Stars: Michael Caine, John Osborne, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland

Director: Mike Hodges

Summary: A man out to avenge his brother's death enters a world of pornography and crime. Based on the novel 'Jack's Return Home' by Ted Lewis.

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Released in 1971 (the same year Straw Dogsand A Clockwork Orangehit the screens, which must make 71 the annus mirabilisfor violent films set in Britain), Get Carteropens with gangsters leering over pornographic slides and ends on a filthy, slag-stained beach in Newcastle. It's a low-down and dirty movie from beginning to end, and possibly the grittiest and best film of its kind to come out of Britain. The granddaddy of Lock, Stock &Two Smoking Barrelsand all its ilk, director Mike Hodges' Get Carteroffers revenge tragedy swinging-60s style, all nicotine-stained cinematography, shabby locations and the kind of killer catchphrases Vinnie Jones would die for ("You're a big man, but you're in bad shape. With me, it's a full-time job. Now behave yourself", says Michael Caine's deadpan anti-hero Carter before inflicting a few choice punches on Brian Mosley, aka Coronation Street's Alf Roberts, to name but one example from Hodges and Ted Lewis' exquisitely laconic script).

Presenting the dark horse in his family of loveable Cockney geezer roles (Alfie, The Italian Job), Michael Caine plays the title role of Jack Carter, a man so hard he barely registers a flicker of regret watching a woman he's just had sex with plunge to her death. After taking the train up to Newcastle as the credits roll and Roy Budd's chunky bass-heavy theme tune plays, Carter returns to his hometown to attend his brother's funeral and investigate the circumstances of his death. Not that he's all that sentimental about family: he shaves nonchalantly over the open coffin, and shows affection to his niece Doreen (Petra Markham) by cramming a few notes in her hand and telling her to "be good and don't trust boys". Gradually, Carter unravels the skein of drugs, pornography and corruption tangled around his brother's death, which brings him up against supremely oleaginous kingpin Kinnear (played by the author of Look Back in AngerJohn Osborne) among others. A remake starring Sylvester Stallone is in the offing, but quite frankly it will be a 30-degree (Celsius) Christmas night in Newcastle before Hollywood could ever make something as assured, raw and immortal as this. --Leslie Felperin

Year:	1971
Release Date:	October 16, 2000
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 019070
Keywords:	Action, Carter, Box, General, Get, Set, Adventure, Screenplay, Artcards, Dvd,
Genre:	Action/Adventure