Overrated, but brutal and hard-hitting

Get Carter is a classic 1970s British crime film that is good, but far from great.

Having seen the remake of the film first I had high expectations for this one. Unfortunately my expectations weren't entirely met, and I was mildly disappointed.

Michael Caine plays the principal role of Jack Carter; a malicious London gangster. Carter travels to Newcastle for the funeral of his recently deceased brother. Upon arrival in Newcastle he begins asking questions about the death of his brother and suspects that it was no accident, but foul play was involved. Carter begins interviewing people who were associated with his brother and starts putting together the pieces of the puzzle to solve the crime.

As Carter is slowly getting somewhere with his personal investigation, the underworld crime bosses wish to get him out of the picture to avoid the truth being uncovered.

Regrettably, you will have to be a mind reader to understand the inscrutable conversations between the central characters. Even though watching the movie closely, I was none the wiser until the characters finally spelt it all out in the concluding 15 minutes.

Unfortunately the film's slow pacing dramatically affects its overall value. And the final showdown was quite unsatisfying. It was unexpected, sure, but the ending is one of the many factors that affect the quality of the experience.

Michael Caine was cool and charismatic in the title role. He is quite the ladies man, and displays this with the endless amount of women he ends up sleeping with throughout the movie.

Which brings me onto my next point - the film contains too much sexual content for my taste. Not that it was overly distasteful, but every time Carter sleeps with another girl the audience gets the sense of "here we go again". It got highly tedious towards the end as well as getting quite discomforting.

For a 1970s production there was a shocking amount of nudity. It's not overly graphic but it has its fair share of bare breasts, bottoms and bed scenes. For its time I'm sure it would have raised a few eyebrows because said scenes certainly raised mine. And the violence undoubtedly packs one heck of a wallop.

The atmosphere of the movie was quite superb for a British film. The authentic locations give the audience a sense of dread and decay. Especially with scenes set during overcast or rainy weather. The film has been made quite well, with effective cinematography and a valuable score that solidifies its solid atmosphere.

Kudos to the director as well, who added to this atmosphere of such despair. On top of this the film has more to offer: brutal, hard-hitting action as well as a high level of violence.

Get Carter is far from being a masterpiece due to its flaws, but sits amongst some of the finest films to be imported from Britain.