Charlie Croker

Charlie Croker is the main protagonist of 1969 British caper film The Italian Job and its 2003 American remake. He was originally portrayed by ; in 2003, he was portrayed by .
==History (2003) ==
According to Croker, he has been a thief since he was very young or as he puts it, "Since he had baby teeth". At some point however, he was taken under the wing of a much older thief by the name of John Bridger. Since then he and his group consisting of Lyle "Napster", Handsome Rob, Left Ear and Steve were all involved in various thefts.
== The Italian Job (1969)==
After serving two years in prison in London (presumably for theft), Charlie is released, saying goodbye to cellmate Mr. Bridger, and reunites with his girlfriend, Lorna, who has stolen the Pakistani Ambassador's car to extract him. She drives him to the various appointments she arranged for him, with his tailor and his shirtmaker.
Following these appointments, Charlie also retrieves his convertible Aston Martin DB5 from a parking garage, paying its attendant £200 under the pretense of having won it as a bounty for shooting tigers in India. He drives to the Royal Lancaster Hotel, where, after a brief meeting with Lorna and a few other ladies, Charlie proceeds to Room 1666, where he meets the widow of his friend Roger Beckerman, who informs him that her husband was killed in a deliberate car crash in the Alps. She gives him a bag containing Roger's plans.
Taking the plans with him, Charlie secretly rides a milk van back to his home, where he watches a film with Roger, containing instructions for a robbery in Turin, Italy. The Fiat armored convoy is set to leave Turin Airport, carrying $4 million in gold, as a down payment to build a Fiat car factory in China, and to steal the gold, Charlie must infiltrate the Turin Traffic Control Center to cause a traffic jam big enough to paralyze the whole city, enabling him to ambush the convoy, and then escape to Geneva to secure the money in a bank afterwards.
Charlie breaks into the prison he was held in to visit Mr. Bridger, in order to convince him to fund the scheme. Bridger initially retaliates by sending three of his men, including "Camp" Freddie, to attack him, Bridger agrees to finance the scheme after learning of Italy's deal with China, and even convinces Charlie to recruit Professor Simon Peach, the country's top computer expert.
Charlie gathers his crew, including Lorna, Peach, Freddie, deputy Bill Bailey, getaway drivers Chris, Tony and Dominic, emergency drivers Roger and Dave, coach driver "Big" William, and fellow thieves Brigshaw, Arthur, Rozzer, Coco, Yellow and Frank, for the job. After preparations, Bridger meets Charlie under the pretense of attending a funeral, and informs him that the Italian Mafia is aware of the scheme, they killed Roger for it, and he has to succeed in the heist to survive.
After the crew travels to Italy, Charlie, Peach, Lorna, Dave and Roger travel in three emergency cars (two Jaguars and Charlie's Aston) through the Alps, but find the mafia, led by Altabani, waiting for them on the same road where Roger was killed. Altabani has his men destroy the cars and attempts to order them to kill Charlie and his crew, but Charlie warns them that if they are killed, Bridger will retaliate by inflicting suffering upon the Italian community in Britain. Altabani instead orders them to return to England and leaves with his men, but the group nevertheless continues with the plan. Charlie sneaks to the traffic control center that night and throws a bicycle into the building's power supply, causing a blackout that allows Peach, Arthur and William to sneak inside and replace one of its magnetic tape data storage reels.
The next day, Charlie puts Lorna on a plane to Geneva, deeming her compromised, and heads to a hideout for last preparations. Following this, the crew splits up, with Charlie, Arthur, Rozzer, Coco, Yellow and Frank in one vehicle.
They arrive in Turin, while Brigshaw uses radio jammers to disable all the CCTV cameras overlooking the convoy's route. The fake tape causes the city's traffic lights to go haywire, resulting in the traffic jam. Eventually, the convoy reaches Charlie's road, and his team ambushes the convoy, overpowering the police and military personnel guarding the gold, and pull it into the Museo Egizio. They secure the building, transfer the gold to three getaway Mini Coopers, and escape, with Charlie in Dominic's Mini, before the police break inside and find the gold missing. The Minis, pursued by police cars and motorbikes, drive through the city's various shopping arcades stairs, pedestrian streets, rooftops and sewers, following a route set by Beckerman and skillfully evading most police vehicles, while the rest of the crew escape disguised as football fans.
Approaching the Alps, the drivers drive the Minis into William's coach without the coach stopping, and then Charlie and the drivers unload the gold. Driving through the Alps, they dispose of the Minis by throwing them down the mountain. Following this, they reunite with the rest of the crew.
As the coach continues through the Alps, the gang celebrates their success, but the coach suddenly loses control and teeters over a cliff, with the gold balancing over the edg. As Charlie attempts to retrieve the gold to save the crew, it slips further. Charlie eventually says "Hang on a minute, lads, I've got a great idea."
==The Italian Job (2003)==
Meeting up with Bridger in Venice, Italy, Charlie and the others arrive in an attempt to steal a safe containing $35,000,000 dollars in Italian gold bullion stolen by Italian gangsters some time ago. Once in the garage of their base, Left Ear and Steve arrive on scene and measure out where they'll need to paint and charge explosives. Once they paint and arm the explosives, they detonate them and the safe falls into the water. 
The boat they arrive in exits with a decoy safe, causing the gangsters to go after them in a hot pursuit. Little do they know is that the real safe is several feet below the water, leading to Left Ear, John and Charlie to crack the safe, take the gold and leave before the police arrive. Succeeding in such a task, they all head to the Alps on the border where they celebrate. As they drive through the Austrian Alps, Steve betrays them, has some armed gangsters steal the gold, shoots Bridger and leaves the others for dead when Handsome Rob drives them into a nearby lake. 
A year later, Charlie and his crew are alive and well, as well as ready to dish out some payback. They locate Steve, who has since changed his last name to Frazelli and is living in the lap of luxury in Los Angeles. He also manages to get the help of his ex-girlfriend, John's daughter Stella, to help them in their revenge against Steve. Charlie after watching Steve's movements, realizes that they can knock out Steve's cabling in order to get a good look at the safe with the gold. Stella goes undercover as a repair woman and helps the crew get what they need. 
They attempt to carry out their initial plan, but are forced to postpone it when they discover Steve's neighbours throwing a party, as their explosives would draw too much attention. Stella goes on a pre-planned date with Steve to buy them another chance, but she accidentally gives away her own identity when she uses a phrase her father used. To protect her, the group reveals to Steve that they are not dead and that the game is on. Steve pretends he still has the upper hand, but secretly plans to head Mexico City with the gold. Charlie, informed by Lyle of this, devises a new plan to steal the gold before it reaches the airport; to this end, he contacts with his friends Skinny Pete and Wrench in order to secure some supplies, as well as making a deal with Mashkov, a Ukrainian mobster, when Pete informs him that Mashkov is looking for his cousin Yehven's killer who, initially unknown to them, is Steve. 
Charlie also plans like he did back in Italy a year prior. He waits with Stella, Handsome Rob and Left Ear, in three modified Mini Coopers. Handsome Rob and Left Ear, in their mini, wait outside Steve's mansion, where they find that Steve has pulled in three armored trucks. After they leave, Napster, running the show from Union Station, determines which truck carries the gold and hacks into the city's traffic system, causing a massive traffic jam that eventually traps said truck in a pre-planned spot. After Charlie, Stella, Handsome Rob and Left Ear head into the subway tunnels below the road, Wrench detonates explosives, causing the truck to fall through the road and into the tunnel. Stella discovers that Steve has also stored the gold in a different safe to the one in his mansion, but manages to crack it, and they escape with the gold, now amounting to $27,000,000. This leads into an intense chase with 2 motorcycle guards and Steve who is co-piloting a private helicopter. Handsome Rob and Left Ear disable the guards, and Charlie breaks away from the team and disables Steve's helicopter, then reunites with them at Union Station. An enraged Steve catches up to them and demands the gold back at gunpoint, but Mashkov arrives and captures him. Charlie also gives Mashkov a share of the gold before leaving on a train to New Orleans. 
Charlie and the others celebrate in the train's bar and toast in honor of their late friend John Bridger. They eventually split up, using the gold for their own desires, and Charlie takes his mentor's advice and finds someone whom he will hold onto forever, Stella; their first holiday together is in Venice.
==Abilities==
Being a thief, Charlie is known to have abilities that make him unique and successful at what he does.
*Intelligence: Charlie's intelligence has been shown to be extraordinarily complex. His knowledge makes him one of the best thieves in the business. Since he was just a kid possibly about 4 or 5, Charlie was shown to have pick pocketed from bullies and others bigger than him. Since then, his intelligence grew and his plans got more sophisticated. Unlike Steve and Mashkov, who use armed force to get what they want, Charlie prefers to use his brain instead of his brawn; furthermore, he seems to have a moral code that limits him to stealing money from those who used armed force to steal the same money from the weak.
**Strategist: Strategy is a major skill that Charlie has mastered. During his job in Italy, he planned their heist so perfectly that his crew never needed to carry a gun. As John put it "He planned it down to a T" and that nobody else could have pulled such a feat off. Later on, Charlie's strategy came into play when he stole back the remaining gold taken by Steve a year prior. When behind the wheel of his Mini Cooper, Charlie's strategy never ceased to amaze and that was seen when he avoided injury from the tail rotor of Steve's helicopter, which damaged his car but not him.
*Expert Driver: Shown later on, Charlie was shown to be an expert driver when it comes to high speeds. He is just as good as Stella and Handsome Rob.
Category:Male
Category:Thieves
Category:Chaotic Good
Category:Genius
Category:Strategists
Category:Live Action Heroes
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Betrayed
Category:Criminals
Category:In Love