see the Yalu Street series set in Hong Kong, a subject of some academic study in fact) but in heist films, this is arguably the last word in that fine sub-genre: the ‘automotive caper’. Can anyone name a better one?
Non-stop sequences of eye-popping car-stunts with the famous Cooper Mini which amount to motorized Busby-Berkeley style choreography. Ore-Ida. Comparable to Friedkin or Yates, except that it’s set in gorgeous Italy and no one is killed. It’s almost as good as being there.
Actors: it’s not too much to say this is one of those films which ‘made’ the Michael Caine legend. But then you add in a bittersweet cameo by the swan-like Coward (he doesn’t have to do anything, to be a treat) and wince-worthy Benny Hill and what else is there to but sit back and hoot. Although among the other faces of the squadron of wheel-men though there are some more interesting names. Look for yourself and see.
Ah, I relish this flick. Relish seeing someone discuss it. I wish the world was still that nice and sweet.
Yes: the literal ‘cliffhanger’ ending is one of the most singular ‘cliffhangers’ ever. There’s been much astute discussion on just what Caine’s save-the-day plan was; I’ve read it and I support it. Move the men to the front; slip one out; half-drain the air from the tyres to stabilize the bus; then shuffle the gold forward.
December 30th, 2020 at 7:07 am
Great movie. Funny too. My favourite ending ever for a heist movie.
December 30th, 2020 at 8:12 am
“Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea.â€
There are hundreds of discussions of just what the great idea was and whether it would work on the internet.
December 30th, 2020 at 10:31 am
Lazy? That is a terrific piece of writing.
December 30th, 2020 at 11:32 am
This Is The Self-Preservation Society!
… and offhand, I’d say we need it now, more than ever!
*clap, clap, clap-clap-clap,
clap-clap-clap-clap,
Bridger!!!
December 30th, 2020 at 12:03 pm
December 30th, 2020 at 1:13 pm
re: #5 above. Why, thank you very kindly. But it was the OP Steve’s review with all the pictures which really boosted my mood last night with some fond recollections of this outlandish caper. I had fun thinking about why the zany story works so well.
A satisfying review like the OP’s above is kind of hard to stumble across these days; it used to be one might go over to IMDb to cheer up with a favorite film. But IMDb had that sweeping alteration a while ago and now one can’t just go there anymore to find an adroit film summary, much less chat about a title as we’re doing here right now.
I realize ‘The Italian Job’ was remade in recent years but they set the story in Los Angeles, right? Ah well. Money is money. The original flick was bound to be remade sooner or later. But it reinforces the magic of that original which captured Italy of 1969. That is something that can’t be repeated. All those wild crowds, all those location shots; all those tongue-in-cheek one-offs which today’s gloomy rule-mongering would never permit anymore.
I mean, even just Benny Hill. Could Benny Hill exist in our modern-day political climate? Would his brand of humor restricted? In this movie, he goes around pinching curvy Italian women, rolling his eyes, and muttering how, “cor, he likes ’em big”
Yea, I got a little carried away when I composed my thoughts on this movie but dang, it does seem as if people at that ‘more backward’ date had a lot more simple escapism and amusement than we do now (even if it was only a movie).
BTW: actor Robert Powell is the cast member I was recalling among Croker’s gang. He went on to greater heights.