Get Carter (1971)

Most of the people my age know Michael Caine as a kind of lovable grandpa, who shows up in silly roles to have fun, but also turns in powerful secondary parts in serious dramas. The man is a legend.

So it was a bit of a shock to see him assaulting women, throwing men off balconies, and brutally murdering dudes with knives, guns and shotgun butts.

I watched Get Carter (1971).

Holy shit.

I. What Is It?

This is the story of Jack Carter (Michael Caine), a London gangster who heads back to his hometown, Newcastle, to unravel the circumstances of his brother's mysterious death, and swears vengeance on those that carried it out.

II. Swingin' 60s Noir

I've watched a lot of noir. I've watched classic film noir, 70s noir, neo noir, foreign noir, and the list goes on. One subgenre that I hadn't ever expected to experience was what I'm calling Swingin' 60s Noir. Get Carter came out in 1971, but it still has the 60s vibe: there's fun swanky music, brazen nudity and unintentionally hilarious sex scenes, wonderful facial hair, sumptuous costumes (LEATHER JACKETS LEATHER JACKETS LEATHER JACKETS!), fast cars, and stiff-armed no-nonsense fight scenes featuring men of questionable martial ability. And yet, the film is also marinated in the hardboiled noir sensibility.

Jack Carter is no policeman, but he plays the investigator never the less. He hunts down clues, interviews suspects and doles out (street) justice.

What is fascinating is how the sixties vibe and the hardboiled attitude juxtapose and enhance each other. Make no mistake: this is no romance, and it is not supposed to be a fun romp. Carter is a brutal killer, at one point remarking, "Remember, I'm the villain in the family." And he lives up to that. He casually beds women, then assaults, and sometimes kills, them. He knifes a man in a backalley. He leaves another woman in a trunk, and watches, stone cold, as the car is forced into the river by his pursuers. He even exits a house buck naked, shotgun in hand, to shoo away men sent to drag him back to London. By the time Jack catches up to his brother's killer, he's running ragged on a Newcastle beach, forces the man to drink an entire bottle of whiskey, just before crushing his skull in with a shotgun. The brutal elements are alleviated by the playful swingin' sixties interludes, which keeps the proceedings from becoming gaggingly violent.

A special shoutout to Roy Budd's jazzy score: it strikes a perfect balance between swanky fun and dangerous attitude. You can hear shades of Budd's score in every movie that hearkens back to this era, especially in the Ocean's 11 movies.

III. Michael Fucking Caine

This is Michael Caine like you've never seen him. He's a stone cold killer and probably a psychopath. But he brings moments of rare emotion to the film, as when he's viewing a porno film featuring his niece. It's the piece of the puzzle that brings all of the disparate threads he's been hunting together, and Caine watches with steely eyes just slightly brimming with tears. Caine brings a stoic badassery to the role, and commands the screen every time he is on it.

Is Carter likable? No, absolutely not. He's a misogynist, a cruel man, and an unrepentant cad. In other words, he's just the kind of guy who would return to his hometown and go on an extended killing spree to avenge the death of his brother. You're not supposed to like him, but Caine tempts you with his charisma, anyway, all the while leaning into Carter's ugliness.

IV. Wonderful Camera Work

For all its ugliness, this film looks gorgeous. There are far away shots that dwarf the characters amid the Newcastle streets, and tight closeups that capture each and every nuanced emotional beat. Wolfgang Suschitzky's photography is wonderfully nimble and serves the film at every turn. He uses framing, like stair rails, extras and windows to wonderful effect, too. Suschitzky credits the film's look to writer/director Mike Hodges influence, noting that Hodges had a wonderful eye for shots and setups.

V. It's Quiet

This is a film that is light on dialogue, and, when the characters do speak, they speak in hushed whispers. The characters often let their actions speak for themselves, and there are multiple long takes without any dialogue. The film shows you the story, relying on dialogue only when necessary. I appreciate that a lot.

V. Takes a While to Get Going

The thing holding this movie back is its slowburn opening act. The film takes a lot of time setting up Jack, getting him back home, and establishing his investigation. I think the film could lose a good 10-15 minutes of its 112 minute runtime and become a leaner, meaner piece of work. If you can sit through the first act, the film becomes thrilling when Carter goes on the run, facing enemies from all sides.

Why You Should See It

- It's a vicious British gangster film, and aficionados of crime cinema owe it a viewing.
- Michael Caine plays wonderfully against type, delivering a brutal performance.

Why You Shouldn't See It

- It is terribly nasty, featuring misogyny, violence against women, and straight-up graphic murder.
- It is a bit overlong.

Miscellany

- The movie was originally rated X, but has subsequently been reduced to R, as crime films that have come in its wake have become increasingly more violent.
- Michael Caine stated that he wanted to play Carter because he wanted to show people that British gangsters are neither stupid nor funny, which he felt they had been relegated to in previous films. Because of his own background growing up in a similar situation, he viewed Carter as a kind of extreme version of what would have happened to him had he gone down a different path.
- This was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films.
- In Hendry, who plays Eric Paice, was originally cast as Carter. When Caine signed on, the two actors became soured on one another. Director, and writer, Mike Hodges used this to his advantage and let the animosity simmer in the scenes the two actors shared in the film.
- The mansion used at Cyril Kinnear's home was formerly owned by a real gangster in the area. He fled the country in 1969, abandoning the house.
- The movie was filmed in 40 days. It went from concept to finished product in 10 months. Jesus.
- In 2000, the British Film Institute named this movie the 16th best British film of all time.
- The sniper who kills Carter at the end of the film can be seen riding the train opposite of Carter earlier in the film. Hodges wanted this to act as a portent of death.
- MGM was upset that Hodges planned to kill Carter in the end, as they wanted to make sequels. Hodges, for his part, asserted that Carter needed to pay for his crimes. The author, Ted Lewis, would go on to write a few sequels himself, after the success of the film, as the character was not definitively killed at the end of the book, Jack's Return Home (1970).