The Italian Job – 1969 and 2003 Widescreen Editions
Picture: B-/B
Sound: B-/B+ Extras:
B-/C+ Films: B-/C+
To remake or not remake, that is the question. When Mark Wahlberg has been asked that very
question recently, let’s just say he never met a remake project he did not want
to sign up for. This has already led to
two of the biggest disasters in cinema history. First, the actor (one of the few who care stars and can really
act) sadly trusted Tim Burton in his massacre of Planet of the Apes in
2001. Then, he showed up again in
Jonathan Demme’s The Truth About Charlie the following year. This time, the film being disemboweled was
Stanley Donen’s 1963 classic Charade, and Demme actually (in an act that
still stuns viewers worldwide) managed to actually surpass Burton in
desecrating a film that should have been left alone!
With yet another year came yet another remake. This time, the director attached would be
Music Video director F. Gary Gray (whose Vin Diesel disaster A Man Apart
was issued in 2003 after being on the shelf for a long while and promptly died
out), who had shown promise with the mixed-but-interesting The Negotiator
(1998). The film would be the 1969
Peter Collinson cult classic The Italian Job from 1969. Troy Kennedy Martin’s original script was
trashed and a new screenplay by Donna and Wayne Powers was penned. This avoided a total gutting-out of the
original, to their credit, but was still so predictable and formulaic that it
was slight. However, thanks to
Wahlberg, and co-stars Charleze Theron (whose early remake appearance in the
awful 1998 version of Mighty Joe Young could technically qualify as
domestic terrorism against children viewers and brain damage for all), Edward
Norton, Seth Green, a nice turn by Rapper Mos Def, Jason Stratham, Franky G,
and the great Donald Sutherland (whose Invasion of the Body Snatchers
remake in 1978 by Philip Kaufmann is one of the best remakes to date), along
with an additional castoff unknowns who should become more known, saved this film
from disaster.
As with the original, this is essentially about an
extremely bold gold heist. The original
has Michael Caine leading Benny Hill, Tony Beckley, and a cast of very
entertaining unknowns, all while still being memorable. They have to contend with competition from
Italy’s Mafia (dressed in almost bad, stereotypical pre-Godfather
outfits and led by Raf Valone), but their in-prison criminal mastermind
connection (Noel Coward) has his own ideas.
That set up is broad and works terrifically. By comparison, the remake relegates the organized crime force to
an incidental East Block crime unit, the heist team is cut down considerably to
less-naturalistic semi-characatures the actors manage to overcome, and
technology fills in as the star in the many time the script fails and the
actors are not left with as much to do.
Of course, the Mini Cooper is prominently featured in both films, but
they are more colorful in the original, and more fun. Here, they are upgraded workhorses going through the motions. The original had an extensive car chase with
a great sense of humor and grand sense of freewheeling no action film has
today. The Mini even is shown to better
effect in the Austin Powers franchise, as the remake could have used any
car. It even feels as flat as an ad
placement.
So box-office wise for Wahlberg, the third time was the
charm, but certainly NOT artistically.
Paramount just got lucky that films like Charlie’s Angels – Full
Throttle and the misguided The Hulk helped to make 2003 ghastly, so
they had a film people wanted to see because “some people” looked like they
might be there somewhere. Though still
not that good, it was not the artistic/commercial disaster his previous remakes
had been (Burton’s Apes was so overly expensive, that like The Hulk,
the numbers actually larger than this Italian remake are very
deceptive), people actually paid money to see this one, so they are (yawn!)
already talking sequel. Some people
just do not know when they just got lucky, and learn to leave it at that.
Technically on the DVDs, both have 2.35 X 1 images that
are anamorphically enhanced, but with a big difference. The original is in actual Panavision, with
color processed by Humphreys that looks really good, though the transfer still
has its softness. The color will
impress nevertheless, thanks in part to the cinematography of Douglas Slocombe,
B.S.C., who later shot (also all in real Panavision) the James Bond film Never
say Never Again (one of the best features of the 1983 remake of 1965’s Thunderball)
and the entire Indiana Jones trilogy.
By comparison, the remake is shot in cheaper and less-defined Super 35
for scope, and is also much more color poor.
Wally Pfister, A.S.C., is one of the best cameramen working today,
having shot Memento (2000) and another remake that fared much better, Insomnia,
both directed by Christopher Nolan.
Why the film has these limits visually is odd, but a
rumored series of production troubles plagued the film, even though it was a
moderate hit. The image is a bit sharper
by default simply based on the newer stocks used, but it is very slight in
comparison to the older version. I
managed to see the remake twice in work prints, some footage of which had the
usual dirt and artifacts. In a
concluding shot on the final print here shot in Venice, you can still see the
both! Some of the mate work and the
like also are not top rate, but this kind of thing happens when you are trying
to throw together a big commercial formula film and often does.
Both also feature Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 multi-channel
mixes. The original was monophonic
theatrically, but the remix here is not bad.
The biggest stereo element is Quincy Jones unusual score for the film,
which is joined by some subwoofer/.1/LFE that is not badly placed. The film recently had a theatrical reissue
in Britain, as the reissue trailer shows, so it is no wonder it was done
correctly. The 5.1 on the newer film is
the best feature on either DVD, with a smart, dynamic mix that makes sense and
likely accounts for its commercial viability as much as the cast. This is one of the relatively nicer Dolby
Digital mixes to date, but the curiosity of how good this would sound in DTS
(or even SDDS) will always remain. I
bet they could outdo what is here, as good as it is.
There are also many extras on both DVDs. The ones for 1969 include the original and
reissue trailer, a good commentary by the great producer Michael Deeley and
author Mathew Field (he wrote a book on the story of the original film), a very
interesting deleted scene that even has optional commentary, and an
outstanding, long documentary in three parts that is feature-film length. It is the kind of making-of we do not see
enough on DVD and digs deeply into all the elements of the cult classic. The 2003 extras include 5 featurettes, 6
deleted scenes, and the original theatrical trailer. Unlike the 1969 DVD, the focus of the documentary work here is on
all the technology, the computers, the digital work, the special effects, and
the cars. The elements that count also
get some attention, but the focus here reflects the limits of the remake
itself. They even tend to run on too
much and be too self-impressed. That pretty much sums up all the problems with
big-budget films, especially Action and (pseudo-) Science Fiction productions
today!
The best way to see what is going on here is to get both
DVDs and compare, a rare occasion for all the films that do get remade and
issued in the format. This is at least
a curio evening of viewing, but the 1969 film continues to have the edge, even
if it is an acquired taste.
- Nicholas Sheffo
