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April 10, 2026
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"[after an attempt at blowing a van open goes wrong] You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"
"[when Camp Freddie accosts him] You wouldn't hit a man with no trousers on, would you?"
"[just before the operation] Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road."
"[after introducing everybody and laying out the plan] It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."
"[when the bus is hanging over a cliff and the gold is sliding away; also the film's last lines] Hang on a minute, lads; I've got a great idea."
"[at a funeral, giving a possible coded message to the thieves] We've come here to pay our respects to Great Aunt Nellie. She brought us up properly and taught us loyalty. Now I want you to remember that during these next few days. I also want you to remember that if you don't come back with the goods, Nellie here will turn in her grave, and, likely as not, jump right out of it and kick your teeth in."
"[on Roger Beckerman's final job, and Charlie's plan to continue it] Well, I hope he likes spaghetti. They serve it four times a day in the Italian prisons."
"Beckerman's done his homework very well. The getaway is possible but not easy. For a start, the attack has to be made in this square, and it must be completed inside of three minutes."
"If the police can get a car onto that bridge before we've got across it, we're done for, but it's a gamble we've got to take. But since the bridge will be blocked by traffic, the only possible way out is across the weir, which runs along this side of the bridge. I've got only one comment to make about that, Mr Bridger: good luck!"
"Introducing the plans for a new business venture: "The Italian Job.""
"Michael Caine - Charlie Croker"
"Noël Coward - Mr. Bridger"
"Benny Hill - Professor Simon Peach"
"Raf Vallone - Altabani"
"Tony Beckley - Camp Freddie"
"Rossano Brazzi - Beckerman"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.