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The scenes where the cars drove through cylindrical tunnels were filmed in new sewers in Coventry before they were put into use as sewers. Not a lot of people know that!
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>> Not a lot of people know that! >>
You should be sent to Coventry for that!
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To the Museum of Road Transport to be exact.... where they have a little display about it!
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And a fine little museum it is too. No good enough however to suffer a trip to coventry,
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>> To the Museum of Road Transport to be exact....
I googled for "Museum of Road Transport" but couldn't find anything of that specific name.
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Sorry, they must have renamed it!
www.transport-museum.com/
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more details of the film here :-
www.imdb.com/title/tt0064505/trivia
Looks like Fiat were quite keen to help out on the film.
Shame BMC were not !
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I once read the minis were going to do a complete loop of the sewer, but because of large holes in the roof for lighting it was considered too dangerous.
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Extract from IMDB - Trivia
"BMC (British Motor Corporation), the owners of Mini, refused to donate any cars to the film. The boss of Fiat Motors offered to donate all the cars they needed including Fiat 500s in place of the Minis. "
Again the same for TV Show The Professionals I read somewhere that for the later series BMC would not give them a reliable car, and in the same colour for subsequent episodes, and later refused to give them anything.
Ford on the other hand fell over themselves to give them the Capri's and anything they wanted - what better advertising can you get - what idiot was in charge of marketing at BMC they missed a trick there.
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>> Again the same for TV Show The Professionals I read somewhere that for the later
>> series BMC would not give them a reliable car, and in the same colour for
>> subsequent episodes, and later refused to give them anything.
Who wrote this? Do they honestly expect us to believe that Bodie and Doyle could have been driving around in an Austin Maxi?
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They were BL by then and it was the provision of TR7s and Jags that caused the "issue"
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>> They were BL by then and it was the provision of TR7s and Jags that
>> caused the "issue"
>>
Yes sorry i meant BL - must have been the same marketing manager from BMC
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>> They were BL by then and it was the provision of TR7s and Jags that
>> caused the "issue"
Yup the 1st season of the bogie and boil show used BL cars
The boys had dolomite sprints and TR7s, Cowley had a jaguar.
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>> They were BL by then and it was the provision of TR7s and Jags that
>> caused the "issue"
At what point did they become Austin Rover Group?
I always felt it was quite appropriate to have ARG spelled large on the front of my Ambassador.
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>> At what point did they become Austin Rover Group?
>>
Think it was during the Edwardes years (78-82), when he left there was a group within BL called ARG (Austin Rover Group)... don't know about the badging though.
www.aronline.co.uk/
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that's an interesting thought.
In each episode, They would not have chased anyone as the Maxi gear linkage would be totally w******d after 2 seconds (early Maxi's with the cable gear linkage).
Still at least the Maxi had the Rolls Royce doors !
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and the incorrect camber set up if using a supplied Marina (at least on the press cars) would shoot the car off to the wrong side of the road when cornering
Very safe - not!
Last edited by: Redviper on Fri 26 Nov 10 at 12:52
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Just shows how the car industry has evolved over the years.
Now the Auto industry actually cares if you live longer than two seconds !
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Ford were quick to realise that placing a car like the Capri in a series like The Professionals would provide publicity, image and sales that no advertising campaign could get close to. BL couldn't see past the short term cost of it. I suspect a lot of Capris were sold off the back of this product placement.
30 years on, many people still remember the 3.0S Capri(s) used in the series with as much affection as the characters who drove them.
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i stayed in a hotel opposite the bus station with the sole intention of going to that museum
it was shut for renovation :-(
i went to prague this time last year with the sole intention of going to their transport museum
it was shut for renovation ;-(
we arent going away this side of 2011 again ;-(
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>>They would not have chased anyone as the Maxi gear linkage would be totally w******d after 2 seconds (early Maxi's with the cable gear linkage).<<
Mind you, when I zap my way on to The Professionals occasionally I fancy I can hear the familiar knock of a w*****d Ford camshaft every now and again...
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A colleague of mine with more than a passing resemblance to Martin Shaw bought a brand new Ford Escort Sport (1.6 twin cam ??) on the strength of seeing one on that show - he loved it dearly; a bit fatter now but still with dashing good looks of sorts drives a Golf R32...progress eh ?
Last edited by: Pugugly on Fri 26 Nov 10 at 14:22
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Real men of course had the Mk1 Capris, not the noncy Mk2's
A hatchback? pah
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I had colleagues (at least three) who had various versions of the Capri - funny thing memory, one had a 2.8i which he sold to a friend and bought it back three years later after the second owner died....
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I was seven when the Capri 2.8 Injection was launched.
I still want one. In Caspian Blue over silver, with the original Pepperpot alloys, please.
www.anticsonline.co.uk/l.aspx?k=2525012
Still a cracking looking car.
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>> Real men of course had the Mk1 Capris, not the noncy Mk2's
>>
>> A hatchback? pah
>>
They also wore Brut or Hai Karate...no accounting for some taste.
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>>new Ford Escort Sport (1.6 twin cam ??) >>
No that was an OHV kent engine, you needed a RS1800 to have a twin cam BDA, the RS2000 had a less potent Pinto unit.
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i remember how we talked in awe at bda's in the pub
now everything is multi cammed and putting a chrome mesh cap on the fomoco carb is just but a very distant dream
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>> Ford were quick to realise that placing a car like the Capri in a series
>> like The Professionals would provide publicity, image and sales that no advertising campaign could get close to. BL couldn't see past the short term cost of it.
A Wonderful teacher of mine at college, once turned a hour long lesson on computer networks into a history lesson on British Leyland.
For some reason this is where my fascination on the company started and I think it started with this observation that he made.
“workers who wouldn’t work, and managers who wouldn’t manage”
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The Italian Job was a damn silly vulgar movie though, trendy Britflim at its nearly worst (Girl on a Motorcycle, yucksville...).
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>> The Italian Job was a damn silly vulgar movie though, trendy Britflim at its nearly
>> worst (Girl on a Motorcycle, yucksville...).
would expect nothing else from a miserable old bufoon.
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...would expect nothing else from a miserable old bufoon...
Who - Mr Bridger?
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>> a miserable old bufoon.
Not miserable at all, except when I have let myself in for seeing films that are neither plausible, nor exciting, nor funny, nor even erotically stimulating.
Of course some of you saw this carp before you were old enough to have a critical faculty. I suppose you have avoided developing one since then out of loyalty to your own whippersnapper's 'taste'.
Tchah!
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Oh AC, I've seen both films - they were entertaining it's like saying that Top Gear is a crap motoring programme - when I realised it was merely entertaining I understood it. Mind you the scenery in the Italian Job is enjoyable if nothing else - Noel Coward must have been short of readies. Enjoyable tat.
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>> Enjoyable tat.
Well, I have to admit there is such a thing. 'Amusing schlock' is what I call it, and I see a lot of it too.
Tastes differ I suppose. But I never liked trendy Britflim.
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...Enjoyable tat...
It's a crime caper with a good cast and a good car chase or two.
What The Italian Job isn't is a film suitable for critique by the chattering classes.
If you want a rubbish Italian Job film, look no further than the 2003 remake.
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>> a film suitable for critique by the chattering classes.
Are you disrespecting me iffy? (Thoughtful, menacing scowl)
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Pah
the mangy old cur is snarling toothlessly from its basket.
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>> Of course some of you saw this carp before you were old enough to have
>> a critical faculty. I suppose you have avoided developing one since then out of loyaltyto your own whippersnapper's 'taste'.
>>
>> Tchah!
You're a big man, but you're out of shape.
Yeah, I know, different film... but same chap, same decade. And Britt was HAWT, IIRC
AND like the Italian Job, had an absolutely RUBBISH remake.
I walked out of the Stallone version, went to the pub, and had a few beers. Told the girlfriend of the time that I had a bad toothache, and had to find a chemist.
Last edited by: Ian (Cape Town) on Fri 26 Nov 10 at 16:07
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Yes!
AC is Cliff Brumby!
We cant throw him form the gateshead trinity square car park, its been knocked down.
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>> Clever sod, aren't you?
With him it's a full time job.
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No No No No!
[Harry, who's playing poker, is disturbed by Carter's presence in the room]
Harry: Thought you were going soon.
Jack Carter: Soon. When you've lost your money. Won't take long.
Harry: Clever sod, aren't you?
Jack Carter: Only comparatively.
*Grin*
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"We cant throw him form the gateshead trinity square car park, its been knocked down."
I was up there last year looking at it from the top of another building. I think they're tearing it down aren't they?
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Its gone I think.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Square_(Gateshead)#Demolition
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 26 Nov 10 at 16:54
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Must have been in the last few months then...
There's a website somewhere which re-visits all the original locations and photographs them from the same angle as seen in the movie.
It's the best and grittiest British gangster movie of all time. After Bugsy Malone.
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>> There's a website somewhere which re-visits all the original locations and photographs them from the
>> same angle as seen in the movie.
www.getcartertour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/getcarter/
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www.getcartertour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/getcarter/
That's everyone's Friday evening sorted then. See you in a few hours.
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>> It's the best and grittiest British gangster movie of all time.
This one came close
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9SG-zYvPjk
Turn your speakers up.
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Don't have uTube at work.
I assume it is Long Good Friday?
"For ten years, there's been peace in the manor..."
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You dont go crucifying people outside church, not on Good Friday!
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>> The Italian Job was a damn silly vulgar movie though, trendy Britflim at its nearly
>> worst (Girl on a Motorcycle, yucksville...).
Well said, that man..... it only needed a musical interlude from "Twinkle" to make the misery complete.
:-)
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well i enjoyed the original film
i even wanted the job of changing the rear diffs on those minis they had damaged in their trials
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...changing the rear diffs on those minis...
M'thinks Belboy's having a tin bath.
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>> I read somewhere that for the later
>> series BMC would not give them a reliable car, and in the same colour for
>> subsequent episodes,
They had enough trouble making a reliable one, let alone giving it away ;-)
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Yes thats part of the problem (I cant remeber where I read this) but they caused so much trouble (breaking down) BL casued so much hassle in getting them replacements.
AND
I remeber Joanna Lumley saying a simaler thing about the Avengers when she was on Top Gear BL where always just ackward about the whole thing
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"Again the same for TV Show The Professionals I read somewhere that for the later series BMC would not give them a reliable car, and in the same colour for subsequent episodes.!
Not WOULD not - more like COULD not!
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Back - thank God! - on Topic.
Recall a huge crowd of England fans walking through Cape Town the night of this year's World Cup v Algeria match singing "Self preservation society"
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To add to the Film and cars, BMC to tight to donate any cars, in fact the producers had to buy the cars retail from dealers, i think the original deal they got 6 ! and Fiat offered use of their building and cars unlimited and look where Fiat are today and where BMC ended up !
Same with the proffesionals, I think that launched Ford into a whole new tradjectory !
Sums it up really.
Film was great entertainment and look how " self preservation scociety " & " you were only supposed to blow the Bl..dy door off " has stuck around for so many years ! so can't of been all bad.
Can't remember whether the coach was bedford or Ford now but don't think it helped the coach world. Twin steer, Awfull
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>> Can't remember whether the coach was bedford or Ford now but don't think it helped
>> the coach world. Twin steer, Awfull
>>
It was a Bedford.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrington_Legionnaire
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Taking the hump with AC on this - no it wasn't an intellectually arty film - it was an unpretentious comedy film made for the masses and enjoyed by them - It has endured in the British psyche a cheerful film, a lot of effort went into filming it and has left us a little bit better off ! Maybe it didn't make any money in Islington but who cares it was a hoot of a film. End of rant.
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...Taking the hump with AC on this...
He made a typically prattling classes remark, which is not really his style, but when you live among such people, a little is bound to rub off.
I also a little disappointed this thread has turned into yet another anti-BL rant.
Why some forum members take such perverse pleasure in the demise of our car industry is beyond me.
Nor were the cars so much worse than other makes at the time.
Hillmans, Vaxhalls, even Fords, were all poor by today's standards.
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>> Nor were the cars so much worse than other makes at the time.
>>
>> Hillmans, Vaxhalls, even Fords, were all poor by today's standards.
Cars prior to that were poor by today's standards. In the 1930s, engines were worn out at 30,000 miles. As new technological advances are made, standards improve all the time.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 27 Nov 10 at 14:11
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They were poor (with some exceptions) by the standard of the day.
Had they not been so, they would still be with us.
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Saw quite an enjoyable schlock part-British movie last night, after all of your bedtimes though. Never heard of it before and it wasn't a really really good movie, but amusing in a rather distasteful way thanks to a good script and some decent performances.
To fit into this thread the title might have been 'The Hand Job'. It was about a respectable frumpy middle-aged lady who, to get money for a dying grandson's last-chance special treatment in Australia, takes a job in a Soho sex emporium onanising chaps through a hole in the wall (does this really happen? I suppose it must). She proves so good at it that they start queuing practically round the block, and she gets tennis elbow from overwork before falling for the implausibly cultured and thoughtful East European gangster/pimp who runs the place. Lots of byplay with her son, daughter-in-law, the grandson himself, a fellow 'sex worker' and her three coffee-morning friends, one played admirably b****ily by the winsome Jenny Agutter.
Lead role was played, surprisingly well despite a certain smug gleam in her eye, by Marianne Faithfull who was so rubbish in Girl on a Motorcycle.
Not everyone's cup of tea perhaps although all done in the best possible taste (no on-screen todgers).
Definitely one for BBD on DVD though.
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Funnily enough - just watching a clip from the One Show about the Beatles in Bangor in 1967 - interviewing some local lads who'd sneaked into a venue and photographed the "boys" as well as Marianne Faithful. Mind you only ever seen GoM once and enjoyed the photography and the bike - a Norton I think ? Crap film though !
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Couple of girls I knew were primary school teachers ( friends of my ex wife ) and shared a flat in Edinburgh. They made a fair wedge on the side doing telephone sex. It sort of fitted with their routine as they only did it on Thursday nights which coincided with homework marking. One of them went on to found a chain of day nurseries, The other married a stockbroker. Good money apparently.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 27 Nov 10 at 18:22
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What?
I never married a stockbroker or started a chain of nurseries, why you looking at me?
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The Italian Job (original 1969 version) - Hard Cheese
