The Italian Job (1969) & The Italian Job (2003)

Verbal Diorama

The Italian Job (1969) is the epitome of what would become Cool Britannia. It celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, and has lost none of its Britishness. In fact, for the quintessentially British cult classic, they had to have the cool car of the 1960s youth - the Mini - for the quintessential British heist.

Setting the film in Turin also gave them the bonus of having access to Fiat's locations and vehicles. Fiat and the city of Turin were incredibly welcoming to the production, despite all the chaos caused by filming. Fiat would also offer a huge cash incentive to swap the British Leyland Minis for Fiat 500s. Obviously that never happened!

While it would flop in the US, The Italian Job remains an icon of cinema in the UK, and although Paramount insisted the movie was in debt, they were still keen to remake it in 2003...

The Italian Job (2003) would show a character watching The Italian Job, while having characters named after characters from The Italian Job, and referencing "The Italian Job" as the inspiration for their own heist that's remarkably similar to The Italian Job's Italian Job, without being an Italian Job that's actually set in an Italian city. You'd think its writing team had never seen the original before... and you'd be correct!

This version of The Italian Job would have its own pioneering stunts though, including the creation of the first ever electric powered BMW MINIs...

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Italian Job (1969) & The Italian Job (2003) !

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