The Italian Job OST

The ultimate heist movie, The Italian Job was everything the British wanted to be in the late sixties: full of street-savvy wit and push-your-luck cheek; astoundingly sharp-dressed in an era of longhaired hippie unwashedness; nation-conqueringly sexy; composed and smirking with hubris in the face of sure disaster. And of course, it had the quintessential mould-breaking blackguard in the redoubtable Michael Caine.

Bizarrely, The Italian Job was scored by none other than Quincy Jones, the maverick producer who went on to invent Michael Jackson in the early eighties. Not a lot of people know that. As the man said.

So, there’s smoochy lounge classic ‘On Days Like These’‚ both instrumental and crooned-in-Italian versions, which will have you swooning without discrimination into the arms of the nearest doe-eyed European sexpot; and there’s the wistful stroll of ‘Something’s Cookin’‚ worthy of inclusion on any John Barry soundtrack. As well, ‘It’s Caper Time’ and its sister track ‘Getta Bloomin‚ Move On! (The Self-Preservation Society)’‚ complete with Caine’s football-anthem caterwauling, are groovy party anthems for aspirational swinger-geezers everywhere. Those apart, this is, like many soundtracks, a collection of incidental music, a bit useless without the incidents.

’Ang on lads, I’ve got a great idea. Get the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack instead.