- Okay, the prize for "goofiest heist film" goes to The Italian Job. No contest and no runners-up. Before seeing it, I never would have guessed that the film's most famous sequence, an extended chase scene featuring three Mini-Coopers zooming up buildings, into rivers, and through sewers in the midst of a monumental traffic jam, would be the most normal part of the film. But then I discovered that the rest of it is populated by prison parties, stuffed animal fights, cars tumbling off cliffs, and songs sung by the cast. A cast that includes both Noel Coward and Benny Hill, I might add. Normally I'd suggest that these details make more sense when you see them, but that's really not the case here.
- So is all this madness worth watching? Well, only up to a point. The presence of the always enjoyable Michael Caine helps the film a lot, as do Coward as the quintessential Englishman and Hill as a pervert who likes "big" girls. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast, including love interest Margaret Blye, Mafioso antagonist Raf Vallone, and a whole host of football hooligan-types, are decidedly less engaging. I have no doubts that the cast had fun during filming -- one imagines them singing songs each afternoon while watching that day's car get rolled down a cliff -- but the fun doesn't always trickle down to reach the audience. For a film that was, to borrow a phrase, "supposed to blow the bloody doors off," this lack of fun is a major problem. I guess it just illustrates the heretofore unacknowledged difference between living in "swinging London" and watching a film made by swinging Londoners.
