Get Carter

I didn't know this Michael Caine classic had been remade....

Get Carter

Anyone seen this, any good?

 

It's been remade more than once. The Sylvester Stallone one is supposed to be crap, although Caine plays his own father in it - I confess to having not seen it as I will not part with money for that sort of sacrilege under any circumstances. There was a mid-70s remake called Hitman set in Los Angeles where the Carter character is black and wears serious flares. A lot of the dialogue is verbatim as the original. cat-woman has my dodgy tape of it if you're interested.

 

Here's Hit Man, you do need to memorise the original dialogue to get the full effect.

 

I thought Caine played the role that Bryan "Alf Roberts" Mosley played in the original?
Mind you, when I saw it, I think I was asleep before Caine appeared. Make of that what you will.

 

You may well be right. I haven't mananged to 'accidentally' see it yet. There was a 'quote from an insider at the studio' that if they hadn't spent so much on it then it would never have been released. Give Hit Man a go.

 

As you suggested Caine does indeed play Cliff Brumby. I wonder what I was thinking of?

 

I've just watched the original again after some years, some interesting observations.

1. I'd forgotten how many people get bumped off!

2. Phone sex with Britt Eckland - and I thought that was a recent thing...

3. How much everybody smoked, in bath, in bed between kisses, even saw a packet of No. 6's near the start which was better than Britt above.

 

I have a copy of Ted Lewis's Jack's Return Home, the book it was based on, I believe that it was originally set in Scunthorpe, but I haven't actually read the book yet..

 

Found the trailer for Hit Man.

( Slightly less far-fetched than some psycho running round Northumberland with a shotgun? )

 

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The car park in the background of several scenes in Get Carter gets torn down next week. Bit of useless trivia for you there.

 

There was a campaign to get it listed, but it was never taken seriously by the sort of people that matter.

 

Perhaps we should get Stafford's Head of 'Planning' and lob him off the top of our lovely new feature by the station?..

Get Carter trailer. Car park scene at 1:58.

 

Radio 4 starts a four-part reading of "Jack's Return Home" by Ted Lewis, tonight at 11pm. This is the book that Get Carter was based on, although it's set in Scunthorpe, rather than Newcastle..

This half-hour programme about Ted Lewis is still available.

 

A bit of fairly interesting chat about Get Carter tonight.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mt05

Shockingly, at no point in the discussion do they bother to mention that I used to gut Mike Hodges' auntie's grass.

 

You gutted it???

 

It was no more than it deserved.

 

He doesn't piss about ...

 

Of the basis of listening to that program I've just dropped Ted Lewis's novel GBH onto the old Kindle. The guests on that show seemed to think it was very good. I read 'Jack Returns Home' many years ago after I'd seen the film.