# The Italian Job: Ebert is an idiot SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587 "2003-05-30T17:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587/41 "2003-06-09T13:07:13Z")
I saw the movie this weekend and love it (especially compared to the third-rate piece of trash that was the second feature). Ebert wasn’t wrong about the weight of the bars. Everyone seems to have forgotten that, after the chase, the bars were loaded onto _another_\* boat. Granted, it didn’t have a high-speed chase, but it didn’t look likely it would carry the weight of the bars, either. > [@](#): > > When they steal the safe in Venice, they use paint to mark the spot, being coaxed by someone–“just a little to the left” sort of stuff. Don’t they know about laser markers? For less than a hundred bucks you can buy a gizmo at Ace Hardware that will mark an exact line wherever you want it. For a few bucks more I bet you could get one that would mark a square. IIRC, that “paint” was some sort of explosive to blow the floor so the safe would fall (there’s no reason to mark the spot otherwise). It had to be applied accurately and they did use some sort of laser system to ensure that. > [@](#): > > Then there’s the way they get the gold out of the truck. Fabric slides. They can control all the traffic lights in LA but they can’t get a fork-lift for pete’s sake? They didn’t have unlimited time. How fast can a forklift go? It’d never reach the armored car in time to unload it. And they can’t load the forklift onto a truck; that won’t fit in the subway. ---
**Author:** ![skaterboarder87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@skaterboarder87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaterboarder87)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587/42 "2003-06-09T14:44:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \* > \*\*BTW, what was up with Spider-Man running around on the streets during the van theft? \*\* That scene you mentioned took place in Hollywood, right in front of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where comic book characters frequently appear. When I was in LA a few weeks back for E3, we saw Batman, Captain America and Spiderman there. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587/43 "2003-06-09T15:37:42Z")
I’ve been more bored at other movies, but this WAS about as cliched a movie as you’re ever going to see. If you have fun and that doesn’t bother you, cool. But there wasn’t a thing in this movie that wasn’t totally telegraphed in the first five minutes Come on. The SECOND Donald Sutherland started talking to his daughter, you knew he was going to die. You knew Steve was going to double-cross them within his first .5 seconds onscreen. You knew Wahlberg and Theron were going to end up together even though they had little chemistry and she had no reason to like him. And on it goes… I agree with **LuckiChaarms** about the ending. They did everything they could to make you hate Edward Norton - to a silly degree, I thought (I was ready to yell “Okay, he’s the bad guy, we get the point!” - and then at the end, it goes “He’s going to be tortured and murdered! Ha-ha! Everybody cheer now!” 😛 > [@](#): > > Maybe he’s too busy writing notes to understand the plot. I think we established that Ebert was right, but what was there to understand? By the way, does it trouble anyone else that the armored car fell so far through the street and the guards were unharmed? ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587/44 "2003-06-09T16:18:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*By the way, does it trouble anyone else that the armored car fell so far through the street and the guards were unharmed? \*\* Not to mention that it landed on its wheels with virtually no debris underneath? What _is_ the distance between the top of the subway tunnel (or maybe they were in a flood control pipe at that point) and the street, anyway? It looked like about 5 feet or so. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-italian-job-ebert-is-an-idiot-spoilers/178587.md?page=2)