I watched this movie because only a few days back I rewatched the redo starring Mark Wahlberg. While I barely liked the redo I thought well gives me a good opportunity to compare the two. Well that was a bad idea in my part.First off the movies are nothing really alike accept for maybe the cars. The redo seemed more like a sequel then an actual redo. Beside that however watching the redo first meant I was expecting something I just didn't get. I do enjoy older movies at times but I do have a tendency to lean towards more modern things so sometimes older things can be left out dated because of that, this is one of those cases.The movie itself I struggled to keep myself interested in. I knew that the hook of the movie was the job itself and that was where the movie really went up a notch but I found myself no longer interested when the time come. The hijinx of the car chase were good but by then I was so disinterested they hardly registered. For my 10 year old son however it was a different story. He only started watching around the time of the job and therefore was not in my bored state. His eyes were glued to the screen, loving what he saw.My advice, don't watch the redo just before you watch this. Watch it in its own bubble to make up your mind and then maybe watch the redo.

Memorable for its car chase scenes, but otherwise quite poor.A recently-released criminal, Charlie Croker (played by Michael Caine), devises a plan to rob Fiat of a large amount of gold in the city of Turin. He gains the backing of a British crime kingpin, Mr Bridger (played by Noel Coward) and assembles his team. Once in Italy he discovers he now has to contend with the Mafia in order to carry out his plan...Not sure why this is so highly regarded. Yes, the car chase scenes, involving blue, white and red Mini Coopers, are iconic, but that's it. The script is mostly quite silly. Hardly anything is plausible or makes sense and sub-plots are plain random. Far more style than substance, and the style isn't that classy. Michael Caine puts in a solid performance in the lead role. Noel Coward's character provides much of the implausibility. Benny Hill has a supporting role as weird, creepy, fetish-loving, tech professor - an ideal role for him.I enjoyed the 2003 remake far more - action was as good and the script was much more solid. One of the few times I've enjoyed a remake of a movie more than the original.

THE Italian JOB is one of those movies that can stand repeated viewings. Its principal virtue is that it doesn't take itself at all seriously: we know that Charlie (Michael Caine) and his gang will probably not get away with the money, but it's worthwhile watching the way in which he completes the heist and then tries to get away through the streets of Turin and subsequently through the mountains. As the Mr. Big behind the whole operation, Noel Coward plays himself; by the late Sixties, he had acquired quasi-cult status, reveling in his reputation. This is precisely the kind of character he plays in the film. In historical terms, Peter Collinson's film is an advertisement for the Swinging Sixties, with Britain at the center of new movements in fashion and/or coolness. The iconic Minis - used by the gang to complete their escape - are frequently shown in close-up escaping from the more cumbersome Italian police vehicles. On the soundtrack, the famous theme celebrating "The Self Preservation Society" attests to the virtues of capitalism and individual effort. Anyone can achieve their dreams if they are prepared to work for them. At just over ninety minutes in length, THE Italian JOB has a helter-skelter plot that can be enjoyed for what it's worth.

The question of why did they not make a sequel, keeps on coming up as discussions on talk radio stations up and down the land (UK). The 2003 version was meant to be for the American market, and in my opinion is not as good as the 1969 version, probably because parts of the 2003 movie were "copied" from the 1969 version, such as the Minis being chased by Italian police cars supplied by Fiat. My opinion is that they should have gone ahead and made a sequel to the 1969 movie, but producer Michael Deeley was unsatisfied with the four endings written and conceived the current ending as a (literal) cliffhanger appropriate to an action film which left an opportunity for a sequel. One concepts of a sequel to the 1969 movie, would have shown how helicopters would have saved the bus seen on the cliff at the end of the first film. The grateful gang would soon discover that it is the Mafia that has saved them, and the sequel would have been about stealing the gold bullion back from them.In interviews in 2003 and 2008, Michael Caine revealed that the ending would have had Croker "crawl up, switch on the engine and stay there for four hours until all the diesel runs out... The (dormobile) van bounces back up so we can all get out, but then the gold goes over."The bus containing the gold would crash at the bottom of the hill where the Mafia would pick it up. The sequel would then have Croker and his men trying to get it back.The coach used in the 1969 movie was used on a school run in Scotland until the mid-1980s.