Get Carter
A gritty, violent rollercoaster of a film which helped Michael Caine become famous.
Carter (Michael Caine) is a flashy and violent man who's obviously inspired by the real-life crooks of the time such as the Kray brothers.
He decides to head up to Newcastle from London to investigate the death of his brother, despite being warned not to go by his gangster friends. Of course, his return to his home town creates a lot of problems.
What makes this such a good film is that we come to understand why Carter is such an animal and actually have quite a lot of sympathy for him. He's bad, but he's better than his friends.
Even though this film is dated 1971, it still looks and feels like a '60s film with its use of music, crazy film angles, and general set decoration elements like the decor of the rooms and costume pieces. However, you certainly get the feeling that the sweet '60s are turning into the savage '70s -- this is a gritty real-life drama.
Later films like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" are certainly following in its heritage -- building up gradually and ending with a twist -- which always gives me a shock. It took a few times of watching it to really understand it -- which I think is a plus. The excellent casting (one of the best performances Caine will ever give) created a true classic.
I recently saw the film again on DVD, which I highly recommend since it features a commentary running the entire film by Mike Hodges (the director), Caine and Wolfgang Suschitzky who was the cinematographer. All of the little touches that make this such a great film are revealed.
Written by: mujinga
Reviewers Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 7.00
Reader's Votes: 1
Added: 27-Jun-2002
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