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Hang on lads, I’ve got a great solution
Updated 12:35pm on 28 Nov 2008Sir Michael Caine has solved the cliffhanger at the end of his film The Italian Job, in which a robbers' getaway coach packed with gold bars teeters over a precipice.
London pride: Caine with his award last night
Caine's character Charlie Croker utters the immortal last line: “Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea.”
Last month, as part of the film's 40th anniversary celebrations next year, the Royal Society of Chemistry invited competition entrants to suggest how the gang might have unloaded the gold without being killed. Speaking at last night's Visit London Awards, where he was voted favourite Londoner, the 75-year-old actor said the film's producers had devised an ending, but decided to not use it.
He said: “I crawl up the coach, switch on the engine, stay there for four hours until the petrol runs out. The van bounces back up so we can all get out, but the gold goes over. The Mafia are at the bottom. They grab the gold.”
