The 1969 movie ‘The Italian Job’ was a big hit in the box offices and is a film that is still well-known today. It starred Michael Caine as Charlie Croker, was based in Italy and made the Mini an extremely desirable car to own. There are many interesting facts about the making of this film.
- The directors of the film want the owners of Mini, the British Motor Corporation (BMC), to donate cars to the film but they refused.
- On the other hand, Fiat were very keen to donate cars for the main scenes in the film. However, the directors declined as their intention was for the film to be as British as possible and the Mini was a very British car.
- Fiat still donate cars to the film and allowed the use of their factory grounds for filming for free.
- The mafia involved themselves in the filming of the movie. When the police refused to close streets for filming, the mafia stepped in and closed large sections of Turin. If you watch the film, you will see huge traffic jams and some very unhappy drivers. This was not acting; it was real.
- Although the film is about cars and driving, the star of the film, Michael Cain, could not drive when the movie was made. If you watch the movie from start to finish, you will realize that you never see Cain driving at any point.
- A fake car was used in the scene where a bulldozer throws an Aston Martin DB4 off a cliff.
- ‘Camp’ is an adjective often used to describe the mannerisms of a gay man and this movie was the first to use the term.
- The advertisement in the US misled moviegoers. The advert featured a scantily dressed woman with a map on her back and kneeling in front of a Mafioso brandishing a machine gun. Caine was so distressed when he saw it that he returned to the United Kingdom.
- Michael Caine and John Clive, who played a garage owner, completely improvised their scene together.
- Michael Caine’s is one of the voices heard in the track ‘Get a Bloomin’ Move On. This was the closing theme tune of the movie.
- A movie survey conducted in 2003 in the UK found that the most memorable movie line of all time was, “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”. This was a line spoken by Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine.
- Problems with one of the shoot locations led to long delays in filming a scene. This was the climactic cliff-hanger sequence that was filmed on a road that led to a restaurant. Day one of filming was sunny and the shoot was uneventful. The second day, a Sunday, was disrupted by angry members of the public who wanted to visit the restaurant and broke through the police cordon. Two weeks of heavy rain caused further disruption as it caused the snow to move down the mountain.
