A strong argument can be made that 1971’s Get Carter is the best British gangster movie ever made. And even though it wasn’t nearly as revered at the time of release, many critics and historians have claimed that very thing. This excellent new 4K transfer only strengthens that argument…at least aesthetically.
And aesthetics are a big deal here. If it didn’t look and sound like writer-director Mike Hodges rolled over a boulder to examine what thrived in the dark beneath it, Get Carter wouldn’t have the same impact. In that sense, the film conveys the same feeling we get from watching Taxi Driver, where being immersed in its drab & gritty setting is a major part of what makes it effective.
Essentially a complex tale of revenge, Michael Caine is Jack Carter, a London mob enforcer who returns to his hometown of Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother, Frank, supposedly while driving drunk. While Carter’s convinced he was murdered, his boss warns him not to step on the toes of other gangsters. He does, of course, once it turns out that the biggest of them, Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne), has a motive for murder (related to the rape and exploitation of Frank’s teenage daughter, Doreen).
"No talking. You're in 'time out'."
Caine’s role in Get Carter is unlike anything else he’d done at the time (or since, really), playing an unlikeable, irredeemable and cold-blooded killer whose tough exterior is almost impenetrable (save for a solitary moment when he sees Doreen forced to appear in a porno film). He’s also banging his boss’ wife, Anna (though that aspect of the story smacks of a an excuse to gratuitously show Britt Eklund masturbating). While we don’t necessarily like Carter, his antagonists are worse. And since there are a lot of ‘em, the film is chock-full of violent, satisfying payback. Best of all, Caine nails the part.
Still, it’s sort of understandable why Get Carter was underwhelmingly received back in the day. To be honest, I didn’t care for it much when I first watched it, either. But it’s one of those movies that gets better the more you see it, when you don’t go in with preconceived narrative expectations and appreciate what the filmmakers are trying to do, which is toss the audience into an ugly world filled with terrible people (including its protagonist). And as gangster movies go, it’s the goddamn Godfather compared to the pointless Stallone remake.
EXTRA KIBBLES
4K & BLU-RAY COPIES
FEATURETTES - Mike Hodges in Conversation is an enjoyable Q&A with the director before a live audience; In The Sound of Roy Budd, music analyst Jonny Trunk discusses the score; Don’t Trust Boys is an interview with actor Petra Markham, who plays Carter’s 16-year old niece; Klinger on Klinger features the son of producer producer Michael Klinger.
2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By actor Michael Caine, director Mike Hodges and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky; 2) By critics Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw.
INTRODUCTION BY MICHAEL CAINE - From 2022.
ORIGINAL & RE-RELEASE TRAILERS
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