How Michael Caine’s 1969 ‘The Italian Job’ bombed in America: “I never publicised the movie”
In 2003, a Hollywood version of The Italian Job hit big screens, although it hardly had anything in common with the classic 1969 version starring Michael Caine.
That one, a highlight of Caine’s career as he became more well-known as an iconic British star, might be regarded as one of the finest films of the decade, but it actually flopped across the pond, unlike its successor.
Caine’s career had been stalling for a while when he decided to enter the film industry, and he spent years trying to land a sizable role that was more than just an uncredited part. He finally found a glimpse of success when he appeared in 1964’s Zulu, however, and within two years, he’d bagged the leading roles in movies like The Ipcress File and Alfie, with the latter earning him an Oscar nomination.
The Cockney actor subsequently became one of the most well-known stars of his generation, and American roles came knocking, like Gambit, in which he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine, while Hurry Sundown saw him paired with Jane Fonda. So, his star power in Hollywood might have been rising, but that didn’t mean that British movies he would then appear in would automatically find success in America.
The Italian Job was a perfect example of this, because, despite its success in Britain, the movie was totally mismarketed in America, and as a result, Caine didn’t try to publicise it. The movie then failed, and now it seems like more Americans associate the title with Mark Wahlberg rather than Caine. Writing about the movie’s failure, the actor noted, “The Italian Job was a fun picture aimed at kids of all ages. It was very well made and became popular in Britain and Europe when it was released, but it flopped in America”.
He explained that it could have been due to the fact that a part of the central plot involved soccer, “virtually unknown in America at the time, but I think the advertising campaign they dreamed up over there was really to blame”. A bad or completely misleading marketing campaign has ruined many movies over the years, and Caine is positive that this was the case for The Italian Job, which just didn’t have the same impact overseas.
“When I arrived in Los Angeles to promote the picture, I was stunned to open a newspaper and see an image of a naked woman sitting on the lap of a gangster who was holding a machine gun,” he said. Caine was unimpressed with how the advertising campaign had managed to present such a warped image of the film, so he just about gave up on the movie altogether.
“The genius who thought that up was sending such a wrong signal about this U-certificate caper that I knew immediately that The Italian Job was doomed,” he decided, and so returned to England as soon as he could. “After months of hard work, sweat and tears, it can sometimes only take one small mistake like that to screw the whole thing up,” Caine added.
Elsewhere, he decried this terrible mistake. “I said, ‘Men who want to see naked women will walk out and women with children won’t go see it’. I never publicised the movie, and so it died in America.”
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