The Italian Job
The archetypal cheesy cheeky cockney crime caper. I have to say finally that this film is a bit disappointing. The best section by far is the opening titles. As Matt Munro croons away at Quincy Jones' and Don Black's peerlessly cool “On days like these,” we see Rossano Brazzi (a peerlessly cool name), cigarette hanging louchely from his lips, expensive sunglasses against the glare of the snow, handling his Lamborghini through the Italian Alps. This has to be the best, coolest title sequence from the 60s, or maybe ever.
It all goes a bit downhill after this. There are some nice touches – Benny Hill's line, “if only people could be more like flowers,” is as touching as it is bizarre. Noel Coward has a wonderful jawline, shown to best effect when he is unexpectedly confronted by Michael Caine in the prison toilets. Marvellous. Caine's character shagging multiple girls at the same time is a nod to the permissive 60s, but all is left behind with London.
Special mention should go to Douglas Slocombe, the English DP who also did all the Indiana Jones films.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Nice tense early 70s hijack thriller with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw as the two opposing protagonists. Notable for its sense of realism. The New York subway is shown in realistic decline. One of the odd things I find about this movie, viewd from our early 21st Century age, is the general incomprehension by all except the hi-jackers that the subway car has in fact been hi-jacked. These days everyone would automatically and immediately assume that it was terrorists.
The demise of Robert Shaw's character is very chilling, eliciting a “Jesus” from this viewer – immediately followed by a “Christ” by Walter Matthau!
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