1. Charlie Croker
Michael Caine plays the lovable Charlie. We see him being let go of prison and being updated of a death of someone he knew. When the film starts, we see the Mafia kill a thief named Roger Beckerman. His now widowed wife updates Charlie on a heist plan to steal gold in Italy. Hence the title.
One thing that makes Michael Caine’s character charming is that he’s an expert planner. And with most heist movies, there has to be a moment where he hires his crew. It’s not just some small crew like you might find in the recent Fast and Furious movies. Croker hires a massive team of drivers, men to tamper with security, and decoys. The real appetizer to this movie is just the hype of seeing the heist being ready.
Another character trait that is probably forgotten is that he is a criminal. He’s only stealing the gold just for himself and the team. It’s interesting since the Mafia gets in the way of Croker and his crew since it’s implied that they want the gold as well. A little rivalry from the looks of it, but Charlie’s men manage to get the upper hand as the movie progresses.
2. The Last 30 Minutes
This isn’t a long movie by any measure. It’s approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, most of it is just set up for Croker and his crew along with meticulous planning and restructuring the raid. The final half of the movie is the best part. Due in large part that we see everything going right in the heist.
Especially we see the iconic Mini Coopers in the film, all bearing the colors of the Union Jack flag of England. Now, I will admit that the car chase is rather tame in comparison to others since there isn’t a lot of cops chasing the drivers. Just for context, Croker explicitly tells his team that they need to cause a massive traffic in Turin in order for the heist to be successful. In turn, there’s little police present.
With that out of the way, the chase is fun to watch. Having to see the Mini Coopers drive down on a stairway and jump a rooftop is just classic. My part and just for the continuity of it is when they drive in the sewer tunnels. As they get out, they still have the filth and grime on the bottom of the cars. Some police cars do crash and it’s just fun to see them get swept or collide.
Nowadays, most of the car chases are just computer generated. It robs the audience of an authentic chase which can be full of thrills without any special effects or a computer to do. The Italian Job is one of those pioneering heist movies where the chase is the movie.
3. Legacy
When it was released in the US, it didn’t do so well financially. Although, across the Atlantic, it’s considered one of the best British films. It’s obvious since one half of the crew is dressed in England soccer regalia and the cars have the same colors as the Union Jack. The film was remade back in 2003, the reviews were good, but the one testament for remakes is that they’re not good as the original. Though, they do have updated Mini Coopers so they do have that going for them. In India, the movie was made into a Bollywood movie in 2012 called Players.
The movie was actually adapted into a video game for Sony’s Playstation and Windows, 40 years after the fact. I haven’t played the game, only made aware of it due to Cartoon Network’s programming block Toonami doing a game review of it. One thing that is endearing is that the film inspired a charity. Called, well what else The Italian Job which the proceeds go to children’s charities. The “Job” involves the a line of Minis cars go through a trek from the UK to Northern Italy and back.
4. Overall
This is a relic of the time and it shows. It still holds up as a great heist film and a great Michael Caine movie. His suave and genius is shown, and the final part of the movie is worth it from the buildup.
The Italian Job gets a four out of five.
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