The Italian Job


The Italian Job is a 1969 British comedy caper film written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley, directed by Peter Collinson, and starring Michael Caine. The film's plot centres on Cockney criminal Charlie Croker, recently released from prison, who forms a gang for the job of stealing a cache of gold bullion being transported through the city of Turin, Italy, in an armoured security truck.
In addition to Caine, the cast also included Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Tony Beckley and Noël Coward; the film was Coward's last before his retirement from acting. The soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, featuring the songs "On Days Like These", sung by Matt Monro over the opening credits, and "Getta Bloomin' Move On" during the climactic car chase, which featured Caine among its singers.
The film proved a success upon its release, earning critical acclaim amongst critics for the performances by Caine and Coward, the film's reflection of British culture from the period, and the climactic car chase. It became a cult symbol of British filmography and was ranked favourably in the top 100 British films by the British Film Institute. Several elements became symbolic cult features, including a rare never-resolved cliffhanger ending, and Caine's famous line "you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off".
The popularity of The Italian Job led to several parodies and allusions in other films and productions, including the 2005 episode of The Simpsons titled "The Italian Bob", and a re-enactment of the Mini Cooper car-chase in the MacGyver episode "Thief of Budapest". The film itself was later given a video game adaptation in 2001, before receiving a remake in 2003. A charity event titled The Italian Job, founded in 1990 and held annually, was inspired by the film; as of 2020, it had raised nearly £3,000,000. Marking the 50th anniversary of the film in June 2019, stunt drivers in red, white and blue Coopers recreated parts of the film's car-chase around Turin at the grounds of Mini's Oxford factory.

Plot

While driving through the Alps, thief Roger Beckerman is murdered by the local Mafia and his body disposed of in the river below. In the United Kingdom, his friend and fellow thief, Charlie Croker, is released from prison. After reuniting with his girlfriend, Lorna, to celebrate his freedom, Croker goes to meet Beckerman to discuss a heist, but is shocked to find only his widow. She insists that Croker continue with Beckerman's final masterpiece: an ambitious heist of $4 million in gold bullion, from a convoy transport in the city of Turin, Italy.
Croker breaks back into prison to request financial backing from British nationalist crime lord Mr. Bridger. Initially unconvinced, Bridger soon offers support after confirming the scheme's potential. With Bridger's right-hand man, Camp Freddie, Croker recruits a crew of specialists, including Lorna, professional drivers, and lecherous computer expert Professor Simon Peach. With preparations complete, Bridger stages a funeral ceremony to meet the team in person. He discloses that the Mafia are expecting them, as they killed Beckerman over his planned heist and see the prospect of foreigners stealing Italian gold as an insult to their pride.
Traveling through the Alps, Croker splits the team up to avoid raising suspicion. However, Croker's group are confronted by Mafia boss Altabani and his men, who destroy their backup escape cars and warn against continuing the plan. Croker and his men narrowly avoid being killed after threatening Bridger's reprisal against Italians living in the United Kingdom. Undeterred, the team continue to Turin. That night, the team infiltrate the Turin traffic control centre and Peach replaces a magnetic-tape data storage reel with a duplicate designed to sabotage the traffic control system.
On the day of the heist, as the gold arrives at Turin airport, Croker sends Lorna to Geneva to keep her safe, promising to meet her there later. Meanwhile, Peach is arrested for molesting a woman on a tram.
The convoy begins its journey through Turin, followed by Altabani. One of Croker's men sabotages the city's CCTV surveillance while the traffic control system malfunctions, disabling traffic lights and causing city-wide traffic jams that eventually force the convoy to stop outside the Museo Egizio. The crew intercept the convoy, subdue its police escort, and tow the armored van carrying the gold into a building. While police ram the door, the crew breach the van and divide the gold between the boots of three Mini Coopers. The remaining crew escape disguised as British football fans, while Croker leads the Mini Cooper drivers out of the city, evading the police and the Mafia using an ingenious route designed by Beckerman that avoids the stalled traffic by taking them over stairs, pedestrian streets, rooftops, and through sewers.
Mr. Bridger receives word of the successful heist and celebrates with his fellow inmates and prison staff, as the crew escapes Turin and conceals the Minis in the back of a modified coach. Driving through the Alps, they unload the gold and dispose of the Minis before collecting the remaining crew. During a reckless celebration, the coach driver loses control of the vehicle, resulting in the rear of the coach teetering precariously over a cliff. The crew stands at the front of the coach in an attempt to counterbalance the weight of the gold at the rear. Croker slowly crawls towards the gold which slides ever further from him. Finally, he turns to the crew and declares: "Hang on a minute lads. I've got a great idea."

Cast

  • Michael Caine as Charlie Croker, a charismatic and quick-witted professional thief
  • Noël Coward as Mr. Bridger, a sophisticated and commanding British crime lord
  • Benny Hill as Professor Simon Peach, an eccentric computer expert, needed to help sabotage Turin's traffic control system
  • Raf Vallone as Altabani, a shrewd and menacing mafia boss
  • Tony Beckley as Camp Freddie, Bridger's flamboyant right-hand man, sent to supervise Charlie's team and help steal the gold
  • Rossano Brazzi as Roger Beckerman, the criminal mastermind behind the heist, Charlie's friend
  • Maggie Blye as Lorna, Croker's daring and playful girlfriend, who serves as a reserve getaway driver
The Italian Job also features Irene Handl as Miss Peach, Professor Peach's sister; John Le Mesurier as the Prison Governor, who works for Bridger; Fred Emney as Birkinshaw, a gang member who is sent to jam the Turin CCTV; Michael Standing as Arthur, one of Charlie's thieves; John Forgeham as Frank, one of Charlie's thieves; George Innes as Bill Bailey, Charlie's deputy during the heist; Harry Baird as Big William, the imposing coach driver for the heist; Robert Powell as Yellow, one of Charlie's thieves; Derek Ware as Rozzer, one of Charlie's thieves; Frank Jarvis as Roger, one of Charlie's reserve getaway drivers; and Stanley Caine as Coco, one of Charlie's thieves.
Other cast includes John Clive as a garage manager who Charlie sees after being released from prison; Graham Payn as Keats, Bridger's sycophantic right-hand man in prison; Barry Cox as Chris, one of the Mini drivers for the heist; David Salamone as Dominic, one of the Mini drivers for the heist; Richard Essame as Tony, one of the Mini drivers for the heist; Mario Valgoi as Manzo, as Cosca, Franco Norvelli as Altabani's driver, Robert Rietti as the Police chief, Timothy Bateson as the Dentist, David Kelly as the Vicar at the fake funeral; Arnold Diamond as Senior computer room official, Simon Dee as the Shirtmaker who Charlie sees after being released from prison; Alistair Hunter as Warder, Lana Gatto as Mrs. Cosca, Louis Mansi as Computer room official, Henry McGee as the Tailor who Charlie sees after being released from prison; Lelia Goldoni as Mrs Beckerman, Roger Beckerman's widow; and Valerie Leon as Hotel Receptionist.

Production

Writing

According to producer Michael Deeley the film started "as a modest concept for a TV drama concerning a robbery set in and around a traffic jam in London's hectic Oxford Street thoroughfare", that was originally conceived by Ian Kennedy Martin. Ian's brother Troy would eventually buy the idea from him "with the vision of creating a feature film set in Italy."
The script was optioned by Oakhurst Productions, the company of Deeley and Stanley Baker.

Ending

According to a "Making Of" documentary, producer Deeley was unsatisfied with the four written endings and conceived the current ending as a literal cliffhanger appropriate to an action film which left an opportunity for a sequel. The documentary describes how helicopters would save the bus seen on the cliff at the end of the first film. In interviews in 2003 and 2008, Michael Caine revealed that the ending would have had Croker "crawl up, switch on the engine and stay there for four hours until all the petrol runs out ... The van bounces back up so we can all get out, but then the gold goes over." In Deeley's own memoirs, he stated that a sequel would have had an opening involving helicopters lifting the bus up to separate the men and the gold that then sees it taken by the Mafia, who proceed to push the bus off into the ravine.
In 2008, the Royal Society of Chemistry held a competition for a solution that had a basis in science, was to take not more than 30 minutes and did not use a helicopter. The idea was to promote greater understanding of science, and to highlight the 100th anniversary of the periodic table, on which gold is element number 79. The winning entry, by John Godwin of Surrey, was to break and remove two large side windows just aft of the pivot point and let the glass fall outside to lose its weight; break two windows over the two front axles, keeping the broken glass on board to keep its weight for balance; let a man out on a rope through the front broken windows who deflates all the bus's front tyres, to reduce the bus's rocking movement about its pivot point; drain the fuel tank, which is aft of the pivot point, which changes the balance enough to let a man get out and gather heavy rocks to load the front of the bus. Unload the bus. Wait until a suitable vehicle passes on the road, hijack it, and carry the gold away in it.