Get Carter (1971)Home is where the bodies are buried. Get Carter (1971) is the story of Jack Carter (Michael Caine), a London gangster who comes home to Newcastle to bury his brother, Frank, who died ostensibly after a drunk driving accident. Jack's real motive in returning to the city of his youth is to discover the truth of what happened to his brother, and why. Jack's investigation has him ruffling the feathers of the local crime syndicate, and picking up clues that lead him to the real reason his sibling was killed. When Carter discovers the truth, no force in Heaven or on Earth will stand in the way of his wrath.
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Get Carter is a suspenseful action film which plays out like the detective stories Carter reads on his long train ride north to Newcastle. Carter's investigation is similar those conducted by the characters Humphrey Bogart played in films like The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, and Carter often acts as a sardonic and cynical tough guy--the sharp, cool bloke who can quip with a cutting barb or throw a knockout punch when needed. (Actor Michael Caine took his stage name from The Caine Mutiny, which featured his screen idol, Humphrey Bogart.) Carter is no chivalrous protagonist, but a hard-boiled "anti-hero". Carter is a career criminal, and when he goes on a rampage during the last act of Get Carter, is also a cold-blooded killer and avenger. He sports a drug habit, evidenced by the little black pills he secrets away in his pocket. Carter is also quite the lothario, getting into sexual encounters with various women without any apparent romantic interest, like the lovely Anna (Britt Ekland), who happens to be the mistress of his boss in London. Carter knows that his brother was the polar opposite of him, and this what leads him to suspect that his brother's death was foul play. Frank had a girlfriend, Margaret (Dorothy White), and a daughter, Doreen (Petra Markham), whom he loved very much; from what Carter understood, his brother's life was no worse than anyone else's. Carter's boss, Sid Fletcher (John Bindon), tries to deter him from poking his nose into this business before he embarks for Newcastle; it is as though everyone but the hard-edged Carter knows what really happened. The opening credits of Get Carter depicts Carter riding along the rails to a destination that is inevitable, --but Carter makes this journey through these dark passages by choice. This descent is symbolic of the fury in his soul; he knows that he will find himself drawn into a deadly conspiracy that will leave a trail of bodies in his wake. Carter tells an old colleague and rival, Eric Paice (Ian Hendry), that he was considered the "villain" of the family. Keith (Alun Armstrong), a mutual friend who attended the funeral, becomes furious at Carter for letting him get beaten up while Carter chased a lead in the conspiracy, and intimates that Frank wasn't sure that Doreen wasn't Carter's daughter, since Carter had been sleeping with Frank's wife. These moments suggest that there was no love lost between Carter and Frank, but Carter is convinced that the reason Frank was killed was to see if it meant that someone could get at him. This makes his quest for revenge a message to those who would trespass against him--to show that he is not to be provoked.
Get Carter takes place during the early Seventies in England, an era with mod rockers, swanky parties, and night clubs, as well as blue-collar pubs and racetracks. Get Carter explores assorted places in Newcastle, from the posh estates of crime bosses like Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne) to the modest bed-and-breakfast he shares with his hostess, Edna (Rosemarie Dunham). Carter never looks like he fits in, with his tailor-fitted blue suit and vest with French cuff links. He offers large amounts of money to his friends and family, which is met with varying degrees of apprehension, because most of them recognize that it is kind of thing that mobsters do. Carter almost always has a skeptical look on his face, because he is unsure of who is trying to pull the wool over his eyes and why. Carter is a tough guy who is adept at swatting around some pushy thugs, who push a ticket for the next train out of town on him, claiming it would be in his "best interests" to use it. His cool and collected exterior makes him desirable to women like Glenda (Geraldine Moffat), one of Kinnear's groupies who gets Carter's attention after an erotic montage of her driving her stick shift Sunbeam sports car. Get Carter exemplifies many tropes of the hard-boiled story about an anti-hero on a quest for revenge, digging for truth in the hive of villainy that is organized crime, and has inspired a generation of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino. The inclusion of rock song as a part of the musical score recalls the works of Martin Scorsese, as does the predominance of gangsters and the plot culminating with a violent climax. One of the leitmotifs in the films by Mike Hodges--who also directed Croupier--is how his protagonists think that they can escape some facet of their pasts, but are forced to accept who they really are in their struggle. Consider the scene that comes after Jack has gone to bed with Glenda: as he is resting on her bed, the sound of blowing wind can be heard, even though they are inside her posh (insulated) apartment. This sound portends the proverbial ill wind that is about to blow through the scene--a great revelation that reveals the truth of his quest. It reminds him of the real reason for coming home: to cut a bloody swath of revenge through Newcastle's underworld, while forcing him to acknowledge his "true self"--a moment he knew would come from the start of his journey into his heart of darkness.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal, hard-boiled suspense and revenge film, whose influence can be felt in contemporary crime dramas. Get Carter depicts a defiant protagonist who is unmerciful in his revenge, forcing the audience to evaluate their own moral compass about how far is too far to go to avenge a loved one.
Get Carter takes place during the early Seventies in England, an era with mod rockers, swanky parties, and night clubs, as well as blue-collar pubs and racetracks. Get Carter explores assorted places in Newcastle, from the posh estates of crime bosses like Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne) to the modest bed-and-breakfast he shares with his hostess, Edna (Rosemarie Dunham). Carter never looks like he fits in, with his tailor-fitted blue suit and vest with French cuff links. He offers large amounts of money to his friends and family, which is met with varying degrees of apprehension, because most of them recognize that it is kind of thing that mobsters do. Carter almost always has a skeptical look on his face, because he is unsure of who is trying to pull the wool over his eyes and why. Carter is a tough guy who is adept at swatting around some pushy thugs, who push a ticket for the next train out of town on him, claiming it would be in his "best interests" to use it. His cool and collected exterior makes him desirable to women like Glenda (Geraldine Moffat), one of Kinnear's groupies who gets Carter's attention after an erotic montage of her driving her stick shift Sunbeam sports car. Get Carter exemplifies many tropes of the hard-boiled story about an anti-hero on a quest for revenge, digging for truth in the hive of villainy that is organized crime, and has inspired a generation of filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino. The inclusion of rock song as a part of the musical score recalls the works of Martin Scorsese, as does the predominance of gangsters and the plot culminating with a violent climax. One of the leitmotifs in the films by Mike Hodges--who also directed Croupier--is how his protagonists think that they can escape some facet of their pasts, but are forced to accept who they really are in their struggle. Consider the scene that comes after Jack has gone to bed with Glenda: as he is resting on her bed, the sound of blowing wind can be heard, even though they are inside her posh (insulated) apartment. This sound portends the proverbial ill wind that is about to blow through the scene--a great revelation that reveals the truth of his quest. It reminds him of the real reason for coming home: to cut a bloody swath of revenge through Newcastle's underworld, while forcing him to acknowledge his "true self"--a moment he knew would come from the start of his journey into his heart of darkness.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal, hard-boiled suspense and revenge film, whose influence can be felt in contemporary crime dramas. Get Carter depicts a defiant protagonist who is unmerciful in his revenge, forcing the audience to evaluate their own moral compass about how far is too far to go to avenge a loved one.