Racist toward Italians?

When the Mafia confront Charlie and the gang in Italy and threaten to kill them, Charlie responds by saying: "There are a quarter of a million Italians in Britain and they'll be made to suffer. Every restaurant, cafe, ice-cream parlor, gambling den and nightclub in London, Liverpool and Glasgow will be smashed."

Considering the light tone that the film had established up to this point, it made me cringe to hear Michael Caine threatening civil violence against an ethnic population. Not one of the finer points of the film, I think.

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