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April 27, 2010
Get Carter (1971): A Five-Minute Review
One movie genre I've always meant to catch up with is the classic Michael Caine movie genre. I thought it best to start off with Get Carter, about a gangster name Jack Carter who returns to his home town for his brother's funeral. As he finds out more about the circumstances of his brother's death, he realizes it was not an accident, and he sets out to find the person responsible.
I had no idea what the movie was about going into it and was surprised by the content. I know movies weren't exactly clandestine in the 1970s, but it was a surprise nonetheless. Caine's character is a gangster through and through. He's controlled and ruthless - an interesting combo to watch. He has sex with whomever he pleases, and some of those scenes are surprising too, since they end up being funny or unpleasant, but certainly not about arousal.
Even though the movie does appear to be filled with action of all kinds, Caine's demeanor and the many scenes of his character running around that don't contain dialog make this a more subtle movie. Actually, Caine as a gangster vaguely reminded me of some of Clive Owen's work nowadays.
It's definitely a memorable movie, although for content's sake, I'm not sure I'm allowed to necessarily recommend it. At any rate, now I'll be able to catch references to this movie when I see them. Caine has definitely moved up on my list of ultimate badasses (is there a good synonym for badasses?).
Posted by Jeri 
at 05:42:04 pm | movies, netflix/tivo
4 comments
The classical Michael Caine movie genre is one of my favorites!Very perceptive of you to compare Caine to Clive Owen, since Mike Hodges directed Owen in both Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (the latter of which I haven't seen but whose premise is apparently similar to Get Carter).
Another Caine/Hodges picture you might like is the very funny Pulp, about a hack pulp fiction author (Caine) who is hired by Mickey Rooney to write his biography. Caine's retrospective and revisionist voice-over narration contrasts hilariously with what is actually happening on screen.
Following Get Carter by only one year, it is perhaps surprising how different Pulp is in tone as it sends up noir conventions, but it reveals the light touch that Hodges would show later in Flash Gordon and Morons from Outer Space.
Apart from the obvious ones Alfie, The Italian Job (both more fun than the remakes), and Zulu (his first performance totally against the Cockney type he became known for), I would also recommend The Iprcess File (if not its sequels). Even though it's probably more famous for Caine's iconic horn-rims than anything else (http://www.mister8.com/harry-palmer-files-%E2%80%94-024-%E2%80%94-the-david-bailey-michael-caine-portrait/), it's a good movie for at least the first two acts before declining into a poor man's Manchurian Candidate. One might say Ipcress gave Bond the Wire treatment, reminding us that even spies have to slog through just as much bureaucracy as any other profesison.
Thanks for the comment, Jonathan! I definitely have a couple more to see. Unfortunately The Ipcress File isn't available on Netflix right now, so I'll have to save it to my queue.And that link you gave with the Harry Palmer portraits makes me realize that a sketch I started in college (and fully intend to finish.. one day) of Jarvis Cocker must be inspired by Caine as well. Haha.
Hmmm...I wonder if you knew that this was the basis for the 2000 re-make? Check out the cast list on IMDB. (It includes Michael Caine, of course) I've only seen the 2000 one, so now I'm interested in the 1971 version. Yes, I knew about that one but always heard it wasn't as good as watching the original, so I skipped it. How'd you like it? 
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