UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - "The Italian Job -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Stephen_J_H]

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Cockney rhyming slang at its finest. For a more modern take:

 

[JoeDoakes]

I didn’t see this film at the time of its original release, even though I saw just about everything that came out during those days. It simply slipped through the cracks and as I recall got only fair to middling reviews stateside. We by chance happened to be visiting my uncle in Long Beach and were having lunch at Hollywood and Highland when they were filming the remake with all the Mini Cooper cars, which were being shot moving up and down the street at that location. We got a bird’s eye view from the top of the building for quite awhile. So of course we made a point seeing the film when it was released. It was quite entertaining, and some years later I finally caught up with the original (I think on TCM), and found it a nice little (now period) caper film, but felt the remake was perhaps better plotted (of course though quite capable, Mark Wahlberg is no Michael Caine). I recall reading somewhere the original’s ending was meant to be harbinger for a sequel, which, alas, never materialized since it wasn’t a particularly big money maker in the US (maybe it did better in the UK). But how it ended, when I finally saw it, was a bit of a letdown and unsatisfying. Had a sequel been done, it would likely have elicited a different reaction. Due to those circumstances, I’d have to say I prefer the remake, though I may be in the minority. Glad the original is well regarded enough to bring about this release.

Fair enough, although I don't really get the set for a sequel bit. In the remake, they take off with loads of cash. I found the ending of the original more satisfying for that sort of film and clever.

 

[uncledougie]

From IMDb Trivia section which indicates the DVD commentary addresses the apparently never formalized plan to create a sequel, rumored to have been called The Brazilian Job.
I, for one, do not object to ambiguous, open ended final scenes in films which leave open to the viewer to speculate what might’ve come next. It’s lamentable the sequel never happened, because the scenario briefly described in the IMDb section sounds like it would have been a fun follow up. But the ending as it exists is quite satisfying in its own way. Likely this earlier version has weathered better than other caper films of the time, thus resulting in this welcome release.

 

[Nelson Au]

Robert, I was surprised to see that my blu ray is actually an import too when I received it. I guess there’s domestic version.

Well, very soon, I’ll be curious to get the new 4K too and see how the Miura looks as well and revisit the film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert, I was surprised to see that my blu ray is actually an import too when I received it. I guess there’s domestic version.

Well, very soon, I’ll be curious to get the new 4K too and see how the Miura looks as well and revisit the film.

The 1969 version has never been released on Blu-ray in the States until later this month. It's only been released on DVD until the Kino releases.

 

[sbjork]

If anyone's interested in the most important thing about The Italian Job, namely, the cars, Doug Demuro did a thorough walkthrough of the Lamborghini Miura a few months ago. He was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop. There are a lot of walkthrough/reviews of Miuras on YouTube, but Demuro's is one of the best, because he obsesses over all the quirks that other reviewers ignore. It was a fascinating car down to the smallest detail. The particular one that he reviewed had a storied history behind it all of its own.

The model in the film was a 1968 Miura P400. Lamborghini did offer a rainbow of colors, including red, but the model in the film was definitely orange (Arancio Miura). But it has usually pushed reddish in various home video iterations. I've never seen a 35mm print, so I'm not sure how it would have looked originally (assuming that the prints were timed correctly anyway).

Most recently, a different Miura made a cameo appearance in Free Guy, as one of the cars in the stable of supercars seen near the end.

 

[Robert Crawford]

If anyone's interested in the most important thing about The Italian Job, namely, the cars, Doug Demuro did a thorough walkthrough of the Lamborghini Miura a few months ago. He was as giddy as a kid in a candy shop. There are a lot of walkthrough/reviews of Miuras on YouTube, but Demuro's is one of the best, because he obsesses over all the quirks that other reviewers ignore. It was a fascinating car down to the smallest detail. The particular one that he reviewed had a storied history behind it all of its own.

The model in the film was a 1968 Miura P400. Lamborghini did offer a rainbow of colors, including red, but the model in the film was definitely orange (Arancio Miura). But it has usually pushed reddish in various home video iterations. I've never seen a 35mm print, so I'm not sure how it would have looked originally (assuming that the prints were timed correctly anyway).

Most recently, a different Miura made a cameo appearance in Free Guy, as one of the cars in the stable of supercars seen near the end.

If you never seen a print, then how do you know the model in the film was definitely orange?

 

[sbjork]

If you never seen a print, then how do you know the model in the film was definitely orange?

remember the arancio miura from the italian job? lamborghini just found and restored it

www.designboom.com

 

[Robert Crawford]

remember the arancio miura from the italian job? lamborghini just found and restored it

www.designboom.com

If so that HD digital has some serious color timing issues, unless they played with the coloring intentionally to make it look more redish.

 

[sbjork]

If so that HD digital has some serious color timing issues, unless they played with the coloring intentionally to make it look more redish.

It's always tended to look that way on home video, so the original cinematography may have been a factor.

Here's a view that questions the certainty of Lamborghini's identification of the exact car, but still ultimately concludes that it's like a correct identification, based on other evidence:

The Lamborghini From The Italian Job Is For Sale, We Think

Found after decades in an underground vault, is this really the car from the movie?

www.thedrive.com

 

[sbjork]

The only other possibility, however slight, is that the car was originally painted red and then changed to orange before it sold. There's some background in the second article that might support that. On the other hand, Lamborghini employees like Enzo Moruzzi (quoted in the first article) remember differently.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Personally, I have always thought of it as red which works better for me (particularly among the green alpine valleys and snow). I remember not liking the ending much on my first viewing on television but decades later it's just a great ending. Prior to the 1960s films didn't want to show villains getting away with the loot and this is nicely ambiguous.

 

[Robert Harris]

Which is precisely why, when preparing to restore a film, one should Always begin with a paint chip.

 

[jayembee]

did someone say MEANKEY!!?

A "shimpensee MEANKEY"?

 

[Nelson Au]

The 1969 version has never been released on Blu-ray in the States until later this month. It's only been released on DVD until the Kino releases.

I see I had made a typo, I meant to say, I guess there was never a domestic US release. So yeah, I had not realized that since I had the earlier R1 DVD too.

So it makes sense it wasn’t a big seller in the US.

 

[Nelson Au]

remember the arancio miura from the italian job? lamborghini just found and restored it

www.designboom.com

There’s been several articles on that particular car and the Ian Terrell’s Classic Workshop YouTube video Where I first learned about the car’s discovery. I tend to think Ian knows what he’s talking about having been involved in so many Lamborghini restorations. Regardless, the articles all seem to say the same things, same quotes and same info. It’s very cool like the decades long mystery of where the 1968 Mustang from Bullitt went? It resurfaced in 2018 having been with a family in the east coast for 4 decades, did some shows nation wide and then was sold recently at auction.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just had a quick look at the opening titles of The Italian Job and the Lamborghini does appear on the reddish side. Though not bright red and from what I can see, it looks like the same orange. Maybe the reddish color shift of the Miura in the film verses the actual color in recent photos and videos is a result of the film stocks used back in that time period and how it was processed?

Here’s screen caps from the 40th Anniversary blu ray I have. After seeing the titles here, I have to see it on a big screen! And in 4K. ( The value of these cars today is just insane and is amazing to see one restored via Ian Terrell’s Classic Car shop)

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Yeah, I pulled out the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray and there is noticeable difference between that Blu-ray and the current iTunes HD digital as I compared the opening title sequence on both of them with the same OLED display.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Robert! So perhaps the new 4K disc will show the car in the same red as you saw on iTunes.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Thanks Robert! So perhaps the new 4K disc will show the car in the same red as you saw on iTunes.

Maybe they were going for blood orange?