Michael Caine stars in "The Italian Job," a 1969 film directed by Peter Collinson. This film was remade a few years ago, and I don't think it was nearly as good.
In the '60s, period films were all the rage, as were spy flicks and caper films. In the Italian Job, at the behest of Mr. Bridger (Noel Coward) who is living the life of Riley in prison, Charlie Croker (Caine) works out a plan to steal gold bouillon from an armored truck. He runs into interference from the mafia, who is trying to stop him and his team from carrying out their plan. They also go through more than a few cars while testing different explosive devices etc.
What Croker comes up with is an ingenious plan that paralyzes the area the truck is in and is the cause of some dandy car chases across Italy.
This is very entertaining and a lot of fun, though it does seem to put down the Italians and elevate the British at their expense. I prefer to think this wasn't the intention of the script - rather the intention was to show the brilliance of the plan and the comedy of seeing it played out.
Of course, the scenery is beautiful, and the film is packed with action and a lot of excitement.
Caine is excellent, as is Coward, and the actors receive able support from the large cast. And the ending is a real cliffhanger.
In the '60s, period films were all the rage, as were spy flicks and caper films. In the Italian Job, at the behest of Mr. Bridger (Noel Coward) who is living the life of Riley in prison, Charlie Croker (Caine) works out a plan to steal gold bouillon from an armored truck. He runs into interference from the mafia, who is trying to stop him and his team from carrying out their plan. They also go through more than a few cars while testing different explosive devices etc.
What Croker comes up with is an ingenious plan that paralyzes the area the truck is in and is the cause of some dandy car chases across Italy.
This is very entertaining and a lot of fun, though it does seem to put down the Italians and elevate the British at their expense. I prefer to think this wasn't the intention of the script - rather the intention was to show the brilliance of the plan and the comedy of seeing it played out.
Of course, the scenery is beautiful, and the film is packed with action and a lot of excitement.
Caine is excellent, as is Coward, and the actors receive able support from the large cast. And the ending is a real cliffhanger.