THE ITALIAN JOB: 50th Anniversary - Blu-ray (Paramount, 1969) Paramount Home Video
The ultra-chic,
uber-sophisticated sixties’ mod and jet-setting caper reaches its zenith with
Peter Collinson’s The Italian Job (1969); a glib and voguish,
inordinately rambunctious and principally enjoyable lark that blends the
conventions of an English farce made at Ealing with the more death-defying
thrills of a traditional actioner (think James Bond meets Benny Hill).
Actually, Hill appears in this movie – however briefly, but memorably. Michael
Caine is in familiar territory as Charlie Croker; a vane, arrogant, yet
intellectual womanizer out to steal a small treasury from right under the nose
of the Mafia. It’s a ballsy move, and, at least on the surface, appears to fly
in the face of the edicts and principles – notice I did not say ‘morals and
scruples’ - of his otherwise, deft and dynamic self-preservation society.
If only for its penultimate stunt work, chasing a trio of Mini Cooper getaway
cars literally up and down the sides of buildings, The Italian Job is
already one of the most monumentally impressive action movies ever made. Add to
this Caine’s inimitably droll and dangerous bad guy, wed at the hip to Noel
Coward’s charmingly effete puppet-master, orchestrating the entire affair from
his prison cell no less, plus the sight of the leggy and luscious, Maggie Blye
in hip-swiveling minis and go-go boots and - ‘yeow!’ - does The
Italian Job have a lot of eye candy to offer the first-time viewer. Permit
us to worship at the altar of sixties’ slink and sly, ultra-mod/uber-glam
escapism par excellence.
Michael Caine’s
early career holds a dubious distinction; the actor, capable of engaging his
audience even as the most appalling reprobate or social misfit. If you loved
his arrogant formalist in the epic, Zulu (1961), and his audaciously
indiscriminate cad in Alfie (1966) – and let’s be honest – who didn’t
– then Caine’s Charlie Croker in The Italian Job truly is the most
unreliable misbegotten on God’s green acres, unrepentant in his devilish deceptions
of goodtime sexpot, Lorna (you guessed it…Blye). Not to mention the bevy of
‘birds’ (that’s women of easy virtue for all you non-Brits) Caine loves and
then leaves; seducing the lanky hanky-panky widow (Leila Goldoni) of his ‘old
friend’, Roger Beckermann (Rossano Brazzi) even before her husband’s body is
cold in its grave. Charlie is also not above springing Prof. Simon Peach (Benny
Hill) – a manifestly irresponsible sexual deviant with a fetish for large women
– from his convalescence home, merely to exploit Peach’s impeachable
talents for the proposed robbery; breaking into the prison latrine (ballsy? Oh,
you bet!) to consult Mr. Bridgers (Noël Coward), and finally, bossing a motley
crew of hand-picked misanthropes (none of them dyed-in-the-wool professionals) in
his best ‘cock of the walk’ manner, while haughtily thumbing his nose at the
malicious head of Italy’s crime syndicate, Altabani (Raf Vallone). Whew! This
son of a bitch is tough!
Add to this mix,
Quincy Jones’ rakishly exuberant score, beginning with the melodic ballad, ‘On
Days Like These’ (featuring lyrics by Don Black and sung with glum grandeur
by then popular balladeer, Matt Monro) and concluding with the utterly
uproarious ‘Get A Bloomin’ Move On’ (sometimes known as The Self-Preservation
Society) and The Italian Job is about as sleek and dicey a male
fantasy flick as any sixties mod-squad could make. Interestingly, Michael Caine
was not the first choice to star; Paramount’s Robert Evans suggesting hot new guy,
Robert Redford for the title role. Today, one can no more imagine the
fresh-faced Redford pulling off Caine’s brashly charismatic, style-hunger
slickster than supplanting Caine himself as the studly romantic ideal, instead
of Redford, opposite Meryl Streep in Out of Africa (1985). Like Michael
Caine, director, Peter Collinson’s participation on this project was an
afterthought; producer, Michael Deeley settling on the Cleethorpes,
Lincolnshire-born scrapper who could simultaneously wield congenial good humor
and nastily scalding diatribes at his cast and crew, Collinson’s changeable
temperament seemingly balanced on a dime. Collinson’s career peaked with The
Italian Job, a movie not particularly well-received in the U.S., but one
that has since acquired a renown cult following all its’ own. Moreover,
Collinson was chiefly responsible for lensing driver, Remy Julienne’s fantastic
stunt work; hair-raising chase sequences staged for maximum effect down tight
streets, and across the narrow and rickety rooftops of Turin’s cityscape; the
indisputable centerpiece of this movie.
Except for an
exhilarating race featuring the infamous red, white and blue Mini Coopers
careening through Sowe Valley’s Sewer Duplication System in England’s Midlands,
and the climactic bus crash, staged along an abandoned stretch of Ceresole Reale,
Lago Agnel and the Colle del Nivolet, virtually all of The Italian Job’s
iconic racing sequences were photographed in and around Turin. Director,
Collinson pieced together the rest of his story’s settings from a potpourri of
locations; Ireland’s Kilmainham Gaol Prison and Cruagh Cemetery; Hanworth
Middlesex’s Apex House as Turin’s command center, Upper Norwood’s Crystal
Palace Sports Centre to stage dry run training sessions, and finally, Denbigh
Close, W11 subbing for Charlie Croker’s fashionable London digs. In retrospect,
The Italian Job is something of a cross between a wicked lampoon of the
Bond franchise (Croker even drives a convertible Aston-Martin, the same model Sean
Connery’s suave 007 used in Goldfinger 1964 – albeit, without the hard-top
and ejector seat) and a sort of faithful homage to 1967’s superspy spoof, In
Like Flynn starring James Coburn.
Producer, Deeley scored a minor coup in securing the services of noted
wit, playwright, filmmaker, star and all-around bon vivant, Noël Coward for the
plum supporting role of Mr. Bridger; a dandy gangland impresario, who
micromanages mayhem from the comfort of his prison cell, while harboring a
somewhat obsequious idolization of the Queen; Quincy Jones’ falling back on a
few choice chords of ‘Rule Britannia’ whenever Bridger enters his
private sanctuary, plastered in cutouts of Elizabeth II.
Our story begins
with aged Italian sophisticate, Roger Beckermann (Rossano Brazzi – think
Marcello Mastroianni in his emeritus years) racing his cherry red Lamborghini
Miura around some cliff-side twists and turns high in the Italian Alps. Obviously
in a hurry, Roger takes unnecessary risks that place him perilously close to the
edge of certain death; the radio emanating Matt Monroe’s languid strains of ‘On
Days Like These’. An approaching stretch of tunnel seems harmless enough.
If only Mafia kingpin, Altabani (Raf Vallone) were not waiting on the other
side with a small army of his goons and a bulldozer hidden in the darkness that
effectively causes Beckermann to fatally crash inside the tunnel. Emerging with
the crumpled Lamborghini caught in its serrated scoop, Altabani instructs the
bulldozer’s driver to throw the smoldering wreckage over the steep mountain
side, the car – and presumably Beckermann plummeting down a ravine and into the
raging waters of a nearby river; Altabani tossing a funerary garland in after
him.
Sometime later,
dapper mobster Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) is released from prison; met just
beyond its’ gated walls by buxom gal pal, Lorna (Maggie Blye) who has not so
cleverly stolen a rather flashy Rolls-Royce belonging to the visiting Turkish
Ambassador. Charlie and Lorna are happy to see each other…well, sort of. Charlie
is not exactly the settling down kind, preferring the diversions of many women
to the mere company of one…even someone as obviously devoted to him as Lorna.
Picking up where he left off before going to jail, collecting his sleek,
silver, Aston-Martin from the rental garage, and running up a tab on some
high-priced duds to look the part, Charlie is surprised by Lorna with a
homecoming party at a local brothel. Later, he has a rendezvous with
Beckermann’s widow (Lelia Goldoni) at the Dorchester. Turns out Mrs. Beckmann
is not the faithful type either. But she confides in Charlie, her late husband’s
plans for the daring heist that unfortunately attracted the attentions of the
Mafia and ultimately led to his murder. Viewing a pre-recorded 16mm film reel,
Beckmann - already anticipating, and thus explaining to Charlie that he is dead
- further details his rather ingenious plan to steal $4 million of Chinese gold
made as a down payment to automotive giant, Fiat to build their new
manufacturing plant in China. Beckmann’s plan involves breaking into, and
sabotaging, Turin's newly computerized traffic control center so all the lights
in the city seize at once, thus affording the robbers their subsequent getaway
without intervention from the local authorities. It’s an ingenious bit of
espionage and it intrigues Croker, though arguably not as much as the money.
After taking up
with a trio of birds, Charlie is surprised by Lorna who threatens him with
bodily harm. He confides his plans to her, before quietly breaking into prison
to consult with Mr. Bridger (Noël Coward); a career criminal who operates the
most lucrative gangland empire from the comfort of his prison cell. Their
clandestine tête-à-tête inside the latrine disrupts Bridger’s regularity and,
after dismissing Charlie’s plan outright, Bridger sends a trio of goons to
rough Charlie up for his insolence. Thankfully, Bridger – having reconsidered
Charlie’s plan - has a change of heart. With Bridger’s complicity, Charlie
assembles a troop to pull off the crime. His plan hits a minor snag when Miss
Peach (Irene Handl) informs Charlie and his second in command, Keats (Graham
Payne) that her husband, Professor Peach (Benny Hill) has since been
institutionalized for committing perverse sex acts with their severely
overweight upstairs’ maid. Charlie needs Peach who, among his other attributes,
is a computer expert. Not long after springing this randy old sod from the
institution - with promises made about his seducing fat Italian women as part
of his compensation - Charlie, Peach and electronics handler, Birkinshaw (Fred
Emney) begin their training sessions with a small assemblage of getaway
drivers. Packed into two Jaguar E-type sports cars and Charlie’s Aston Martin,
this motley crew, along with Lorna, arrives at the same alpine pass where
Beckermann met with his untimely end.
Too bad Altabani is waiting for them with his goon squad and the front
loader, crushing the two Jaguars and then sending Charlie’s Aston Martin
tumbling down the gorge. To spare their certain annihilation, Charlie suggests
to Altabani that if any harm comes to them, reprisals will be exacted on every
Italian currently residing in Britain.
As a slippery gesture of goodwill, Altabani cordially allows Charlie and
his team to live.
Recouping their
losses, Charlie secures three Mini Coopers, a VW bus and a larger bus as their
new getaway vehicles. Bicycling under the cover of night to a nearby power
plant, Charlie uses the bicycle to create an outage, temporarily causing the
lights to go out inside Turin’s computerized command center – just long enough
for Peach to implant the phony memory tape with the virus that will be
downloaded into the mainframe and wreak havoc on the traffic signals all over
town at approximately the moment the Chinese gold is being driven through
town. Birkinshaw jams the closed-circuit
television monitors. On cue, Peach’s software kicks in, creating a horn-honking
pandemonium in the middle of the afternoon. Altabani knows exactly who is
responsible for this mayhem. In all the confusion, Charlie and his men strike,
sending smoke bombs into the panicked crowd and forcing the armored car carrying
the gold bullion into the cloistered entrance of the Museo Egizio, before
locking the doors behind it. Working under a tight deadline, Charlie and his
men transfer the gold into their Mini Coopers before tearing off through Via
Roma’s congested venues, then driving up the curved roof of the Torino
Palavela, and later, racing around Fiat Lingotto’s rooftop test track, and
finally, down the steps of the Gran Madre di Dio. The race concludes with a
harrowing plummet into a large sewer pipe, the trio of Minis narrowly escaping
authorities before driving up a ramp into the back of their waiting six-wheeler
Harrington Legionnaire-bodied Bedford VAL coach. It all looks like smooth sailing ahead; word
of Charlie’s daring thievery reaching the prison. Mr. Bridger is given a
standing ovation by the rest of the inmates for his complicity in their
audacious caper.
Charlie and his
men unload the gold into the back of the coach, dumping their Minis one by one over
the edge of the Alps. Too bad for
everyone the winding mountain pass to Switzerland proves too narrow for the
coach’s driver, Big William (Harry Baird) to navigate. Instead, he loses
control, the back end sliding off the edge of the cliff, leaving Charlie and
his team precariously dangling – literally, a cliffhanger! Charlie encourages his men to back into the
coach’s cab for leverage. But the gold is weighing down the back of the bus.
With each teeter it slides just a little bit more out of Charlie’s reach. After
several failed attempts to crawl to its rescue, Charlie turns to the rest of
his crew, suggesting he’s come up with another plan. What exactly it is, we’ll
never know. The film ends with everyone still trapped high atop the mountain
pass, suggesting to the audience that sacrifices will have to be made – the
gold or, perhaps, their lives. This rather auspicious finale was arrived at
only after producer, Michael Deeley became dissatisfied with the four alternate
conclusions concocted by screenwriter Troy Kennedy Martin. In theory, leaving
everyone hanging – literally – also left room for the possibility of a sequel;
Collinson and the writers prematurely assuming they had a big hit on their
hands. The sequel, already being discussed, would have begun with Charlie and
his crew still clinging to the edge of the cliff, and, a daring helicopter
intervention by Altabani and his Mafia hoods. What was to have followed shortly
thereafter remains a mystery. For although The Italian Job did
respectable business in Europe, it was an utter commercial flop in the U.S. and
plans for its sequel were immediately scrapped by Paramount.
Viewed today,
one cannot imagine a movie franchise coming of it after the end of The
Italian Job. This movie is both an entity and an anomaly unto itself; a
queer amalgam of directorial stealth and a testament to sixties’ pastiche,
destined not to have an afterlife. For one thing, the characters are too thinly
drawn. Without Michael Caine and Noel Coward – both striking indelible big
screen impressions as variations on their already trademarked selves – The
Italian Job completely lacks staying power. The other characters are a non
sequitur: just transient forgettable faces, as undistinguished in their
performances. Collinson’s direction of
the action sequences makes the movie what it is; glossy, garish, good fun;
disposable entertainment made under the auspices of that generation’s ‘let
it all hang out’ approach to life in general, and, with an overriding
disregard for personal responsibility thereafter. The audience is not meant to
‘relate’ to these characters or contemplate any deeper meaning from their
actions – merely to enjoy themselves…and, we do. Attempting to make something
more of the picture’s premise by reverting to a darker approach to this already
implausible scenario, while inexplicably relocating the action to Los Angeles
for the 2003 remake, only served to exaggerate the original movie’s superficiality
and lack of substance beyond its tantalizing surface sheen. Does this mean The
Italian Job is a bad movie?
On the contrary,
it is a rather special one; un-quantifiable at a glance and working its magic
for at least its own duration on the screen. Its’ afterlife has largely been
predicated on the renewed appeal in Michael Caine: eighty-six years young and
still going strong. Bravo! Even if The Italian Job is not his best work,
Caine is exceedingly good in it. If in search of depth of either plot or
character, then The Italian Job is undoubtedly a huge disappointment.
But otherwise, it works. It’s big and shiny noise is capable of riding over the
senses like a steamroller, cleverly tricked out in two larger-than-life star
personalities - Caine and Coward – without whom the entire enterprise
evaporates like a hallucinogenic-induced male fantasy on steroids. Movies from the late sixties, throughout the mid-1970’s
were often guilty of achieving a lot of mileage by stockpiling overly
simplified plots with an all-star lineup of one-time, marquee-grabbing
headliners and throwing in some mindless action adventure to propel the plot.
Irwin Allen all but perfected this formula with The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
and The Towering Inferno (1974). But The Italian Job lacks the pull of the disaster epic to make it truly live on. Its
afterlife is noteworthy, but almost exclusively bent on the magnetic pull of
Caine’s movie-making legacy. Wipe this slate clean and The Italian Job
is a time capsule with whitewashed panache. You’ll love it for what it is. But
you may be hard pressed to want to see it again and again.
The Italian Job gets
resurrected yet again on Blu-ray – only in the U.K. for its 50th Anniversary –
afforded some truly monumental swag (and a price tag to go along with it) but virtually
no new extra features that did not already accompany the amply endowed 40th
Anniversary. Mercifully, this Paramount
release is still ‘region free’ and thus available for the rest of the world to
enjoy. Great news for fans. Better still are the results of this remastering
effort. With exceptions made to a very slight hint of edge enhancement that
briefly plagues the scene where Charlie, newly released from prison, goes on a
buying binge, the rest of this presentation is rock solid and gorgeous. Flesh
tones are spot on and colors simply pop off the screen. Fine detail is
extraordinary and contrast, perfectly realized. It’s the same ‘reference
quality’ with one minor caveat. We get
two DTS English tracks – one in the film’s original mono, the other, a
spectacularly re-envisioned 5.1 that will really give your surround channels
some exercise. Paramount has been exceptionally generous with its extras;
almost 2-hours of audio commentaries (two separate tracks), and featurettes
cumulatively adding up to one fabulous documentary that chronicles the making
of this movie from top to bottom with tons of content recorded newly for its 40th
release. There is also the same ‘music video’ and deleted scenes with optional
commentary, plus two theatrical trailers.
Now, for the
bling. Wow! Were that American studios would get behind some of their classic
movies with a display of corporate showmanship like what’s been afforded here.
Not only has Paramount included all of the content available on the Blu-ray on
2-DVDs (the DVD’s are PAL and will not play state’s side – just a heads up) but
we get a ton of reproductions of original poster art, the shooting script, and,
lobby cards. Add to this, a handsomely produced booklet, chocked full of glossy
production stills and information, a copy of Charlie’s driver’s license, and, a
50th anniversary certificate of authenticity; all of it, housed in a
handsome black and gold embossed carrying case. Bottom line: Paramount has done
a real ‘class act’ job on this release. If you are a fan of this movie, or know
someone who is, I really cannot think of a better Christmas gift than The
Italian Job: 50th Anniversary Special Edition. The Blu-ray
offers the movie in near pristine condition and the extras and bling afford admirers
every conceivable pleasure associated with this production. Very – very –
highly recommended!
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
3
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
5+
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