GET CARTER (1971, UK, 112m, 18) *****
Crime, Thriller
dist. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (UK), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / United Artists (USA); pr co. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios; d. Mike Hodges; w. Mike Hodges (based on the novel “Jack’s Return Home” by Ted Lewis); pr. Michael Klinger; ph. Wolfgang Suschitzky (Metrocolor | 1.85:1); m. Roy Budd; ed. John Trumper; pd. Assheton Gorton; ad. Roger King.
cast: Michael Caine (Jack Carter), Ian Hendry (Eric), Britt Ekland (Anna), John Osborne (Kinnear), Tony Beckley (Peter), George Sewell (Con), Geraldine Moffat (Glenda), Dorothy White (Margaret), Rosemarie Dunham (Edna), Petra Markham (Doreen), Alun Armstrong (Keith), Bryan Mosley (Brumby), Glynn Edwards (Albert), Bernard Hepton (Thorpe), Terence Rigby (Gerald Fletcher), John Bindon (Sid Fletcher), Godfrey Quigley (Eddie), Kevin Brennan (Harry), Maxwell Deas (Vicar), Liz McKenzie (Mrs. Brumby).
The definitive British gangster film sees Michael Caine at his very best playing Jack Carter a cold-blooded London gangster, and not the sort of man you want to cross. When Carter’s brother winds up dead, he travels to Newcastle to arrange the funeral. Convinced that his brother was murdered, Carter questions local thug Eric (Hendry), who eventually leads him to kingpin Kinnear (Osborne). From there, Carter carves a bloody trail of revenge through the seedy underbelly of Newcastle in search of his brother’s killer. Full of quotable dialogue and striking images. Hodges directs with flair and Suschitzky’s photography evocatively captures the bleakness of the North-East landscape. Budd’s minimalist score adds to the menace. This is a true cinema classic. Remade as HIT MAN in 1972 and again with Sylvester Stallone in 2000, but neither comes anywhere close to measuring up to the original.
