It's almost unimaginable to anyone who saw and loved that film, or who has loved the Mini automobile since, but it almost didn't appear in "The Italian Job" (1969).

The climactic scene of that classic crime-caper movie involved a lengthy chase through downtown Turin, Italy, with the good guys (well, relatively good) in a fleet of Minis, which were made by British Motor Corporation (BMC) at the time but are now made by BMW.

But incredibly, the producers had to pay for every single Mini used in the film. On the other hand, the Italian car company Fiat offered the producers a free fleet of Fiat 500s (also miniature cars not unlike the Mini), plus a free Ferrari and more perks as well.

"You would think that this had to be a major commercial for a product, but the BMC didn't see it," producer Michael Deeley said in an interview with the Birmingham Mail.

But Deeley had to turn Fiat down for story reasons. "I couldn't do it. The whole point about this movie was it was ‘us' against ‘them'," he said, meaning Britain versus the rest of Europe.

So they went ahead with the Minis, at great expense (though this was a pretty big-budget movie anyway).

The Mini's new manufacturers have proven more supportive. When an "Italian Job" remake was made in 2003, BMW was happy to use it to promote its relaunch of the Mini, which came just a year earlier. The climax of this one featured these modern Minis, and they once again made a big impact. A CNN review of the film said the cars "steal the show" and called for them to receive billing as part of the cast.

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