Strictly average movie

Sadly Over-hyped

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The demise of the Production Code gave first-time director Mike Hodges the freedom to make this British gangster movie in a more realistic style than would ever have been possible before and the result was a gritty and uncompromising end-product that proved to be both groundbreaking and highly influential. Based on Ted Lewis' novel "Jack Returns Home", it's the tale of one man's quest for revenge and features some great location work, considerable amounts of brutality and a cast of pretty unsavoury characters. The mood of the piece is grim throughout and the action includes a number of well-staged sequences that, for various reasons, prove to be very memorable.Jack Carter (Michael Caine), who works as an enforcer for London gangsters, the Fletcher brothers, travels to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to attend the funeral of his brother who had reportedly been killed in a car accident whilst drunk. After failing to gather any more information from Frank's daughter Doreen (Petra Markham) or his mistress, Margaret (Dorothy White), Jack goes to the local racecourse where he meets one of his old contacts, a chauffeur called Eric Paice (Ian Hendry) who proves to be very unhelpful. However, after discovering that Eric works for local crime boss Cyril Kinnear (John Osbourne), Jack goes to visit the ultra-smooth villain at his mansion where he encounters a porn star called Glenda (Geraldine Moffatt) and the same kind of reticence about Frank's death that he'd come up against elsewhere.At the "bed and breakfast" lodgings where Jack is staying, he gets visited by some heavies who tell him to leave Newcastle and after an altercation, is told that they were hired by local businessman Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosely). This proves to be false information and a little while later, a couple of thugs working for the Fletcher brothers call by with the intention of taking Jack back to London. The two men decide to leave promptly, however, when Jack threatens them with a shotgun but turn up again at a different location when Jack's in the middle of a conversation with the uncooperative Margaret. On this occasion, Jack makes a rapid escape and the chase that follows ends well for him when Glenda picks him up in her sports car and drives him at great speed to meet Brumby on the top floor of a multi-storey car park.The information that Brumby discloses at this point enables Jack to start unravelling the mystery of what had happened to Frank an provides the catalyst for the series of killings that follow."Get Carter" contains a number of memorable scenes such as the one in which Brumby is thrown off the top of a multi-storey car park, the sequences during which Jack and his landlady are interrupted in flagrante delicto and the powerful finale. Overall, there's an unremitting bleakness that permeates all the action and is well complemented by some of the grim-looking outside locations and the action that takes place in the drab bingo hall, a smoke-filled pub and the grubby betting shop.Jack Carter returned to his hometown to avenge the death of his brother despite the fact that he never liked Frank and knew that the Fletchers and the Newcastle mob both disapproved of his actions because of the threat he posed to the smooth running of their businesses. Michael Caine, in a very controlled performance, shows convincingly how driven, callous and ruthless Jack is and also how abusive he is in his relationships with a series of women. The quality of the supporting cast is also very impressive with very solid contributions from everyone involved.

First and foremost (this written in 2017) the film would be a shocker to any millennial who sees Caine mainly as the crying butler in Batman.The film was done at the peak of Caine's career, a time when he had proved he could play anything from a sex god (Alfie) to a spy (Harry Palmer.) In many ways this film combines the two into one.Add to the mix the grittiness of London in the 70s, the emergence of "gangster swag," the treatment of women in general (the words "politically correct" did not exist then) and the outrageously cynical/nihilistic ending -- and you have a timeless classic.If you want to go deeper, and see the film as a prophetic vision of Britain in the 21st century, you can.And for the most fun of all you can compare and contrast to the Stallone version, with its massive rewrites.Stallone did his version at a point in his career where -- unlike Caine -- he knew he had the clock working against him and he desperately needed properties to show his own brand of swag. In the later version, there is more action, less loving, and Stallone does indeed bring to the party his own unique style of physical menace, simply by being in the frame.But this is the version that film buffs of the future will cherish.

This film is an excellent of British cinema, let alone British gangster cinema. This film is about Jack Carter (Michael Caine), a mob enforcer from London who goes to Newcastle to attend his brother Frank's funeral. While there, he suspects that Frank's death was an assassination and seeks the truth.The main strengths of this film are its gritty realism and Caine's performance. The violence is brutal (as it should be, violence is never pleasant). The location of Newcastle is an unpleasant place to be, the perfect breeding ground for criminals. This also adds to the aesthetic of the film, its not attempting to glamorise the gangster lifestyle like Scorsese's films do (nothing against this movies - they're still great). Caine's character is angry throughout the film (and rightly so - his brother died). But in the scene when he realises why his brother was killed was well done. In this scene he watches a scene from a pornographic movie and discovers his niece was in it. Caine's performance in this scene is good: he went from happiness to sadness to anger in a short space of time.The ending is good, after getting his revenge Carter is killed by an assassin. The ending was to show Carter's actions were not justified and that violence only leads to more violence.While looking through the reviews here, someone criticised that this movie did not focus on the inner workings of the gangs. I think this is justifiable for two reasons. First, this film is a revenge story. Second, it is also Carter's story. Carter works for the London mob not the Newcastle mob. Gangster films that show the inner workings of gangs do so because they're told from the perspective of someone from the inside. Carter is an outsider. Another thing that is criticised is the lack of character development. This is true. The characters aren't very deep, but they don't need to be, their motivation is clear. The reason I gave this movie an 8/10 is because it's rough around the edges and is a little dated. This is understandable considering it was the director's first film as well as being low budget. I would still recommend the film.

London gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) goes to Newcastle for his brother's funeral and investigate his death. He suspects foul-play and dives into the Newcastle underworld. His brother leaves behind his daughter Doreen Carter and mistress Margaret. He tracks down crime boss Cyril Kinnear where he also meets Glenda. Meanwhile his boss Fletchers back in London sends henchmen to Newcastle to Get Carter back. He's having an affair with his other boss Gerald's girlfriend Anna. He is given businessman Brumby's name but Cliff Brumby points the finger at Kinnear. He finds a porno where Doreen is pushed into joining.There are just so many characters coming in and out of the story. It's a bit confusing and muddies up the tension. Many movies of that era don't always keep things clear. Michael Caine is terrific and super cool. The violence is sudden and brutal. A simpler plot would have allowed the audience to concentrate on the film's strength which is Caine and his vicious character. I can certainly see why this is a cult classic for many gangster movie enthusiasts.