Get Carter (1971)

Carter Got His Gun
When his brother dies under the suspicious circumstances, tough and ruthless London gangster, Jack Carter (Michael Caine) goes to Newcastle to investigate his death. He finds a web of lies, silence, deceit, and danger from the local criminal world. By searching for truth and justice, Carter puts his own life in jeopardy since he becomes dangerous and unwanted intruder who may uncover some dirty secrets that better stay uncovered. Michael Caine plays a cold, unlikable character, a killer who does have one weakness - love for his estranged brother and niece but has difficulties to express his feelings other than through violence. Yes, Jack Carter is unsympathetic character but the people he deals with are so much more despicable that we can't help but root for Carter and wish him to get every one of his enemies. Director Mike Hodges and Michael Caine are best friends and maybe that's why Caine's work in the movie is one of his finest. Bleak and disturbing, tight and gripping, "Get Carter" has achieved a cult status and became a classic of the British Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller genre. It has influenced the directors as different as Guy Ritchie and Neil Jordan.

Mike Hodges invites us into his odd little world
Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971)

There's a scene about halfway through Get Carter where, if you haven't realized it yet, Mike Hodges makes it very plain that this is not your momma's gangster film. Carter (Michael Caine) and his landlady (Rosemarie Dunham) are in the midst of a romp when two of the members of Carter's gang come in and try to convince him to come back to London with them (Carter is in Newcastle investigating his brother's suspicious death). Various silliness ensues that ends with Carter, starkers, running out into the street. All of this, mind you, is accompanied by a kazoo soundtrack, as there's a children's kazoo corps having a parade in the street. Yes, one thinks, this sort of thing, naked gangster included, is absolutely normal in the odd little world Mike Hodges inhabits.

Get Carter is another one of those "they don't make 'em like that anymore" films. In this case, it's because Get Carter set most of the standards in use today. It's the French Connection (coincidentally released the same year) of gangster movies-- there ain't no good guys. Everyone's painted in shades of nastiness. Even Carter, our would-be hero, is an entirely unsympathetic character. One might even go so far as to call him hateful. There is no glorification of anything to be found here, just a bleak, relentless ugliness.

Given such a setup, then, in order to avoid falling into its own trap, Get Carter has to have something to raise the bar in other ways. And it does. Hodges' script is crackerjack through and through, fast and funny and never once letting up on the action. The acting is top-notch, as one expects from Michael Caine, and the lighting and cinematography are perfect for the subject matter-- everything is bleak, ugly, littered.

Loads of fun, and well worth your time. *** ½

Solid Gangster film, but not great
Get Carter, is the classic British Gangster film from 1971 staring a young Michael Cain as the title character. Carter is out to investigate his brother's death in his hometown of Newcastle, which is shown brilliantly as a seedy underworld ripe to bread characters like Carter. After poking around in Newcastle, Carter begins to believe that the car accident that killed his brother was no accident and slowly and methodically works his way through the Newcastle crime syndicate to find the truth. The film boasts strong supporting performances from Alun Armstrong, Britt Ekland, Rosemary Dunham who is great as the suspicious and lustful landlady boarding Carter.

The film is a early blueprint for later British and American Gangster films with its brutal violence and "true life" style. Cain's Jack Carter is amoral, vindictive, and self serving, in other words, the perfect gangster. He is cool as a cucumber in situations where normal people would lose their cool and treats the people and the world around him as his own personal spittoon. Cain does a brilliant job under-acting the role, letting his facial expressions and postures do the talking for the most part. The best example of this is where Carter places a fresh made corpse in a rock car to be ferried off into the ocean and dumped there. Carter, shotgun on shoulder, walks next to the car as it begins it trek, grinning slyly as if he is walking with a lover in sun soaked meadows. Chilling and disturbing.

Get Carter is a good strong film that lags in parts but makes up for it with a flurry of unapologetic violence in the end. Michael Cain made this movie, I think, to show that he was not just another handsome face in the crowd of 1970's leading men and that he had range beyond Alfie. Carter is almost Terminator like once his task is fully laid out for him and he works through it like a bull in a china shop. An enjoyable gangster film with a twist ending that comes from left field.