When you get a moment, my latest for the CrimeReads site is on 50 years of Get Carter, how the Michael Caine revenge flick attained cult status and changed the face of British crime cinema. I don’t think Get Carter is the best British gangster film ever made but it is certainly the most influential. You can read my piece in full at this site via this link.
Caine was red-hot after a late 19 run that included The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966) and The Italian Job (1969), so audiences must have been surprised to see him play such a cold, ruthless villain. Having sent his apologies for not being available for an interview for this piece, Caine emailed to say: “I was lucky that I got to work with the brilliant director Mike Hodges in the cult classic British thriller Get Carter. I was aided by a top notch supporting cast for this iconic film, which even now remains a classic.” Roy Budd’s unforgettably supple theme and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky’s sharply composed shots of locations in the north-east of England that are mostly gone or changed beyond recognition round off a sparkling feature.