The Italian Job

Continuity mistake: When the car transporter is trying to break into the building, where they are transferring the gold from the security vehicle, a car drops from the transporter, lands on a police car, and the blue cover from the police light comes off completely in the first shot. But a second later you see the face of the policeman with the light in the foreground, which now has a jagged broken base left on the car. (01:14:30)

Continuity mistake: When the three Minis are driving through a steep turn you see that the chasing police bike overtakes on the inside lane. In the next view from inside the following police car there is no bike in front of or beside the Minis. In the following shot from in front of the Minis looking back the bike is beside the police car behind the Minis. (01:18:00 - 01:26:00)

Continuity mistake: After the gang is pulled off the bank job, they race away in the three Minis - as they go through a tunnel at one point they roll up and down the sides of the tunnel. The mistake is that each car supposedly has two occupants, but on one shot of the cars in the tunnel, one car has only a single occupant - visible because the car following has his headlights on illuminating the car in front.

Continuity mistake: When the 3 Minis are pushed off the coach, if you look carefully there is view shown briefly of the cars interior, which has red door pillars. When the shot reverts to the external view the cars colour is white.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The interior of the white mini is always accented in red.

Continuity mistake: When the Minis are going through the tunnel, the police car behind them has a set of lights which are the same as the Minis, which it did not have before. This is because the sewer scene was shot in Coventry and they used a disguised Mini in place of the Alfa Romeo (in the remaster you can see the lighting gels added to the headlights to try and make them look different to the mini).

Continuity mistake: Right at the beginning, the red Lamborghini goes into the tunnel and is blown up, but when it is taken out not one part of the bodywork is charred, it is still a shiny red. Given the huge explosion and fireball we see when the Lamborghini hits the JCB, this is impossible.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It's not blown up, it drives into the JCB which then extracts it from the tunnel.

The posting is correct. There is a distinctly violent explosion when the Lamborghini hits the JCB. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJuVOrXv68.

Continuity mistake: Each of the Mini Coopers were fitted with three spot lamps on the front grille/bonnet in a triangle formation. In part of the chase sequence through the sewer, two of the Minis have sprouted three more lights - one under each headlamp and one in the centre of the grille under the three original spot lights.

Continuity mistake: The Minis at the end are pushed out of the bus with no rear windows, the Aston pushed over the cliff becomes a Lancia at the last moment, and the Lamborgini pushed over the cliff is so toy-like - it doesn't even have an engine... [Regarding the Lancia, the comment is correct. However, it was a deliberate substitution. The Aston went over the cliff and spontaneously burst into flame almost immediately. The director felt that it looked too fake and the Lancia was substituted to make the stunt longer and more realistic.]

Continuity mistake: When we see the computer tape on the tape drive just before it gets to the altered data and messes up the traffic light sequence, the tape is visibly twisted. In the next shot a few seconds later, it is straight again.

Continuity mistake: When the crooks hijack the bullion van, one of the crooks starts covering the van's windscreen with blue paint. He manages to get two small squirts of paint on the windscreen. However, when the camera cuts to Charlie connecting a cable to the van, at the top of the shot, you can see the whole of the windscreen is covered. Then the camera cuts back and he is still painting.

Continuity mistake: When the three minis are trying to drive up the ramps onto the coach the shot from outside the cars shows them to be on a two lane road while in the shots from inside the cars they are on a three lane road.

Continuity mistake: When the Minis are practicing jumping, one of them goes tumbling onto its roof, but the other crashes into another car, denting its wing. Just before the impact, you can see that there is already a dent there where it has obviously already done the same stunt.

Continuity mistake: When one of the Minis tries to mount the ramp into the coach it has a bit of silver trim behind the front wheel hanging loose. A few seconds later when it tries again the trim is back in place.

Continuity mistake: In the film, when Charlie just comes out of prison, his fringe suddenly moves to a different position.

Continuity mistake: When the minis are loaded on the bus the last one on is the white one however when they throw them off the red one is first off.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The minis are loaded onto the coach Red, White and Blue and the minis are unloaded Blue, White, Red, which explodes as it falls down the cliff.

Continuity mistake: The pile of gold on the coach at the end is far greater than all three minis could carry.

Continuity mistake: The camera on top of the coach shows clear glass in the roof windows but in the long shots they are covered white.

Continuity mistake: When the white mini goes over the cliff edge the rear window is already missing.

Revealing mistake: When the police car crashes through the grating that was dropped down in front of it at the end of the tunnel, the occupants are dummies - they just bounce about in the same upright position whilst the car drives into the river.

More mistakes in The Italian Job

Charlie Croker: It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say.

More quotes from The Italian Job

Trivia: The film is primarily about cars and driving. Star Michael Caine could not drive at the time the movie was made. Charlie Croker is assumed to be driving when he picks up his Aston Martin at the garage but in the next shot, we see it arrive outside a hotel. Caine only gets out of the stationary Aston Martin. In other scenes, including the trip to Turin and the gold heist, Caine is a passenger. However, he is seen driving his E-type Jaguar into the Turin building where the Minis are being modified. The DVD confirms that Caine couldn't drive, but could just about manage the basics.

More trivia for The Italian Job

Question: What happened at the end? How did they get out of that fix?

Answer: We may never know. The ending was originally a set-up for a sequel, but the sequel never materialized.

Cubs Fan

Answer: Michael Caine himself once suggested in an interview that all they had to do was wait until the bus, the engine of which was still running, ran out of fuel. The fuel tank was at the rear of the bus, hanging over the cliff and so adding weight at that end. As it emptied, the balance would shift to the front and they would be able to move the gold forward. How they could then get it off the bus, or transport it from the roadside is another matter.

More questions & answers from The Italian Job

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.