[ 50 Years of The Italian Job ]
92 June 2019 MiniWorld
f***ing useless. I couldn’t believe it.’”
Later, when the fi lm was in pre-
production at Paramount, producer
Michael Deeley re-approached BMC
in the hope he could convince them
to see the commercial value of being
involved in the fi lm. “The Italian Job
was a project tailor-made to make a
movie star of the Mini. I fully presumed
British Motor Corporation would be
thrilled that a Paramount picture, to be
shown around the globe, was ready to
o er such a wealth of free advertising:
the dollar value of same would have
been a phenomenal sum. By the
same token, I had presumed that the
English car giant would want to assist
our production in every way possible.
Astonishingly, BMC could not have
cared less. Many of those who worked
on the picture felt that BMC’s attitude
was a sad refl ection of the British car
industry’s waning marketing skills.”
David Salamone served a dual
purpose on the fi lm. He played Dominic,
the driver of the red Mini, but his
company, Blenheim Motors, prepared
all the vehicles needed for the movie.
Charlie Croker, played
by Michael Caine, leads
the gang into action.
“There is absolutely no question, BMC
were not really interested and could
not see the marketing value. However,
they did lend us six brand new Minis.
Michael Deeley went to Longbridge
and bullied them into it.” Deeley was
astounded at how di cult the deal was
and, above all, how conservative they
were with the cars. In the making of
a movie, often multiples of the same
car are needed to complete one action
sequence. The exact detail of BMC’s
assistance is unclear. Those involved all
remember the story slightly di erently.