No, no, not the new one from four years ago with Seth Green, Jason Statham, and Mos Def (and a couple of lackluster leads), this is the film that inspired that one, although really the only similarities are that both movies feature heists that involve using Mini Coopers as the getaway vehicles.
This version is a fun piece of British propaganda and is very heavy on the "us vs. them" bit. Michael Caine stars as Charlie Croker, a ne'er do well who is just getting out of prison and is already involved in setting up his next scheme, the hi-jacking of $4 million in gold from Turin, Italy. Charlie's partially doing it for the money and partly for revenge for the mafia killing one of his friends, who thought up the daring heist in the first place. Unlike the re-make, none of Charlie's cohorts are anything more than filler; even Benny Hill as a computer expert (!!!) is given very little to do. Only Noel Coward stands out as a prison kingpin named Mr. Bridger; actually, he's the best part of the film, an oddball inmate whom even the guards address respectfully, and who has an odd fetish for Queen Elizabeth II (he even has his own butler in jail). Bridger is delightfully funny, in that quirky offbeat English sort of way, and he steals the show. Caine himself is good, full of high spirits, but in a way he comes off like sort of a straight Austin Powers, played too far but not really realizing he's almost a joke.
The heist is again complicated and features snarling up traffic, only this time instead of Ed Norton the villain is the mafia, who is dead-set against seeing the English steal their gold. Once again the highly enjoyable and lengthy chase scenes are terrifically well staged (including a jump across buildings that you know they actually did live), and the Mini Coopers create all sorts of mayhem on their escape from the scene of the crime. The movie is light-hearted and fun, moreso than its remake (though again, it isn't weighted down with Walberg and Theron), but its Monty Python and the Holy Grail-esquire non-ending brings the movie to a crashing halt; you can see the writers pen themselves into a corner and then, rather than find a way out, just give up, walk out of the room, and roll the credits, possibly in an attempt to be modern or absurd, but it really, really doesn't work. Which is a shame, because otherwise the movie is a great bit of oddball fun, certainly worth a look.
This version is a fun piece of British propaganda and is very heavy on the "us vs. them" bit. Michael Caine stars as Charlie Croker, a ne'er do well who is just getting out of prison and is already involved in setting up his next scheme, the hi-jacking of $4 million in gold from Turin, Italy. Charlie's partially doing it for the money and partly for revenge for the mafia killing one of his friends, who thought up the daring heist in the first place. Unlike the re-make, none of Charlie's cohorts are anything more than filler; even Benny Hill as a computer expert (!!!) is given very little to do. Only Noel Coward stands out as a prison kingpin named Mr. Bridger; actually, he's the best part of the film, an oddball inmate whom even the guards address respectfully, and who has an odd fetish for Queen Elizabeth II (he even has his own butler in jail). Bridger is delightfully funny, in that quirky offbeat English sort of way, and he steals the show. Caine himself is good, full of high spirits, but in a way he comes off like sort of a straight Austin Powers, played too far but not really realizing he's almost a joke.
The heist is again complicated and features snarling up traffic, only this time instead of Ed Norton the villain is the mafia, who is dead-set against seeing the English steal their gold. Once again the highly enjoyable and lengthy chase scenes are terrifically well staged (including a jump across buildings that you know they actually did live), and the Mini Coopers create all sorts of mayhem on their escape from the scene of the crime. The movie is light-hearted and fun, moreso than its remake (though again, it isn't weighted down with Walberg and Theron), but its Monty Python and the Holy Grail-esquire non-ending brings the movie to a crashing halt; you can see the writers pen themselves into a corner and then, rather than find a way out, just give up, walk out of the room, and roll the credits, possibly in an attempt to be modern or absurd, but it really, really doesn't work. Which is a shame, because otherwise the movie is a great bit of oddball fun, certainly worth a look.