The Italian Job

The Golden Age of caper and heist movies was the late sixties. Topkapi, The Thomas Crown Affair, How to Steal A Million, they all help define one of the most fun genres in filmdom. The Italian Job is a little-known caper from this same era, starring Michael Caine as the debonair thief. In addition to Caine’s involved, clever and sinuous scheme to steal hundreds of gold bars, The Italian Job has some amazing car stunts. Three tiny little cars drive over, through, and across the buildings of Turin. The Italian Job is not a perfect caper — there are some too-convenient coincidences and the ending doesn’t quite fit — but it is very good and it’s lots of fun.