The Italian Job

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Year:	1969
Country of origin:	UK
Director:	Peter Collinson
Genre:	Crime caper extraordinaire.
Starring:	Michael Caine, Noel Coward
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064505/
Tagline:	Introducing the plans for a new business venture: "The Italian Job."
Favourite line:	"Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road."

Is there anyone alive in the Western World who hasn't seen this film?
Well?
Is there?

Michael Caine's Croker receives information from a dead man about a plot the deceased was hatching, to cause the biggest traffic jam in history at the same time as stealing $4 million in gold bullion from the security forces in Turin. The plan is simple: disable the traffic monitoring cameras, sabotage the traffic light system and attack the armed van carrying the loot before escaping through the sewage system in 3 Mini Coopers.
Sounds easy, right?
And so it would be, were it not for an angry Mafia family, an irate Italian police force and an overly confident bus driver.

The first half of the movie leaves me pretty cold, in truth, with the supposed comedy coming across as massively dated and simply not funny but, heh, it is forty years old this year, so allowances must be made. It's only when the plan swings into action that the true majesty of this film takes hold, and the last thirty minutes is frantic stuff, packed full of adrenaline and with one of the most iconic sequences in cinema history as the Mini's zip around the packed city.
Not perfect, as some would have you believe, but still a very entertaining caper.