Charlie Croker: You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!
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.
The Italian Job (1969)
2 quotes
Directed by: Peter Collinson
Starring: Michael Caine, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Noel Coward
Plot hole: Why on earth do they drive the Minis up the ramps into the bus while it is moving? They are on a long, straight, relatively quiet stretch of road, but there are cars and buildings about. That ramp is going to make a noise like the sky coming down (we see sparks as it scrapes on the road) and they put on a display anyone would be, frankly, amazed to see. Don't they think one single person would call the police? Don't they think that reports of three brightly coloured Minis will be connected with the recent robbery? They cannot possibly think they have to load the Minis on the run in order to elude the police; they have lost the police cars and are no longer being pursued. Why not just park the bus on the hard shoulder and drive the Minis sedately up that ramp? An unusual sight, maybe, but nowhere near as clumsy, obvious and attention-getting as the way they do it. They are asking to be pulled over and arrested.
Trivia: The radio operator in the gang is actually Michael Caine's brother in real life.
Question: What happened at the end? How did they get out of that fix?
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.
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Answer: We may never know. The ending was originally a set-up for a sequel, but the sequel never materialized.
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