Unfortunately, Another Bad DVD Review: The Italian Job (Michael Caine) [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Lexmark3200
05-03-2004, 09:19 PM
Rented this tonight and me and the little woman really thought this original sucked compared to the remake, which is usually not the case. Don't mean to offend anyone who is a fan of this 1969 film, but is this really considered a masterpiece, and for what reason? I mean, I couldn't wait for the hour and forty minutes to be up so I could eject this from my DVD player. Boring, boring, boring IMO. The music was horrible, too. Perhaps the only saving grace was Benny Hill, who, as usual, is grabbing some big asses and acting like his perverted self. Rest in peace, Mr. Hill.

Paramount presents this travesty in a 2:35:1 display, and in a remastered 5.1 audio mix; the picture looked fine, but, as I have been founding with these Dolby Digital and DTS digital remastering efforts of late, the sound just fell completely flat. I didnt get anything sound-wise until well until "53" on my receiver's volume, and that is just ridiculous. I know this is a film from 1969, but come on....the box purports a "5.1 surround" track...where was the surround?

At any rate, I enjoyed the remake, with Don Whalberg, a lot more, and that was even forgotten about in my mind. And again, sorry in advance to any fans of the film.

UPDATE: I actually read some other online reviews regarding this DVD, and have learned that this Michael Caine original is considered an absolute classic by folks over in England. There are some plot discrepencies which probably resulted in my "not really getting" the whole thing with this film; it is considered the "Gone With the Wind" of British entertainment, or so I read. So those of you who enjoyed this film or can relate to the underground British following it has, please disregard my review and/or accept my revision and "apologies."