Get Carter — Get Carter(Blu Ray)
Released in the early 1970’s Get Carter is a realistic, at points stark and grim British gangster film. It’s a picture that has a largely glumly lulling flow, which is punched by moments of fleeting brutality, darting action, and heady sleaze. The film features Michael Cain, as a west-end mobster heading north to find out how his brother died. It’s one of the actor's key/ celebrated roles, with Cain creating a blend of cool and controlled power/treat, which is unlined by subtle moments of anger and emotion. Here from the BFI is a recent two-disc Blu-Ray release of the film, featuring a new high-def scan of the film, and a nice selection of new and archive extras.
Get Carter appeared in the year 1971, and was very much a watershed moment in British gangster cinema, as for the first time it portrayed its criminal character as largely cold and calculating figures- who are a drift in a grimly rainy and industrial hazed northern England. It was the first feature film from Bristol-born Mike Hodges, who had cut his teeth on making TV documentaries and plays- so the film is impacted by both the gritty realism of his doc work, and the taut dramatic tension of his drama work. After Get Carter Hodges went on to have a decidedly mixed directing career going from crime comedy Pulp (1972), uncredited on horror sequel Damien: Omen II (1978), highly camp sci-fi Flash Gordon(1980), and dodgy when- aliens-land spoof featuring brit comedians Griff Rhys Jones& Mel Smith Morons from Outer Space(1985).
The film kicks off in a smoke-hazed and darken room, which is peopled by a group of chuckling and crude west-end gangsters who are watching a low-grade and homemade porn reel. One of the largely stonily quiet figures in the room is Jack Carter (Cain), who we find out is about to head to Newcastle to attend his brother's funeral, and find out how he died. His colleagues warn him off the trip, but he takes no notice- with his train journey up north been played over the credits, as we get the wonderful tight and sleekly cool lead soundtrack cue from Roy Budd, which is all tense percussion, moody electric harpsichord keys, and subtle horn traces playing out.
It is fair to say that much of the film has a fairly lulling, and often stark flow-yet there is also a keen feeling of under the surface of tension and edge present. We follow Jack from a crowded and bright bar where he orders a pint of bitter, pointily having it severed in a straight glass. Onto visiting his brother's home, where he finds his ready-for-burial sibling, and meets his brother's just-out-of-school & glum daughter Doreen (Petra Markham). He gets a room in rundown B & B, which is run by bitterly tired and heavily made-up middle land lady Edna (Rosemarie Dunham).
As things slowly unfold Jack encounters a series of shady characters, taking in shifty and shade-wearing even on a grey day Eric(Ian Hendy), shady-gambling-bearded crime boss Kinnear (John Osborne), twitchy and wiry message man Thrope (Bernard Hepton), and trying to make out he’s straight dodgy businessman Brumby- played by Bryan Mosley- who will be known to brit soap fans for playing grocery shop owner Alf Roberts in Coronation Street between the 1960s and 1990- charting up an impressive 1,077 episodes of the soap.
The film is played out to the backdrop of industrial smoke hazed back alleyways hung with grey washing, worn and tired B&B interiors, large houses with dodgy deals going on, and greyly monolith concrete structures. The violence when it occurs is jarring and intense- and it’s often carried out in a cold, matter-of-fact manner. We also have a few moments of a hazed and heady sleazy, which are carried out in a moody manner- which like the moments of violence briefly breaks the grim, yet compelling tread of the film's steady pace.
Cain really is spellbinding as Jack Carter, largely portraying a cool & cruel man in control, though he often shows surprising moments of sadness and rage too. The surrounding cast is perfectly picked, each giving an authentic and at times gritty performance. The score is extremely sparsely utilized, with the sound design of the scenes surrounding used very well. All in all, the film is a masterclass in low-key gangster edginess, and surprisingly it does feel very dated at all- which is astonishing, considering it's fifty-one years old now!
Moving onto this new two-disc Blu-Ray set. And on the first disc, we have the film- this has been given a new high-def scan- this really is wonderful, full of great depth and clarity of shade & light. Moving onto the new extras on this disc- and first, off we have a new three-minute on-screen intro from Mr Cain, who talks about the film fondly. We get a commentary track from genre experts/ writers Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw, and this is excellent full of great observations/ facts. They begin by quoting it as being the greatest British gangster film of all time-though it rather steps out of the genre's normal tropes. They talk about the original book the film was based on Ted Lewis’s Jack’s Return Home, and the two sequels he wrote after the film came out. They talk about how the film is full of drab people in drab clothes, and lowly oppressive criminals. We get discussion about how Newcastle has changed, with most of the settings/ locations having disappeared/ drastically changed. We get talk about how Cain’s characters developed and changed through his 1960s & 70’s career. We find out that Ian Hendy wanted to play the lead- they comment on the role he played in the film, and other film work he did/ his drinking problems. Later on, they discuss the sequel that might have been made in the mid-’70s after Lewis had written the two follow-up books. We have talk about the rather sniffy critics' reviews of the film when it was first released, and the great faces/character actors in the film. They compare the characters in the book and the film. They talk about how director Mike Hodges shooting of the film, and his writing of the screenplay. And much, much more- a must-play track. Otherwise, on this disc we get an archive commentary from the year 2000 featuring director Mike Hodges, actor Michael Caine and director of photography Wolfgang Suschitzky.
Moving onto the second disc, and we get a great selection of extras- new stuff wise there is: Mike Hodges in Conversation (60 mins): the director talks about his career in this interview recorded at BFI Southbank. Klinger on Klinger (24 mins): Tony Klinger recalls and evaluates the career of his father, Michael Klinger, Producer of Get Carter. Don’t Trust Boys (22 mins): actor Petra Markham reflects upon her career on stage and screen and recalls her role in Get Carter. The Sound of Roy Budd (17 mins): this finds Jonny Trunk exploring the varied career of the film's score composer Roy Budd. He begins by discussing Budd’s pop-jazz sound- talking about his early cover albums. Moving on he discusses his other key scores, and of course, talks about the film at hand. He talks about going to see Budd live in the 90s when there was basically no one watching him.
On the archive side of this disc, we have Roy Budd Plays ‘Get Carter’ (1971, 4 mins), Michael Caine’s message to premiere attendees (1971, 1 min), The Ship Hotel – Tyne Main (1967, 33 mins): Philip Trevelyan’s evocative documentary film about a pub on the banks of the River Tyne, International trailer (1971), and script gallery. The finished release comes presented with an eighty-page book- featuring new essays by Mark Kermode and Tim Pelan; Alex Cox’s introduction to the 1990 Moviedrome TV broadcast; an essay on composer Rod Budd and interviews with contemporary musicians/soundtrack composers by Jason Wood; biographies of Mike Hodges and Michael Caine by John Oliver; an extract from Michael Caine’s autobiography What’s It All About; credits and notes on the special features and restoration.
It truly is wonderful to see this very classy and definitive edition of this stark, bleak at times nasty British gangster film- and I know it’s a cliché, but they really don’t make them like this anymore. If you enjoy gangster/ glum noir, and or bleak 70’s British film- this truly is a must-buy release!. oh and if you have UHD set -up, this reissue is available in that format featuring a 4K scan of the film, and the already mentioned content.