GOT CARTER!

Critics hated Michael Caine's gritty gangster film but the public loved it

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TODAY, it ranks as probably the best British gangster film ever made. And yet 55 years ago, when Michael Caine took the ruthless character of Jack Carter from the pages of a book and onto the big screen, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Savaged by the critics for its portrayal of excessive violence, Get Carter seemed destined to die the same kind of death as many of the characters featured in its 112-minute attack on the senses.

In reality, it was simply ahead of its time.

As Caine - no stranger to the mean streets of postwar, inner-city Britain - once said: "It was too realistic for those people who had become used to the choreographed nonsense you usually saw in those days."

All of which begs the question how on earth, considering its bleak subject matter and high body count, did Get Carter ever get made in the first place?

On January 28, 1970, a package was delivered to the home of film director Mike Hodges containing a book accompanied by a brief note from the producer Michael Klinger. "Dear Mike, I did enjoy meeting you the other day," it read.

"I had a chat with Barry who felt you might be interested in reading a book with a view to directing and possibly writing the screenplay." "Barry" referred to Barry Krost, Hodges' agent at the time. The book was Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis, the story of a London mob enforcer called Jack Carter who travels to the north of England to investigate the mysterious death of his brother sparking unease among other criminal gangs in the area, who fear his snooping will interfere with their operations.

Hodges read the book and was enthralled. Murder, revenge, corruption, sleaze and betrayal set against a gritty, industrial backdrop.

Thirty-two weeks was all it took him to write the script, cast the actors, find a crew, choose the locations, film the scenes and edit the results into the finished article.