Rhapsodies

Well for this week I was pointed towards a film, the friend who recommended it to me described as “ a caper for idiots. This is a very good description of Poor White Trash. The film features the kind of trash that trash calls trash (as shown in the first five minutes) and gets crazier from there. Pretty much the plot involves people getting into trouble from their own impulsiveness and stupidity than spending the rest of the film trying to get out of these predicaments. At the same time they seem to have no ability to stay out of trouble while solving the first problem and the plot snowballs from there into a story of betrayal, seduction and incompetence.

For my second selection I decided to find another humorous caper film and I sort of found one, though I’m not sure if the creators meant it on purpose. I’d first heard about the Italian Job when I’d read a review panning the remake. Based on that review while I have no intent of watching newer version the original is a whole lot of fun. It opens with death and littering (cars getting smashed in the Italian alps appears to be a bit of a theme throughout the film) and then continues as a fun rollercoaster ride throughout. Micheal Caine plays career criminal Charlie Croker fresh out of prison who’s inherited the plan to steal 4 million in gold bullion in Italy. To do this he needs the support of crimelord Mr. Bridger (Noël Coward) currently imprisoned but runs the jail as his personal fief as well as a hand picked crew of “experts” Should go just fine as long as the Mafia doesn’t kill them first.

All in all, The Italian Job was a whole lot of fun with one of the best car chases on film. As I said, if I had any problem with it was I never sure whether I should be taking this seriously or not. The competence of the crew seemed to go back and fourth as the plot demanded and the demands didn’t seem particularly consistent. However once the heist began I was having too much fun to complain.