Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Rhona Mitra, Mickey Rourke, Michael Caine, Alan Cumming, John C. McGinley

Director: Stephen Kay

Summary: A man who collects debts and retribution for third parties decides it's time for personal service when his brother is killed. Soon he is involved in the violent world of his own hometown... A remake of the 1971 film.

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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

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary By Stephen Kay, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Trailer
Subtitles:	Danish, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish
Year:	2000
Release Date:	June 24, 2002
Runtime:	102 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	R D 018583
Keywords:	Action, Comedy, Carter, General, Wide, Screen, Get, Adventure
Genre:	Action/Adventure