Introduction
Hodges's first directorial job, the film was based on the 1969 novel ''Jack's Return Home'', and the screenplay was written by the author Ted Lewis and Hodges. The film went from novel to finished film in just eight months, with location shooting in Newcastle and Gateshead lasting just forty days. The film was produced by Michael Klinger and released by MGM.Plot
Jack Carter is a Northern gangster based in London. As the film opens he travels to Newcastle upon Tyne, his childhood home, to attend the funeral of his brother, Frank Carter. Although Frank was supposedly killed in a drunken car accident, Jack suspects foul play from the start. His subsequent revenge is unrelenting and brutal, played out against an authentic background of Tyneside in the late 1960s/early 1970s: smoky bars and working men's clubs, derelict urban housing and memorably, the infamous “Get Carter Car Park”.Cast and crew
As well as Caine, the film gave roles to the playwright John Osborne as gang master Cyril Kinnear, Ian Hendry as gangster Eric Paice (probably the second most important role in the film after Caine's), Bryan Mosley as businessman Cliff Brumby, George Sewell as gangster Con McCarty, Tony Beckley as gangster Peter the Dutchman, Glynn Edwards as gangster Albert Swift and childhood friend of Carter's, Terence Rigby as gang master and Carter's boss Gerald Fletcher, Godfrey Quigley as a work colleague of Frank's, a young Alun Armstrong as Keith, another work colleague of Frank's, Bernard Hepton as Thorpe, a gangster, Petra Markham as Frank's daughter Doreen (one twist to the plot is that she may actually be Jack's daughter biologically), Geraldine Moffat as Kinnear's moll Glenda (who is also sleeping with Brumby in exchange for use of a penthouse flat), Dorothy White as Margaret, a woman whom Frank Carter sees 'once a week', Rosemarie Denham as B&B owner Edna Garfoot, and Britt Ekland as Anna, Carter's boss Gerald Fletcher's mistress, but who is also seeing Carter and is due to run away with him to South America as soon as Carter avenges his brother's death.The distinctive music in the film was composed by Roy Budd, a jazz and "easy listening" specialist, who worked well outside his previous boundaries for this film. The much admired theme tune features the sounds of Caine's train journey from London to Newcastle. All the music was played by Budd and two other jazz musicians, Jeff Clyne (double bass) and Chris Karan (percussion). It has often been used as incidental music for TV programmes and adverts since, most with no connection whatsoever to the film.
Early criticism and cult status
Initial critical reception was poor, especially in the United Kingdom: "soulless and nastily erotic...virtuoso viciousness", "sado-masochistic fantasy", and "one would rather wash one's mouth out with soap than recommend it". The much-respected American film critic Pauline Kael was however a fan of the film, admiring its 'calculated soullessness'. A minor hit at the time, the film has become progressively rehabilitated via subsequent showings on television; with its harsh realism, quotable dialogue, and incidental detail, it is now considered among the best British gangster films ever made. In 2004 the magazine ''Total Film'' claimed it to be the greatest British movie in any genre.Remakes
*''Get Carter'' was remade in a 2000 film of the same title, with Sylvester Stallone playing the main part; Michael Caine had a significant cameo, while Mickey Rourke played the villain. The newer version was poorly received as a pointless travesty of the original. See: ''Get Carter (2000 film)''*''Hit Man'', a 1972 blaxploitation feature film starring Pam Grier, is also a scene-for-scene remake, crediting Ted Lewis in the opening titles.
Memorable quotations
* Carter: ''A pint of bitter'' (snaps fingers as barman walks away) ''in a thin glass.''* Carter to Eric: ''You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow.''
* Eric to Carter: ''So, what're you doing then? On your holidays?'' Carter: ''No, I'm visiting relatives.'' Eric: ''Oh, that's nice.'' Carter: ''It would be... if they were still living.''
* Cyril Kinnear: ''You don't give a man like Jack a drink in those piddly little glasses. Give him the bloody bottle.''
* Carter to Brumby: ''You're a big man, but you're in bad shape. With me it's a full time job. Now behave yourself.''
* Carter: (naked, pointing a shotgun) ''Out!'' Con McCarty: ''Come on Jack, put it away. You know you're not going to use it.'' Peter: ''The gun he means!''
Trivia
The elderly man who glances at Carter when he orders his drink has an extra finger on his right hand, the hand in which he holds his old-fashioned beer mug.The famous poster (illustrated in the article) does not represent the film accurately. Carter is never seen wearing anything as gaudy as a floral jacket, Eric does not carry a gun at any point (indeed, the gun shown in the poster closely resembles Carter's), and the grappling man and woman do not resemble any characters in the film. The only fight of this kind depicted in the finished work is between two women in the pub that Carter visits, mid way through the film. The only part of the collage that is in anyway accurate is the depiction of Kinnear struggling in police hands.
The influential Human League album Dare contains a track covering the Get Carter theme (N.B. It was only a version of the sparse leitmotif that opens and closes the film as opposed to the full-bloodied jazz piece that accompanies the train journey).
Stereolab also covers Roy Budd's theme on their album Aluminum Tunes, Volume 2, although they call their version Get Carter, as opposed to its proper title, Main Theme (Carter Takes A Train).
There is an editing goof at the point where Carter draws up to the Brumby household. The silhouettes of the party-goers in the background clearly discontinuously jump at one point. Close observation reveals that Carter himself 'jumps' slightly also.
There are two slightly different versions of this film. In the opening scene of the original version Gerald Fletcher warns Carter that the Newcastle gangs 'won't take kindly to someone from The Smoke poking his bugle in'. This was later redubbed (not by Terence Rigby) for American release with 'won't take kindly to someone from London poking his nose in', as tape previews in the USA had revealed that many Americans did not understand what 'Smoke' and 'bugle' meant in this context. Also the line 'I smell trouble, boy' is edited out, for some reason. DVD releases within the United Kingdom have this change.
