Charlie staubt Millionen ab (1969)

Charlie staubt Millionen ab: Directed by Peter Collinson. With Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone. Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.

“At the behest of Mr Bridger, Charlie Croker puts together a crew to pull of a massive job. The job is to rob an armoured car on the streets of Turin and then get away clean. The plan involves explosives a traffic jam, a football match and a load of mini coopers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI watched this recently on TV – it was shown the night before England played Argentina in World Cup 2002 (1-0, Argentina then dropped put in the first round!). The reason it was shown was simply that itu0026#39;s strength is that itu0026#39;s a good caper movie where the Brits go over there and put one over on the Italians! It may smack of zenophobia but thatu0026#39;s what it is!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe criminals even go so far as to use Miniu0026#39;s for the job – in the most famous scene of the film, making them cool for decades! The reason it was shown before the game was just to feed on the fact that national pride was high. Even if you ignore the British element (the song `self preservation societyu0026#39; is now even a football anthem) then itu0026#39;s still quite fun to watch. The build up to the job is breezy and funny with good lines, while the job itself is fanciful but great fun.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe ending must be known to everyone – but itu0026#39;s still good no matter how many times you see it! The cast are all good – with a range of British TV faces in there bringing a distinct British comedy. Caine is great, as are Coward and Hill but the real stars are the Miniu0026#39;s and the daring comedic race across Turin.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall this is not a great film – but it is a classic caper movie. Itu0026#39;s made even better by the fact that it makes you proud to be British in a weird way! Say it with me my friends – `hang on lads, Iu0026#39;ve got an idea……..u0026#39;”