FILM REVIEW: Get Carter (1971)

[diebitter]

Please wipe the Stallone remake from your mind, this is the 1971 original we're talking about. I know I've already said that in the title, but it bears repeating.


Okay, there's been some badasses in cinema - The Man with No Name, Lee Marvin in all sorts of things, Maximus, Bruce Lee, Jules Winfield, Connery's Bond, Hannibal Lector, Pesci in Scorcese films, and so on - but they all pale compared to Jack Carter. This guy has 'cold-hearted killer' all the way through, like a stick of Brighton Rock.


He's back in town, finding out what happened behind his brother's death. He works alone, is ruthless and efficient, and gets to the bottom of what happened. And then takes his revenge, cold as you can get, only showing emotion (anger, what else?) as he's just found out an awful truth about events (and it's an anger even he can't control), and when finishing the job.


Simple plot, huh? Michael Caine is exceptional here. He's already done some great roles as a lover (Alfie) and a fun guy (Italian Job) at this point in his career, but here he is the absolute master as Carter, as cold and scary as you'll ever see. He doesn't threaten, and stands there, face blank, if people bs him, threaten him, cajole him or bluff him. But when he acts, there's no way you can see it coming from his expression (he does say 'behave yourself' to one blustering fool at one point - I'll give him that), and when he does act, it's quick, highly destructive violence.

Examples: A 'relatively' innocent woman is locked in his boot, and his parked car gets knocked into the river - she's obviously going to drown. He doesn't change his expression.
Guys come for him - he marches them out into a public street with a shotgun, completely naked. Doesn't give a toss.

This is a very drab, relentless, and thoroughly English film, so make sure you know what you're getting into with it, and in the opinion of this reviewer, top of the tree of gangster films.


One caveat - I doubt very much women will like this film at all.


If you've never seen this - see it, quick. If you have, I think you're probably wanting to see it again.

OVERALL: 4 1/2 out of 5 (4 == 'see it very soon'!)


Opinions/comments/arguments please, especially if you violently agree or disagree.

[swede123]

Thanks for the review.

I haven't seen the original yet, but it sounds like my kind of movie.

Now the remake on the other hand, is honestly right up there in contention for "worst movie of all time" honors for me. Seriously, what a piece of crap.

I'll check out the Caine version sometime.

Swede

[Blarg]

LOL what the ??? Did you recreate the thread, or did I just have a few small capillaries explode in my brain?

[diebitter]

We don't know what you're talking about, so I say the latter.

[sfer]

I haven't watched it, nor will I ever, in all likelihood, but I did buy a postcard of the movie poster a couple of years ago. It rules.

http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/images/movie/large/Get_Carter.jpg

[theghost]

Great movie.

[Dominic]

One of the all-time, great British gangster movies.

[jakethebake]

I'd agree it's a very good movie and certainly better than that pos Stallone did. I don't know if I'm as high on it as diebitter but it's been awhile and I'm adding it to my netflix que to see again. I think my favorite Caine movie was The Island. I haven't seen it in years either though. I guess I better add it as well.

On a side note, what is it with Michael Caine? His movies are either very good, or complete crap. Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[Blarg]

He's stated many times that he simply and unabashedly does them for the money. He considers himself a "working" actor in a very pragmatic sense, at least as far as his immediate pocketbook is concerned. The guy will sell himself to almost anyone who is buying.

Of course, that's led to him being in a lot of total garbage.

I'd nominate Hannah and Her Sisters as a very good Michael Caine movie, too. But my favorite one might be that one he did with Sean Connery, The Man Who Would Be King.

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd agree it's a very good movie and certainly better than that pos Stallone did. I don't know if I'm as high on it as diebitter but it's been awhile and I'm adding it to my netflix que to see again. I think my favorite Caine movie was The Island. I haven't seen it in years either though. I guess I better add it as well.

On a side note, what is it with Michael Caine? His movies are either very good, or complete crap. Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Caine suffers from the same problem as Samuel Jackson - they are both much more concerned about making money than putting out quality films. Both these actors have a ton of potential, and when it pans out their performances are usually gold. Of course they also strike out alot, but at least they put a few millions in their bank accounts each time around so who am I to judge them...

On the other extreme of the spectrum I'd put Jonny Depp. Say what you will about the guy, but you can't call him a Hollywood sell-out.

Swede

[bosoxfan]

[ QUOTE ]
Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[/ QUOTE ]

Why the hell did you watch Jaws 5?

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
He's stated many times that he simply and unabashedly does them for the money. He considers himself a "working" actor in a very pragmatic sense, at least as far as his immediate pocketbook is concerned. The guy will sell himself to almost anyone who is buying.

Of course, that's led to him being in a lot of total garbage.

I'd nominate Hannah and Her Sisters as a very good Michael Caine movie, too. But my favorite one might be that one he did with Sean Connery, The Man Who Would Be King.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good pick on The Man Who Would be King. That is a very good movie. He is also quite good in The Eagle Has Landed. In recent times my favorite Caine movie is probably Little Voice.

Swede

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
On the other extreme of the spectrum I'd put Jonny Depp. Say what you will about the guy, but you can't call him a Hollywood sell-out.

Swede

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is interesting, because he got his start on what might have been the biggest sell-out of all time, the t.v. series "Jump Street," which, as he acknowledged, was all about making friends with people and then selling them out. Maybe having to do such nasty material to get started made him resolve to turn away from that kind of awful crap forever after.

That he could even be in that show made me not like him for a long time, but he's surprised me by turning out to be a pretty unique actor taking consistently interesting roles, and I actually respect him a lot now for his decisions. Though I'm not a big fan of his weirdly fruity Pirates of the Carribean. I'm almost scared to see how much he fruited up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it looks like he's going on a serious Michael Jackson binge the last few years here.

[imported_The Vibesman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
On the other extreme of the spectrum I'd put Jonny Depp. Say what you will about the guy, but you can't call him a Hollywood sell-out.

Swede

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is interesting, because he got his start on what might have been the biggest sell-out of all time, the t.v. series "Jump Street," which, as he acknowledged, was all about making friends with people and then selling them out. Maybe having to do such nasty material to get started made him resolve to turn away from that kind of awful crap forever after.

That he could even be in that show made me not like him for a long time, but he's surprised me by turning out to be a pretty unique actor taking consistently interesting roles, and I actually respect him a lot now for his decisions. Though I'm not a big fan of his weirdly fruity Pirates of the Carribean. I'm almost scared to see how much he fruited up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it looks like he's going on a serious Michael Jackson binge the last few years here.

[/ QUOTE ]

He also made his film debut in "A Nightmare on Elm Street," so the groundwork was there for a terrible career, really. He's done pretty well.

I thought he was funny in "Pirates." It's a Disney movie, what do you expect.

Haven't seen Charlie, and I don't know if I will.

But he was really really cool in "Once Upon A Time In Mexico."

[Blarg]

I can say I didn't expect him to act so super arch-fruity. That was a really bizarre choice. If any pirate was ever a butt pirate, it was he.

Haven't seen Once Upon A Time in Mexico, but was surprised at how bearable the first Nightmare on Elm Street was. The Freddy character was actually pretty cool, and a lot more interesting than his buddies Jason and Michael.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
But my favorite one might be that one he did with Sean Connery, The Man Who Would Be King.

[/ QUOTE ]

One of my favorites too.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
But he was really really cool in "Once Upon A Time In Mexico."

[/ QUOTE ]

If by "cool" you mean horrible in an unbelievably horrible movie, then yes.

[Dominic]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd agree it's a very good movie and certainly better than that pos Stallone did. I don't know if I'm as high on it as diebitter but it's been awhile and I'm adding it to my netflix que to see again. I think my favorite Caine movie was The Island. I haven't seen it in years either though. I guess I better add it as well.

On a side note, what is it with Michael Caine? His movies are either very good, or complete crap. Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[/ QUOTE ]

$$$

[Cancer Merchant]

[ QUOTE ]


On a side note, what is it with Michael Caine? His movies are either very good, or complete crap. Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[/ QUOTE ]

IMDB:

When Michael Caine was asked about this movie [Jaws: The Revenge] in an interview, he answered, "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


On a side note, what is it with Michael Caine? His movies are either very good, or complete crap. Why the hell did he agree to do Jaws 5?

[/ QUOTE ]

IMDB:

When Michael Caine was asked about this movie [Jaws: The Revenge] in an interview, he answered, "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

[/ QUOTE ]

Beautiful. Seriously, I work a job I don't like and it doesn't even pay that great. If I was good enough (and wanted enough) of an actor you can bet your ass I'd ride that cash cow until I had everything comfortable.

Swede

[diebitter]

To anyone remotely interested, Michael and I come from the same part of London. If his voice were deeper, you'd have a job telling us apart.

Not a lot of people know that!

[Blarg]

Caine is one of the rare ones who can pull it off and still be wanted for better films. Lots of times an actor is only as good as his last movie, and if Michael Caine were judged that way, he could have cut his lifetime earnings down catastrophically.

I think if his accent weren't so unique, he might have had some problems. He was hard to replace, because there was nobody really who could do Michael Caine but Michael Caine. And that one Michael Caine could do a lot of things, from comedy through action through drama. A pretty peculiar quantity, is that chap.