Right well just for a change rather than do a review on another American film, here's one on a British film, and this is a classic which goes back to 1971, Get Carter, a crime film starring Michael Caine. And with that let's give this old mucker a look....
Soooooo the usual plot summary: the film starts in London where the main character, Jack Carter (Caine) who is a gangster who works for organised crime bosses Sid and Gerald Fletcher, visits his home city of Newcastle to attend the funeral of his brother, Frank. Carter's real motives of returning to Newcastle are actually to find out how Frank died as he believes the circumstances of his death from an alleged drunk driving accident are somewhat suspect. After attending the funeral, Carter starts to try and find out some answers as he visits a racecourse to seek out an old acquaintence, Albert Swift (Glynn Edwards) who evades him. However Carter at the racecourse bumps into another old acquiantence, Eric Paice (Ian Hendry) who works as a chauffer but he refuses to tell Carter whom he works for. Carter then follows Eric to a country house, which belongs to a crime boss, Cyril Kinnear (John Osbourne) where he burst in on Kinnear while he plays poker. Carter however learns little and he leaves only to be warned by Eric not to cause trouble between Kinnear and the Fletchers.
Back in town at the bedsit where Jack is staying he is confronted by some of the Fletchers men who want Jack to go home and stop snooping about, however Jack fights them off and chases one of them, Thorpe (Bernard Hepton) and captures him. Jack takes Thorpe back to his bedsit room, along with one of Frank's acquaintenaces, Keith (Alun Armstrong) who has been helping him keep tabs on anyone looking for him. Jack then intimidates Thorpe into telling him who sent him and Thorpe gives the name "Brumby" whom Jacks knows as a businessman, Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosley). Jack pays Brumby a visit but he discovers that Brumby knows nothing about him, so Jack leaves, believing he was set up. On returning to the bedsit Jack, Edna (Rosemarie Dunham) the landlord, tells Jack the gangsters came back and took away Keith, and in attempt to keep Edna quiet, he seduces her and they spend the night together. The next morning, two of Jack's associates from London turn up who have been ordered to take him back, but Jack forces them out of the bedsit by pointing a shotgun at them. Jack then meets up with his brother Frank's mistress, Margaret (Dorothy White) but he refuses to believe what she has to say about Frank, and at that point the two henchmen turn up again, but Jack evades him. Jack then pays a visit to Keith, who has been beaten up by the London gangsters, and Jack then pays him some money in compensation, but Keith is furious and as Jack leaves, he shouts at him how Frank warned him about Jack's reputation and that he even had an affair with Frank's wife. As the gangsters catch up with Frank again, he manages to evade them again as he is picked up by a mysterious woman named Glenda (Geraldine Moffatt) whom he met at Kinnear's place. Glenda takes Jack to meet Brumby who tells him that Kinnear was apparently behind his brother's death and he offers Jack £5,000 to kill Kinnear, who is looking to take over Brumby's business, but Jack refuses and walks out. On the way Glenda picks up Jack and they head back to her flat where they have sex.
While at Glenda's flat, Jack watches a pornographic film, which includes Margaret, Albert, Glenda and a young girl named Doreen (Petra Markham) who earlier in the film was revealed to be Jack's niece, this leaves Jack saddened and angry. Jack then out of fury nearly drowns Glenda while she has a bath and he asks if she knows who the girl was and he reveals to her that the girl was his brother's daughter. Jack then forces Glenda into the boot of her car and drives off toward a ferry port where he parks the car and travels over the river to find Albert. Jack then finds Albert at a bookies and he questions him and Albert tells Jack that he told Brumby that Doreen was Frank's daughter. Brumby then showed Frank the film which incited him to call the police on Kinnear, and as a result in order to keep Frank quiet, Kinnear sent his men to kill him, which included Eric, after this Jack kills Albert by stabbing him in the chest. Jack is then attacked by the London gangsters, including Eric who has informed Gerald Fletcher of Jack's affair with his girlfriend, Anna (Brit Erkland). Jack kills one of the gangsters, while the others push the car with Glenda still in the boot, into the water and then escape. Jack then goes back to confront Brumby and in a fit of rage he beats him and then pushes him off the multi-storey car park to his death below. After this Jack sets about to complete his revenge by settling the scores with everyone who was involved, which soon leads the film into its climax...
While it wasn't too well received on its release, which was in part due to poor promotion at a time which saw the British film industry in a state of a decline, Get Carter since has become a real classic and deservedly so as it stands as one of the best British crime thrillers in modern cinema. And while the story is nothing too original in itself, its execution is superb and the film has its share of memorable scenes. The film also was a real development from previous British crime movies in that attempted to portray a more gritty and realistic depcition of the British crimeworld and of the onscreen violence. Hodges also researched into the Newcastle crime scene of the time and he also used several hundred extras, all of whom were real locals from the city itself, which helped give the film a very naturalistic feel.
As for the performances the cast are all great here, and Michael Caine is superb in his role as the vengeful gangster Carter, who suspects foul play over his brother's death and is determined to find out what really happened. And Caine plays Carter with a dry sardonic wit as well as a somewhat cruel indifference towards the violence he commits and even sees in the film, such as in the scene where the car with Glenda in it is drowned, as well as the murders he carries out against Brumby and Margaret. Caine also has some great dialogue in the film as well and there many examples, such as the scene where he first meets Eric at the racecourse and he takes off Eric's glasses and he says "You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow!". Also in the scene where Jack pays a visit to Cliff Brumby's house, Brumby demands Jack to tell him who sent him and Jack replies "You're a big man, but you're out of shape. With me its a full time job. Now behave yourself!" and he proceeds to punch and slap Brumby who tries to swing at him. Caine also has an amusing moment where he seduces Edna the landlord to keep her quiet about the London gangsters paying him a visit at her bedsit, and she asks how he knows she won't call the police and he says "Because I know you wear purple underwear".
Another memorable scene is where two of the London gangsters enter Jack's bedsit room while he is having sex with Edna, the landlord, and he then stark naked, grabs his shotgun and forces them to leave the bedsit as he says "Now then, take me back to London!". In this scene there is also an amusing old fashioned sign hanging over the bed Jack and Edna are sleeping in which says "What would Jesus say?". And later as he is about to leave in his car, Jack says to Enda "I'm going to sit in the car and whistle "Rule Britannia!" and Edna asks him will he come back and he says "How can I stay away?!" as he drives off. Another great moment in Caine's performance comes when he watches the porno film, which includes his niece, Doreen, and he sits tearfully for a moment before he angrily get's up and confronts Glenda and he nearly drowns her in the bath. And in the scene when he nears the bathroom he asks Glenda if his brother knew about the film, and she doesn't appear to know what he's talking about then storms into the bathroom yelling "YOU LYING BITCH!!!" as he nearly drowns her. And in the scene Glenda gasps for breath as Jack pulls her up and she tells him she only knows the girl's first name and Jack says "Well her last name is Carter. That's MY name! And her father was my brother and he was murdered last Sunday!". This is followed by another good scene where Jack meets with his old acquaintence Albert Swift, who tells him everything, and as Jack pulls out a switchblade knife, Albert begs with Jack not to kill him and he says "I didn't kill him!" just before Jack stabs him and shouts "I KNOW you didn't kill him! I KNOW!!".
As for the other performances, Ian Hendry is excellent as the gangster Eric Paice, who works for the crimeboss Cyril Kinnear. Hendry has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Eric confronts Jack at the ferry port and he yells at Jack "You're bloody finished, Jack! I've bloody finish you!" and Jack replies "Not till I'm dead, Eric!". And Eric goes on "You've still got your sense of humour! I told Gerald about Anna! He didn't believe me at first, then Peter told him! But do you still think you'll fancy her when Gerald's through with her face and that?!" and as his men push Glenda's car into the water he says to him "Jack! Your car needs a wash!". Hendry unfortunately later died in 1984, as he struggled with alcoholism for most of his adult life. John Osbourne is also very good in his role as the crime boss, Cryil Kinnear, and his main scene is really good where he plays poker just as Jack bursts into the room, and Kinnear with a dry cynical wit says to Jack "You see how it is, Jack, you just can't get the material!" and he proceeds to taunt one of his players during the game, who ends up losing.
Alun Armstrong also makes his screen debut as Keith, one of Frank's acquiantences and he delivers an excellent performance. Keith's character however soon falls foul of Jack's gangster associates who beat him up, and Jack later pays him a visit at Keith's flat, as Keith lies flat out on his bed, battered and bruised. In the scene Jack denies that he knew the gangsters would come back and he gives him some money to compensate and as Jack leaves, Keith yells "Frank always said you were a shit and he were right! You even screwed his wife didn't you?! The poor bastard didn't even know if the kid was his!!". Geraldine Moffat is also excellent in her role as the seductive Glenda, who Jack ends up having sex with and later its revealed she was in the porno film with Doreen. Moffat's best moment comes, not when she's shagging Michael (although you do get a good view of her! ;)) but when she picks him up in the car and she says "I bet you didn't know you had a fairy God mother did you?!" and she drives him real fast up into a multi-story car park to meet Brumby. Tony Beckley and George Sewell are also both excellent in their roles as the two London gangsters who arrive to try and take Jack back to London and they share a good scene when Jack, naked, turfs them out of the bedsit, by pointing a shotgun at them. And in the scene Sewell says to Caine, "Put it away Jack, you know its not loaded" and Beckley laughs and says "The gun he means!". Glynn Edwards (who was best known for his work in the TV show Minder) is very good in his role as the shifty Albert, who was also in the porno film involving Doreen and his scene with Caine when Jack questions then kills Albert is his best moment. And last but far from least is Britt Ekland as Jack's girlfriend, Anna, who is the wife of one of the Fletchers. Ekland doesn't appear much in the film but she certainly makes a memorable impression in her main scene where she indulges in some kinky phone sex with Jack (very nice!) which is interrupted by her husband, Gerald, who asks her "What's the matter you got gut trouble or something??". And Anna says "No, darling, just doing my exercises" and then quietly says goodbye to Jack, who meanwhile is sitting in the bedsit, with Edna moving back and forth in her rocking chair throughout the scene.
Getting to the director, Mike Hodges does a great job here with Get Carter and throughout he keeps the film moving well and it rarely ever drags. Hodges also makes great use of many of the locations in Newcastle with the most memorable being the Trinity square car park, which was used in the scene where Jack meets with Brumby and he later kills Brumby there as well. The car park itself has since being demolished back in 2010. Hodges also perfectly captures the grimy and realistic tone of the period and the setting, as well as taking a more realistic view of the British criminal underworld. The film also has a unique and very memorable score by Roy Budd and the title theme to this day is instantly recognisible.
As for flaws, well for once there aren't really any for me to mention so I might as well not devote an entire paragraph to try and find some. Although what I will say is the film was later remade in the US with Sylvester Stallone in the lead role, with Mickey Rourke and Miranda Richardson, and unfortunately it was absolutely dire and it fits into that growing bin of pointless remakes of classic films, which should always be left alone.
So that's it for my look at Get Carter which is still one of the great British crime films of the last 40 years or so and if you haven't seen it for a while, or ever seen it for that matter, give it a watch.
And with that I shall leave yee there.
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