Get Carter

Get Carter is a rough tough no nonsense British gangster flick.

Michael Caine plays Jack Carter who seems to have been in London so long. He has lost all traces of his Geordie accent.

Carter travels back to Newcastle on the train to attend his brother Frank's supposedly accidental death. Carter is not convinced that his death was an accident and makes a few enquiries.

Carter also plans to go to South America with his mistress and asks his niece Doreen to join him there. When some henchmen arrive late at night trying to force Carter to get the next train back to London. It confirms that his brother's death was murder.

Carter's search takes him to an underworld gangster called Kinnear who seemed to have coerced Doreen to take part in a pornographic film. Carter's brother found out about it. It also leaves Carter distraught as it is alleged that he might be Doreen's real father.

Michael Caine has always said that he was never happy with the portrayal of British gangster in movies. They are shown to be stupid or funny when they are actually brutal.

He shows Jack Carter brooding with a sense of quiet menace. Almost amoral with businesslike violence and he's always ready for an opportunity for some casual sex.

Director Mike Hodges has a documentary type setting but has gone for a hard boiled detective approach as Carter investigates. The story does get complex as it deals with people plotting against each other and betrayal.

Carter's mistress is the girlfriend of his London crime boss. The movie is set in a working class part of Newcastle which itself is going through change. There is a character called Brumby who is involved in the renewal of the city.

Hodges also adds some nice lurid touches to the grittiness. When Carter telephones his mistress in London from Newcastle for some phone sex. The landlady of the boarding house rocks back and fro in her rocking chair as she listens on. There is also some humour. When Brumby suddenly disappears and the police arrive. One of the architects that Brumby had a meeting with notes that they are unlikely to be paid.

Get Carter was a movie that was always shown on television late at night usually in an edited version. It was only from the 1990s onwards it started to acquire a cult reputation. It was cited as an influence by American directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh.