Get Carter (1971)

Mike Hodges cult classic has got a cinematic re-release this year in line with its new restoration on 4K Blu-ray. The Blu-ray package is an absolute treat for fans, including an eighty-page booklet and a super double-sided poster. Of course the main item of note is the film itself, which has lost none of its heft some fifty odd years on. Michael Caine’s performance as Jack Carter is one of his finest, bringing a straight-faced display of brutal cold heartedness as he returns to Newcastle to find out what, and more importantly who, lead to the death of his brother. The films’ landmarks remain iconic, although it’s a real shame that the concrete car park that features key sequences was demolished in 2010. The brutalist architecture of seventies Newcastle matches the tone of the film, and Get Carter retains (and deserves) its 18 certificate. Roy Budd’s superb score encapsulates the feel of the film; although there are moments of great amusement (Caine’s phone conversation with girlfriend Britt Ekland may well be the earliest example of phone sex on film that I can think of) Get Carter is a hard-edged thriller that laid a template that so many later gangster were influenced by. John Mackenzie’s stunning The Long Good Friday (1980) was still nearly a decade away, and Get Carter’s influences stretches to more recent efforts like Sexy Beast and Gangster No. 1 (both 2000) to name but a few. Get Carter remains one of the best, and most important British films of all time, and if you have the chance to see it on the big screen you should take; although the fantastic new Blu-ray collectors edition is not a bad second choice at all. 8.3/10