Little did I realise that there was a deleted ending for The Italian Job, the original one with Michael Caine, but there was and it led the way for a sequel.

Now Caine has revealed what that ending was and what it involved, and if you haven't seen the film then this is serious spoiler material for the original and best The Italian Job.

While talking at the 2008 Visit London Awards through The Daily Express, Michael Caine revealed what the ending of the original The Italian Job would have been if the cut had been different and what they had filmed had been shown.

Now is the time to hide your eyes as I go over the original ending and start talking about what could have been.

The original ending, you'll remember, had the crew driving out of the winding roads in the Italian hills with a bus filled with gold. As the driver got a little too excited he careered around a corner and the bus ended up hanging over the edge with the gold sliding slowly to the back door. It actually ended with the immortal words:

"Hang on, lads; I've got a great idea."

Okay not the most immortal lines from the film, probably the second most. However that's how the film ended with the ultimate cliffhanger.

However Michael Caine revealed there was another ending, they kept filming, and the story was going to go a slightly different route alluding to a sequel.

"In the coach, I crawl up, switch on the engine and stay there for four hours until all the petrol runs out...

...The van then bounces back up so the gang can all get out, but then the gold goes over the cliff...

...There are a load of Corsican Mafia at the bottom watching the whole thing through binoculars...

...They grab the gold, and then the sequel to the film was going to be us chasing after it."

Now that sounds like how a modern film would treat the ending, hang the effect on the audience and get the sequel laid into the ending just in case. However I have to think that what they decided to do was much braver and far better for the film.

I'm happy with what they did, and the ending was superb as it is, the unknown and openness with the main character starting his "I've got a great idea" bit worked well. The deleted ending sounds like it would have just made way for the sequel and left us all in the same place we are with most Hollywood films.