What makes it different from others?

Sadly Over-hyped

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Each time I watch "The Italian Job", I become increasingly aware of the film's defects. Almost all of the characters are forgettable and sometimes unnecessary. Can anyone tell me why a shrill American girlfriend was required in swinging 60's London? Benny Hill's character seems obvious, forced and just not fun or funny. Even Noel Coward's role lends little to the film. The film also takes way too long to get to the heist. The Mafia intervention conceit is never really integrated into the heist section. And there is some very dodgy camera work even by the standard of the day.So why do I watch the film? Michael Caine, Michael Caine, Michael Caine. He holds the whole film together. Well, him, the cars and the music.

The Italian Job is a British caper film that tells a story of flashy and fast romp that chases a team of career criminals throughout one of the biggest international gold heists in history.It stars Michael Caine together with Noël Coward,Benny Hill,Raf Vallone and Tony Beckley.It was written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Charlie Croker is a stylish robber and ladies man that just out of prison. He returns to becoming a career criminal upon release by taking over the "The Italian Job" - a complicated plan to hijack gold bullion from Italy during the presence of the Italian Police and the Mafia. It seems that Croker lack the experience for such a big heist and that complicates the situation after the supposed leader got murdered.But Croker turns to the eccentric Mr. Bridger,who provides him with a group of career criminals with certain specialties such as computer hackers,bank robbers, hijackers, and getaway drivers.This was definitely cool film back in the 60's.It was an unpretentious caper comedy.Added to that,the different characters involved and the different type of criminals with different sets of expertise makes it witty and entertaining.No question that the witty dialogues and one-liners adds charm and appeal to it.Finally,it is a smoothly entertaining and slyly intelligent crowd-pleasing type of film that will never go out of style.

The question of why did they not make a sequel, keeps on coming up as discussions on talk radio stations up and down the land (UK). The 2003 version was meant to be for the American market, and in my opinion is not as good as the 1969 version, probably because parts of the 2003 movie were "copied" from the 1969 version, such as the Minis being chased by Italian police cars supplied by Fiat. My opinion is that they should have gone ahead and made a sequel to the 1969 movie, but producer Michael Deeley was unsatisfied with the four endings written and conceived the current ending as a (literal) cliffhanger appropriate to an action film which left an opportunity for a sequel. One concepts of a sequel to the 1969 movie, would have shown how helicopters would have saved the bus seen on the cliff at the end of the first film. The grateful gang would soon discover that it is the Mafia that has saved them, and the sequel would have been about stealing the gold bullion back from them.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 diesel runs out... The (dormobile) van bounces back up so we can all get out, but then the gold goes over."The bus containing the gold would crash at the bottom of the hill where the Mafia would pick it up. The sequel would then have Croker and his men trying to get it back.The coach used in the 1969 movie was used on a school run in Scotland until the mid-1980s.

It's probably not a good idea to see a remake first, but in the case of The Italian Job I did see the Mark Wahlberg/Ed Norton/Donald Sutherland version first. That was an interesting enough film with the action on revenge. But this original with Michael Caine playing the ringleader of a daring bullion hijack has a sense of style all its own. And why wouldn't it with Noel Coward giving his farewell screen performance.Caine is the ringleader of a team of crack hijackers who've been given a plan by the late Rossano Brazzi and it's Caine's job to flesh it out and make it all happen. He's given the plan by Brazzi's less than grieving widow Margaret Blye and he takes it to master criminal Noel Coward.Watching Coward running things from his prison cell put me in mind of Goodfellas where the wise guys are all living the good life via bribes of guards, etc. He might be in jail, but no one is going crimp in any way Noel Coward's sense of refinement. Caine has to sell himself and the job to Coward.But once he does the robbery goes off like clockwork. The caper itself is where this version and the Mark Wahlberg version are at the most similar. Who would have thought that Seth Green would be playing a role originated by Benny Hill as a computer mastermind. Of course computers have changed some in the over 30 years between the two films.Only Ocean's 11 (the Sinatra version) has the same sense of irony in its conclusion as The Italian Job has. Talk about unresolved endings.......