The Italian Job (2003 film)

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The Italian Job
original film poster
Directed by	F. Gary Gray
Produced by	Tim Bevan Donald De Line Jim Dyer
Written by	Donna Powers (screenplay) Wayne Powers (screenplay) Troy Kennedy-Martin (1969 screenplay)
Starring	Mark Wahlberg Jason Statham Charlize Theron Edward Norton Donald Sutherland Seth Green Mos Def
Music by	John Powell
Cinematography	Wally Pfister
Editing by	Richard Francis-Bruce Christopher Rouse
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	May 30, 2003
Running time	111 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$60 million[1]
Gross revenue	$176,070,171[1]
Preceded by	The Italian Job (1969)
Followed by	The Brazilian Job
IMDb profile

The Italian Job is a 2003 heist film, directed by F. Gary Gray. The film stars Jason Statham, Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Mos Def and Donald Sutherland. Though it is a remake of the original 1969 film of the same name starring Michael Caine, it has an almost entirely different plot and characters. The film garnered generally favorable reviews, with most critics saying that though it lacked the wit of the original, it was still a fun ride. It was nominated for a total of nine awards, winning four.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 3.1 Critical reception 3.2 Awards 3.3 Box office 4 Relation with the original The Italian Job 5 Videogame 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The film opens in Venice, Italy, with the "leader" John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) on the phone giving his daughter Stella (Charlize Theron) the "this is my last job" speech. John then meets up with the "planner" Charlie (Mark Wahlberg) to discuss the job. John and Charlie are good friends, and the two have a great amount of respect for each other.

Charlie plans and executes a well crafted and swiftly executed robbery, involving the heist of gold bars. During this sequence, the rest of the ensemble comes into the fold. Steve (Edward Norton) is the "inside man", Handsome Rob (Jason Statham) is a very proficient "wheel man". Left Ear (Mos Def) is the explosives expert and Lyle (who later demands the handle "Napster") (Seth Green) is the technical expert. The heist is a success and the celebrating begins, but the euphoria doesn't last long. A traitor among the group (Steve) has his own plans, and doesn't waste time seizing the gold, killing Bridger, and leaving the rest of the team for dead. They survive, however, and they plan revenge.

The film continues a year later back in the United States, with Stella using her expertise to break into vaults as an assistant to law enforcement personnel. Charlie recruits Stella, since she has the required knowledge and motivation to participate in the payback heist of stealing the gold bars back from Steve. Once Stella agrees to join the team, the heist begins. The team travels to Los Angeles, California, scopes out Steve's house, and begins planning their heist. Meanwhile, Steve attempts to sell his gold through a money launderer, but ends up killing him when the launderer begins asking questions about the source of the gold. Unfortunately, the money launderer had connections to the local mob, which seeks vengeance for his death. The mob leader believes Charlie is involved with the murder, which poses several problems for Charlie and his crew.

The team's initial plan to steal the gold fails. Their plan was to have Steve stood up on a date with Stella while the team breaks into Steve's house, loads his safe in a Mini Cooper, and use hacked traffic lights to make their escape. Unfortunately, there happens to be a party at the house next door, and Charlie is forced to call off the plan because of the number of witnesses. Meanwhile, Steve eventually figures out Stella's real identity. Charlie confronts Steve and promises that he will take back the stolen gold and promptly punches Steve in the jaw.

Now aware that Charlie and his team are still alive, Steve hastily makes preparations to move the gold. He obtains three armored trucks and a helicopter to thwart any attempts to steal the gold. Thinking quickly, Charlie uses his control over the Los Angeles traffic system to find the truck containing the gold and to gridlock the entire city. The team then steals the gold from the truck and make their escape in a trio of Mini Coopers modified by Rob's mechanic friend and new team member Wrench (Franky G), leading Steve and his henchmen on a wild ride through the Los Angeles streets, subway system, and sewers. Steve manages to follow Charlie, but falls into Charlie's trap. Charlie pays off the mob with a portion of the stolen gold and convinces them that Steve is the man they want. After Steve is dragged off by the mob (after being punched by Stella), the team split up the remaining gold and all go their separate ways. Rob, Left Ear, and Lyle all obtain the items they desire while Charlie and Stella go on vacation to Venice together.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Mark Wahlberg	Charlie Croker
Charlize Theron	Stella Bridger
Jason Statham	Handsome Rob
Edward Norton	Steve Frazelli
Donald Sutherland	John Bridger
Seth Green	Lyle/"The Real Napster"
Mos Def	Left Ear
Franky G	Wrench

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of the 166 film critics gave the film positive reviews, with the consensus that it "Lacks the wit of the original, but it's still a fun ride." Both Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review. Roeper said the film was "... a real marvel of filmmaking," while Ebert said "This is just the movie for two hours of mindless escapism on a relatively skilled professional level."^[2] On Metacritic, the film received a metascore of 68 out of 100 from 37 reviews, considered to be generally favorable reviews.^[3]

[edit] Awards

The Italian Job was nominated for a total of nine awards, and won four. John Powell won an ASCAP award for his music work at the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards. Director F. Gary Gray won Best Director at the American Black Film Festival and at the Black Reel Awards. Stunt artists Clay Cullen, Michael Gaines, Jean Paul Ruggiero and Mike Massa won a Taurus Award for Best Specialty Stunt at the World Stunt Awards.^[4]

[edit] Box office

The Italian Job was released in 2,633 theaters in the United States on May 30, 2003. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $19,457,944,^[1] placing third in the box office.^[5] As of April 19, 2008, The Italian Job has grossed $106,128,601 in the United States and Canada and $69,941,570 overseas. Worldwide, it has grossed $176,070,171.^[1]

[edit] Relation with the original The Italian Job

There are some materials in this movie related to the original movie. Some can be considered as homages to it.

• The name adoption. Both Charlie Croker and John Bridger come from the original movie.
• The plot adoption. The main plot with three Minis from the original movie is reperformed with similar compositions such as traffic jam and chasing in a drain.
• The unachieved plan for the sequel to the original movie, which is taking back the same gold from a bad guy, became the main subject of the remade movie.
• Mobs get involved in both movies, with both possessing machinery talents of destroying cars.
• Aston Martin cars feature in both movies. Michael Caine, the original Charlie Croker drove a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 in the 1969 movie. Handsome Rob's wish was to purchase an Aston Martin Vanquish in the 2003 movie but the idea is stolen by Steve after he takes the $35 million from his allies. In the end, Rob gets an Aston Martin DB7 Volante.
• When Charlie is doing surveillance on Steve, the big TV Screen shows a movie of Michael Caine. Contrary to popular belief, it is not from the original film, but from Alfie.

[edit] Videogame

A videogame produced by Eidos Interactive based on this film was also released in 2003. It is available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows and Gamecube. In a press release issued by Eidos Interactive, CEO Mike McGarvey said, "The Italian Job is a very strong property and has all the elements that will enable us to produce a great game. The film is widely anticipated to be one of this year's biggest movies. Eidos aims to benefit from the film's marketing and success by releasing the game around the theatrical window." Pam Newton, vice president marketing and licensing, Viacom Consumer Products was quoted as saying, "Players will have a chance to relive the high-octane movie experience while playing 'The Italian Job' game by Eidos Interactive. We are excited to be working with Eidos. Their commitment to quality and authenticity will generate a great product for fans of the film and gamers alike."^[6]

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• James Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote the first draft of the screenplay, a fairly faithful translation of the original with a prologue set in World War II in which Charlie Croker's father tries and fails to recover the gold (tying the film in with Troy Kennedy Martin's other heist film Kelly's Heroes). A new story was commissioned from writing team the Powers that relocated the action to L.A.. Early posters and the trailer still credited Purvis and Wade as co-writers.
• When filming the scenes with the MINIs driving through the LA subway, combustion engines were not allowed in the subway tunnels, so production crews requested electric engined MINIs from BMW. The crew was told that such a thing did not exist, so technicians had to develop 3 electric engines to put inside the MINIs while filming in the Subway.
• In addition to the stunt driving course received, Jason Statham got two days' driving instruction from Damon Hill, the British former Formula 1 world champion.
• The NetCom Cable van shows the phone number 1-800-555-0199. This is the same number that Al Pacino in The Insider (1999) and Kevin Spacey in American Beauty (1999) have. This is also the number for the Little Donny Foundation in an episode of Upright Citizens Brigade, and for the New York Crime Catchera tipline in a 2008 episode of CSI:NY.
• Kings Island (Cincinnati, OH) and Canada's Wonderland (Vaughn, ON) opened The Italian Job: Stunt Track attractions in May 2005. Kings Dominion (Doswell, VA) added the ride in summer 2006, under the name The Italian Job: Turbo Coaster. The ride is based on the chase sequence of the 2003 film. The ride is a heavily themed rollercoaster, in which the coaster trains are scaled MINI Cooper S Convertible models. For the 2008 season, the names and some themeing were removed due to Paramount Parks' purchase from Cedar Fair.
• Originally the getaway was a much longer sequence in which a bullet-wounded Handsome Rob reluctantly hands over the driving to Left Ear, despite the fact that he can't drive “stick”. After narrowly avoiding pedestrians at the Staples Center, getting stuck in traffic in Downtown L.A. and driving into a shop window, Rob takes over the driving. Some footage from this sequence appear as deleted scenes on the DVD release.
• In the scene where the explosives are set off under the street, a man in a Spider-Man suit can briefly be seen fleeing from the explosion.

• The White MINI was custom painted into a 'Pepper White' MINI with a pure white roof - this is not a colour combination that is made for the MINI. The 'Chili Red' and 'Indy Blue' MINIs both have custom black door mirrors and white roofs. In reality, MINIs come with door mirrors that match the roof colour.
• The principal actors in the movie did most of the stunt driving themselves. While all of the principals needed stunt driving lessons, Mos Def didn't even have a driver's license at the outset of the production.
• A MINI with two steering wheels was used for some of the shooting in order that a stunt driver could drive the car while one of the actors performed in front of the camera. This unusual car is now a part of the MINI factory tour in Cowley, Oxford.
• In the credits, the song "Money", originally performed by Pink Floyd, is played by Velvet Revolver.
• Steve's last name was Bandell before he changed it to Frazelli. It is revealed by Stella in the movie.
• In a new MINI (2007) commercial, the getaway scene from this movie is featured in "parallel timespace." As the MINI driver takes a joyride underground with a friend passenger, the three MINIs from this movie appear zooming in front of them at high speeds.
• Towards the end of the film, when all three cars "jump" out of the tunnel, Charlie's car (Blue) is seen landing first. But, because of the angle of the cars, if slowed-down you can see that the left-hand side of his front bumper breaks off. It is later shown repaired as if nothing happened.
• Edward Norton's participation in the film as a villain was because of a contractual obligation. Norton had signed a three picture deal when he co-starred in Primal Fear. Norton kept rejecting scripts until the studio coerced him into signing up for the film^{[citation needed]}. Norton didn't do any publicity for the film upon release.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website The Italian Job
• The Italian Job at the Internet Movie Database
• The Italian Job at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Italian Job at Metacritic
• The Italian Job at Box Office Mojo