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Get Carter

The grimmest, bleakest, and most often misquoted Caine film of the lot gets a look-in for its peerless use of locations as much as for its set pieces, although they are fantastic – Caine answering door naked with shotgun as drum majorettes march past, Caine making final delirious despatch with aid of seaside slag tipper, and of course the scene that’s now forever to be known as “the out-of-shape bloke”. Nowadays Old Maurice lives out his dotage on a cheeky chappie rough diamond reputation, but here’s a good example of a man who’s nothing but coal. Ian Hendry, Brian ‘Alf’ Mosley, Glyn ‘Winchester’ Edwards, Alun ‘Underworld’ Armstrong…what more could you want? Oh, and Michael ‘Michael Caine is Michael Caine in…’ Caine is in it too. Apparently Caine plays Cliff Brumby in the Stallone version. But since we never, ever want to see that, that’s pretty academic really.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Lee James Turnock

    May 22, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Stuff “you’re a big man but you’re out of shape”, my favourite line is the description of Ian Hendry’s eyes – “like two pissholes in the snow”. Surely no coincidence that one of the alternative titles for Carry On Abroad (the following year) was ‘Swiss Hols in the Snow’?

  2. Lee James Turnock

    August 31, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Funny how Alun Armstrong as Keith looked youngER, but stopped short of actually looking YOUNG. I imagine he had that face even when he was a newborn.

  3. Richard16378

    August 31, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    There’s some other actors that seem to look 40ish from about the age of 32 to thier early 70’s.

  4. Glenn Aylett

    October 20, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    The very grim flats where Margaret lived, that looked ready to be demolished in Get Carter, still survive and are near City Rd in Newcastle. Also the fairly grim Las Vegas guesthouse in Gateshead lives on as a private house.

  5. richardpd

    October 20, 2019 at 11:35 pm

    Ironically the new looking flats in St Cuthbert’s Village where Carter sees the blue movie were pulled down after about 30 years.

    The theme by the very underrated Roy Budd is very good, especially as it was recorded on a shoestring budget.

    Also featured was John “Anger” Osborne, who appeared as Cyril Kinnear, director Mike Hodges also cast him in Flash Gordon.

    Ian “Avenger” Hendry really was out of shape during filming, not helped by a drinking problem.

    • Glenn Aylett

      October 25, 2019 at 9:14 pm

      St Cuthberts Village, except for the tower block, lasted about 25 years. I had a friend who worked in Gateshead getting a flat there easily in the early nineties as no one wanted to live there. What was a cutting edge, modernist council estate in 1970 was a damp ridden, vandalised dump and he moved out after 18 months as it was so bad.

  6. THX 1139

    October 26, 2019 at 12:14 pm

    Best anecdote about this is the filmmakers not noticing the six fingered pint drinker until they were editing.

    • richardpd

      October 26, 2019 at 1:01 pm

      One of the newspapers tracked down the son of the six fingered man, who gave quite a good interview.

  7. Glenn Aylett

    October 26, 2019 at 2:52 pm

    The woman singer in the pub who gets into a fight with someone’s wife apparently is still around and was paid 30 shillings( £ 1.50) and given a free meal for her couple of minutes of fame. She was a pub singer in real life.

  8. Tom Ronson

    March 31, 2022 at 11:26 pm

    Still feels quite raw, edgy and shocking now, actually – without having to have the characters effing and blinding at each other non-stop.

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