History Main / TheItalianJob

[[redirect:Film/TheItalianJob1969]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/italian_job_9408.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Get your skates on, mate]]

->''"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"''
-->--'''Charlie Croker''', after Arthur blows up the panel truck they've been practicing with

''For the 2003 film, see [[TheItalianJob2003 here]].''

A 1969 film starring MichaelCaine, involving him being let out of prison and gathering a gang of bank robbers together to rob a van full of gold. Involves one of the best car chases in cinema (with Mini Coopers) and one of the most famous lines in cinema, when someone uses slightly too much explosive on a van during a test.

A highly popular British film and often repeated on TV. Years later an episode of ''MacGyver'', "Thief of Budapest", lifted most of the film's iconic car chase, using creative editing to transpose it from Turin to Hungary!

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!!This film contains examples of:
* AffablyEvil: Mr Bridger especially, who is polite and well mannered at all times. He is however such a ruthless criminal mastermind, he's got the entire prison including the Wardens terrified of him.
* BadassBoast: Charlie tells the Mafia boss that if he kills them, Bridger will have every Italian establishment in major cities across England smashed and every Italian driven into the sea. And the scary thing is, ''he's probably not lying.''
* BadassDriver: A number of characters.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: The AffablyEvil Brits and the EvillyAffable Mafia.
* BlatantLies: Charlie and the Garage Owner who maintain the illusion that Charlie's been on holiday, knowing full well that he's just gotten out of the nick.
* ButtMonkey: Arthur.
--> '''Arthur''' But Charlie, me in the back with my asthma?!
--> *Cue DeathGlare from Charlie and everyone falls silent*
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Charlie, who gets caught "on the job" with 3 naked women, by his girlfriend.
** As Charlie attempts to point out, she did let him sleep with several women at once, including her, when he got out of the nick?! Apparently, that was a ''[[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain one time treat!]]''
* CliffHanger: [[spoiler: Literally.]]
* TheCrimeJob
* CoolCar: This movie has a Lamborghini Miura, an Aston Martin [=DB4=], two Jaguar E-types, several Alfa Romeo police cars, a Bedford VAL coach, and of course, the three Mini Cooper S's which out-drive them all.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The iconic film poster features a naked woman, money, and a gun as a means of attracting the audience, and also implies more romance and violence than the film actually has.
** Although to be fair, the (soon to be) naked woman and gun ''do'' make a brief appearance in an early scene.
** It should be noted that is the ''American'' poster. The iconic ''British'' poster features the three [[CoolCar Mini's]]. ''Which are much sexier''.
* CreatorCameo: That lunatic hanging on the back of the bus when the Minis drive on board is the director Peter Collinson.
* DeadHatShot: The Mafia victim at the start of the film leaves behind his sunglasses and cigarette.
* DrivingIntoATruck: The three Mini Coopers make their getaway by driving up into the back of a converted bus.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Numerous cars get pushed over cliffs. While the wrecks are spectacular, none of them explode except for the very last one, which goes up massively and rather spontaneously.
* EvilVersusEvil: The "good guys" are English criminals and the [[DesignatedVillain "villains"]] are the Italian Mafia.
* FelonyMisdemeanor: Bridger clearly approves of Charlie's plan for a heist and is impressed how he managed to break into the prison he'd just been released from, ''[[RefugeInAudacity without anyone noticing!]]'' Nonetheless, he has him beaten up, because one simply does not barge into another man's private ''toilet!''
* {{Gayngster}}: Camp Freddy [[GangOfHats and his gang]], and arguably Mr. Bridger too, given NoelCoward's real life sexual preference.
** Mr Bridger's 'assistant' was Coward's real life partner. Because Coward had started his descent into dementia by theis point, his partner was there to help him, and provide a familiar face.
* GreatWhiteHunter: Croker pretends to be this when trying to explain his [[JustGotOutOfJail long absence]] to the garage manager looking after his Aston.
-->'''Manager:''' You must have shot an ''awful'' lot of tigers, sir.
-->'''Croker:''' Yes, I used a machine gun.
* HaveAGayOldTime: "Camp Freddy, everybody in the ''world'' is bent!" Didn't help that the line was delivered by NoelCoward...
** Bent in this context means 'crooked'. It's normal slang and unlikely the second allusion would have been meant.
* ICallItVera: Possibly an Ur-Example, Charlie refers to his grappling hook as "Hazel".
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Charlie. He may play around and frequently upset his girlfriend, but he clearly cares enough about her not to have her get hurt if they get pinched doing the job.
* LeitMotif: Bridger has "Rule Britannia" on harpsichord.
* LiteralCliffHanger: "Hang on a minute lads, I've got a great idea! Err..."
** The Royal Society of Chemistry ran a competition to solve that one- [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7845533.stm this was the result]].
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Mr. Bridger's situation
* TheMafia: Or "the Maffya" as Mr. Bridger pronounces it.
* MoodWhiplash: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKqCtOUeXbY&feature=related impossibly stylish intro]] where you're cruising around the [[SceneryPorn beautiful Alps]] in your [[CoolCar Lamborghini]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Miura Miura]], set to the dulcet tones of Matt Monro... then KABOOM.
* NoEnding
* NoKillLikeOverkill: The van in question.
* ProductPlacement: Subverted. Fiat offered "hero" cars for the chase scenes, but the producers went with (purchased) Minis instead for [[UsefulNotesOnBritain patriotic reasons]].
** It goes further than that. Every single vehicle used by Croker's Gang was Made in Britain.
** Fiat still pops up in several places in the movie however. The Minis briefly take cover among some Fiat 500s at a dealership, and later take a lap on the Fiat Lingotto factory rooftop test track.
*** Fiat is explicitly mentioned in the movie, though - the gold Croker stole belonged to them.
** In fact Averted: The film did originally approach BMC (the manufacturers of the Mini at the time), and after much effort convinced them to part with 6. Other 9 or so used had to be bought.
* RefugeInAudacity: Charlie breaks back into the same prison he's just been released from, armed only with a crowbar and grappling hook [[ICallItVera "Hazel"]] and somehow manages to get inside Bridger's locked Private Bathroom, simply to tell him his plan... and then leaves, with ''no-one ever the wiser.''
** The entire Italian Job heist itself is this.
* RuthlessForeignGangsters: TheMafia are presented this way, although technically, it is the British criminals who are muscling in on them and it's implied that the theft will destabilize the Italian economy.
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman
* SnicketWarningLabel
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: "This your car? Pretty car." ''* crunch* ''
* SharpDressedMan : Charlie in spades.
* StalkerShrine: Mr. Bridger is a ''very'' loyal subject of Queen Elizabeth II.
* StealTheSurroundings: The crew does this twice: once with a standard safe and once with an entire armored truck.
* StuffBlowingUp: A certain van.
-->'''Charlie Croker''': ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g_GeQR8fJo You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!]]''
* SympatheticCriminal
* TelevisionGeography: the car chase makes no sense geographically, it's just designed to [[SceneryPorn show off Turin]].
* TheChick: Lorna, the only woman in Charlie's team.
* UpperClassTwit: The three "[[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/92000.html chinless wonders]]" are initially presented like this.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Professor gets pinched by the Polizia for harassing a "BIG Woman!" on a tram, then disappears from the rest of the film and we never find out what happened to him. No doubt however, it was probably hilarious.
** The gangsters are last seen trying to find out how Charlie's gang planned to get out of the traffic jam. They're left as {{Karma Houdini}}s.
* WickedCultured: Mr Bridger.
** Chris, one of the getaway drivers gets the landing wrong.
--> '''Chris:''' T-t-terribly sorry, Charles.


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--> Chris: T-t-terribly sorry, Charles.

* FelonyMisdemeanour: Bridger clearly approves of Charlie's plan for a heist and is impressed how he managed to break into a prison he'd just been released from ''without anyone noticing''. Nonetheless, he has him beaten up, because one simply does not barge into another man's private ''toilet!''

** It should be noted that is the ''American'' poster. The iconic British poster features the three [[CoolCar Mini's]]. ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Which are much sexier]]''.

* ActorAllusion: BennyHill playing a portly recluse obsessed with somewhat rotund posteriors.

* HollywoodHacking: Averted for once, as several of the characters had to sneak into the traffic control center and physically change a computer reel.

-->--Charlie Croker, after Arthur blows up the panel truck they've been practicing with

''"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"''

* {{Gayngster}}: Camp Freddy [[GangOfHats and his gang]], and arguably Mr. Bridger too, given Noel Coward's real life sexual preference.

* HaveAGayOldTime: "Camp Freddy, everybody in the ''world'' is bent!" Didn't help that the line was delivered by Noel Coward...

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* ICallItVera: Possibly an Ur-Example, Charlie refers to his grappling hook as "Hazel".

* BlantantLies: Charlie and the Garage Owner who maintain the illusion that Charlie's been on holiday, knowing full well that he's just gotten out of the nick.