© 2006 William Ahearn

A comedy caper with a young Michael Caine in which a computer whiz substitutes a hacked program for the program controlling the traffic in the city of Turin so the robbers can disrupt traffic and escape in their Mini Coopers. This is probably the first of many computer-related heist flicks and one of the few comedies.

Consider that the hacker had to create the disruptive program on tape and then replace the legitimate tape in the mainframe at the Turin traffic control center. Not the usual geek with a wifi-enabled laptop mindlessly tapping the keys on a laptop (and never using the spacebar) and then saying "We're in."

Half the joke here is the idea of disrupting Italian traffic. As Dorothy Parker noted after being told President Coolidge was dead, "how can you tell?" The other half of the joke is using Mini Coopers to lam out of town with.

Not the best of comedies but I do have a soft spot for Brit crime movies. It has its moments such as the literal cliff-hanging ending. An entirely unnecessary remake was released in 2003 with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland that tried to function as a sequel complete with computer whiz and Mini Coopers.

Many thanks to Jim Arnott for the films.