Upon leaving jail, petty criminal Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) inherits a carefully planned $4,000,000 gold robbery in Italy. With the original mastermind of the plan murdered, Croker needs financial backing and finds it in Mr Bridger (Noel Coward in his last screen role), a quintessential English crime boss still incarcerated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. Bridger supplies Charlie with his own gang of bank robbers, getaway drivers and computer whizz-kids, and helps him plan the heist (during the practice runs Caine utters the infamous phrase 'you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off'), which results in the world's biggest traffic jam. The gang's getaway in red, white and blue minis is accompanied by the tune 'Getta Bloomin Move On' (aka 'Self Preservation Society') written by Quincy Jones and George Martin.