The Italian Job
The Italian Job is a British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. It was released in 1969 and was very popular in Britain; subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as something of a national institution in the UK, with a cult following elsewhere.
Its distinctive soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, and includes two songs, “On Days Like These” sung by Matt Monro over the opening credits, and “Getta Bloomin’ Move On” (usually referred to as “The Self Preservation Society”, after its chorus) during the film’s climactic car chase. Lead actor Michael Caine can be clearly heard among the singers in the latter.
In November 2004, the magazine Total Film named The Italian Job the 27th greatest British film of all time. The line “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”, said by Michael Caine in the film, was voted the favourite movie one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1000 movie fans.
Plot summary
The film starts with a driver’s-eye view of a Lamborghini Miura driving through the Italian Alps as the titles roll. Following the car as it negotiates the turns at high speed, the scenery is cut off when the car enters the darkness of a tunnel and subsequently explodes. The viewpoint changes to the other end of the tunnel, where the remains of the ill-fated Lamborghini are pulled from the tunnel, wrapped around the front of a bulldozer.
Some time later dapper mobster Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) is released from prison. He is soon met by a woman (Lelia Goldoni) who is the wife of the victim of the car crash, former friend and fellow thief Roger Beckermann (Brazzi). She gives Croker the plans for a daring robbery that Beckermann was in the midst of planning, which attracted the attention of the local Mafia with fatal results. The plans outline a way to rob a four million dollar shipment of gold from China to banks in Turin, a payment to Fiat for licensing their car designs for production in China.
Croker decides to continue the plan in spite of the risks, but needs to put together a large gang in order to pull it off. In order to fund the attempt, Crocker breaks into jail to meet with Mr Bridger (Noël Coward), an incarcerated criminal mastermind who nonetheless runs a gangland empire from within the jail. Croker explains “The Italian Job” and is able to arrange the needed funding. He assembles a group including computer expert Professor Peach (Benny Hill), electronics handler Birkinshaw (Fred Emney) and several getaway drivers. The plan calls for Peach to infect Turin’s lauded computerised traffic control system to create a traffic jam that will prevent the police from recapturing the gold after it is stolen. Three Mini Cooper Ss will provide the escape route for the gold, able to navigate the gridlock in unconventional ways. Planning and training for the Job takes up the first half of the movie.
The second half of the movie takes place as the plans are carried out. Aware that the British will make another attempt, the Mafia boss Altabani (Raf Vallone) is waiting for Croker when he arrives. Instead of killing him, he damages the two Jaguar E-Types that have accompanied Croker and pushes Croker’s Aston Martin DB4 off the side of the Alps and points him in the direction of England. Undeterred, Croker gathers the gang and Peach starts loading the broken software into the traffic control system the night before the heist. The next day Birkinshaw breaks the closed circuit television system that covers the route, just before Peach’s software “goes off” and the city comes to a standstill. The rest of the gang quickly converge on the gold convoy, overpower the guards, and break into the armoured car holding the gold.
After the heist, the gang transfers the gold to the Minis in the entrance hall of the Museo Egizio. The three Minis then race through the stylish shopping arcades of the Via Roma, up the saillike roof of the Palazzo a Vela, around the rooftop test track of the famous Fiat Lingotto factory building and even down the steps of the Gran Madre di Dio church while a wedding is in progress. The gang finally escapes the city by driving through large sewer pipes, throwing off the police in the process. The gang make their final getaway on a six-wheeled Harrington Legionnaire bodied Bedford VAL (actually used to transport the crew), driving up a ramp on the back whilst the coach is still travelling at speed. The getaway Minis are then pushed out of the still-moving coach as it negotiates hairpin bends in the Italian Alps.
Successfully on their way to Switzerland along a winding mountain road, the gang celebrate in the back of the bus. However, a mistake by the driver sends the coach into a skid, with the back end of the bus left teetering over the edge of the cliff and the gold slipping towards the rear doors. As Croker attempts to reach the gold, it slips further, and the audience is left not knowing whether the coach, its contents, and its occupants survive — a literal cliffhanger ending. Croker’s last line is “Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea! Err…”
