A friend said of my favorite movies once that they are heavily featured movies from the 1970s. That’s true. But if I were to be more specific, my tastes probably run closer to 70s anti-heroes more than anything else, Star Wars being the big exception from that decade. But what did the 70s antihero look like in other countries? Sure, I know about drivers of taxis, connections to the French, and a whole network of problems, but what was the British antihero like? You know, aside from various Droogs.
I really wasn’t sure how to introduce Get Carter, truth be told, but this seemed a good enough way as any.
Small time London gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) learns his brother died in a drunk driving accident and returns to his home town. After checking in on his niece and making sure she’s being taken care of, he starts to get a little suspicious. Something about this whole thing doesn’t sit well with him, so he looks into the local underworld to see what really happened to his brother. Despite the fact Jack’s brother was the “honest’ Carter, Jack sifts through the underworld, dodging various local criminals who seem intent on sending him back to London, and generally bulling his way through to answers. And once he gets them, it will not go well for the people responsible.
Apparently, Michael Caine took this role in part due to a desire to prove British gangsters were neither stupid nor comedic, and there’s nothing dumb nor funny about Jack Carter. He is an incredibly unlikable man, and given how Caine often comes across as a likable guy in even his lesser roles, that’s just a nice testament to what Caine does with the role. Carter is ruthless, cruel, thoughtless, and brutal when he needs to be. He’s the guy who will sleep with his boss’s girlfriend back in London, engage in phone sex with her while his landlady sits nearby looking uncomfortable, and then later will sleep with the landlady to keep her from calling the cops or complaining too much. About the only person he seems to treat at all decently is his niece Doreen (Petra Markham), and that’s probably because she may actually be his daughter instead of his niece.
What makes the movie, if the protagonist is a major asshole, is how he goes about his business. Carter may be a rotten human being, but so is just about everyone else he comes across. His biggest advantages are he won’t quit and he doesn’t really care who he pisses off along the way. There will be some corpses at the end of all this, and Jack won’t be directly responsible for all of them.
However, Jack’s general awfulness was a bit of a barrier to me. Like I said, it is a testament to Caine’s skills as an actor that he is such an unlikable man here, with few if any redeeming qualities. It’s a bit different from, say, The Godfather or Goodfellas where the gangsters do have a very charismatic side to them, the sort which makes the audience want to side with someone who is little more than a vicious criminal. Jack Carter gets what audience sympathy he may get here mostly by virtue of the fact that he may not be a good man, but he is arguably looking to bring some justice to his family, family he had the decency to stay far away from judging by appearances. I appreciated how Carter went about his business, but I am not interested in him as a character beyond his methods seen here to achieve his short term goals.
Grade: B
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