Get Carter (1971)

When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident, London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate.

Director:

Mike Hodges

Writers:

Mike Hodges (screenplay), Ted Lewis (novel)

Stars:

Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Caine	...	Jack Carter
Ian Hendry	...	Eric Paice
Britt Ekland	...	Anna
John Osborne	...	Cyril Kinnear
Tony Beckley	...	Peter the Dutchman
George Sewell	...	Con McCarty
Geraldine Moffat	...	Glenda (as Geraldine Moffatt)
Dorothy White	...	Margaret
Rosemarie Dunham	...	Edna
Petra Markham	...	Doreen Carter
Alun Armstrong	...	Keith
Bryan Mosley	...	Cliff Brumby
Glynn Edwards	...	Albert Swift
Bernard Hepton	...	Thorpe
Terence Rigby	...	Gerald Fletcher

Storyline

A vicious London gangster, Jack Carter, travels to Newcastle for his brother's funeral. He begins to suspect that his brother's death was not an accident and sets out to follow a complex trail of lies, deceit, cover-ups and backhanders through Newcastle's underworld, leading, he hopes, to the man who ordered his brother killed. Because of his ruthlessness, Carter exhibits all the unstopability of the cyborg in The Terminator (1984), or Walker in Point Blank (1967), and he and the other characters in this movie are prone to sudden, brutal acts of violence.

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Plot Keywords:

gangster | newcastle upon tyne | death of brother | hitman | revenge | 

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Taglines:

The original gangster is back.

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jack rechnet ab

Filming Locations:

Blackhall Beach, County Durham, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 103 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Attempts to demolish the multi-story car park, used several times as a meeting place, were met with protests. This movie made it one of the few famous buildings in the Gateshead, the borough across the river from Newcastle.

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Goofs

On more than one occasion but especially as she leaves the bingo hall to walk home, Margaret's shoes keep changing. They vary between beige mules and black patent sling-backs.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gerald Fletcher: Bare ass naked with his socks still on?
Sid Fletcher: Yeah, they do it like that - up North.
Gerald Fletcher: What for? For protective purposes?

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema release was cut to get an "X" rating by the BBFC with the stabbing of Albert edited to remove some shots of the knife. Director Mike Hodges later admitted that "The less you see of the knife, the more effective the scene is". The cuts were waived in 1993.

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Connections

Referenced in Gold and Silver and Sunshine: The Making of Dig Out Your Soul (2008)

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Soundtracks

Something On My Mind
Music by Roy Budd
Lyrics by Jack Fishman

User Reviews

One Of The Best British Films Ever Made

Michael Caine has often said that GET CARTER was the first gangster movie not to portray gangsters as either being stupid or funny . He`s right , but he could also have added that this was probably the first film not to show gangsters as being sexy in anyway . Sure Glenda , Magaret etc might be physically attractive but sexy ? I don`t think so . And the men aren`t any less unattractive , almost all of them are cowardly two faced weasels or violent thugs and often these character traits overlap.

Director Mike Hodges has made a bleak , nihilistic classic film . He isn`t flashy unlike present day film makers associated with gangster flicks but that`s not a criticism . I love the way Hodges makes use of the locations in showing the North East of England as a cold , austere windswept urban area of high rise council estates and red brick terraced houses with outside toilets . There is a train of thought that by showing the audience all this it dates the film but it`s also true that it reminds us that living standards are also different today . No one takes a phone call in the pub because everyone has a mobile phone nowadays , the internet and videos have replaced slide shows and silent 8mm as the medium for porn , and it`s now illegal to dump the slag from coal mining into the sea because of EU regulations

GET CARTER also has some really great dialogue which I could sit here all day quoting . But I won`t bother except to say my favourite line is when Carter jumps out of bed naked and holds a gun on Con and Peter

Con : Put it away jack you know you won`t use it

Peter : The gun he`s talking about

classic dialogue from a classic film