01-26-2023, 08:43 AM
Michael Caine stars as Croker a thief. Noel Coward is Bridger mob boss for England currently incarcerated. Benny Hill plays the computer whiz who has penchant for grabbing large woman's bottoms. Caine has a plan to steal a lot of gold from an armored car in Torino, Italy, but he needs Bridger's help to fund the job and Hill's help with the computers.
I got sucked into this because it was such an odd film. We first see Caine in prison with Bridger. Bridger has a special status where all the guards act more like butlers to him than guards. Then Caine is on the outside where his girlfriend gifts him about ten women to sleep with to celebrate his homecoming. Then a woman whose husband was killed by the Italian Mafia because he had the original idea for the armored car robbery gives Caine the robbery plans. Then they Caine and the Widow sleep together despite the fact he just left the other ten women.
Then it becomes a caper film as Caine hires the crew and gets Bridger on board and then they go to the Italy where they meet the Mafia who don't want them stealing Italian gold. There's more planning. Then it becomes a car chase film as the mini coopers run across Torino in all sorts of unlikely places like arcades fountains and across rooftops. The car chase is the point of the whole film. They finally escape pursuit and head off to Switzerland where the getaway bus almost goes off the cliff. The film ends in a literal cliffhanger.
The whole film was wonky and of its age. The whole bit with Noel Coward as Bridger in prison but living like a prince in a castle was very surreal. He funds the robbery because of his patriotism. Caine is weird as the main robber. His skills as a leader consist mostly of yelling or pointing at things and saying do that.
In the end, I saw a lot of nice scenery in Italy, specifically Torino. With all the car chases we see nowadays the one through Torino looked pretty tame but in its day it must have been something. All in all a good diversion for a couple of hours.
I got sucked into this because it was such an odd film. We first see Caine in prison with Bridger. Bridger has a special status where all the guards act more like butlers to him than guards. Then Caine is on the outside where his girlfriend gifts him about ten women to sleep with to celebrate his homecoming. Then a woman whose husband was killed by the Italian Mafia because he had the original idea for the armored car robbery gives Caine the robbery plans. Then they Caine and the Widow sleep together despite the fact he just left the other ten women.
Then it becomes a caper film as Caine hires the crew and gets Bridger on board and then they go to the Italy where they meet the Mafia who don't want them stealing Italian gold. There's more planning. Then it becomes a car chase film as the mini coopers run across Torino in all sorts of unlikely places like arcades fountains and across rooftops. The car chase is the point of the whole film. They finally escape pursuit and head off to Switzerland where the getaway bus almost goes off the cliff. The film ends in a literal cliffhanger.
The whole film was wonky and of its age. The whole bit with Noel Coward as Bridger in prison but living like a prince in a castle was very surreal. He funds the robbery because of his patriotism. Caine is weird as the main robber. His skills as a leader consist mostly of yelling or pointing at things and saying do that.
In the end, I saw a lot of nice scenery in Italy, specifically Torino. With all the car chases we see nowadays the one through Torino looked pretty tame but in its day it must have been something. All in all a good diversion for a couple of hours.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
