Violent London gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) returns to his Newcastle homeland, against his gang's wishes, to seek vengeance for his brothers's supposed accidental death. Once in Newcastle he is met with a wall of silence as he tries to uncover why and how is brother was killed and more importantly who killed him. Various parties warn him to head back to London but his determination to find the killer leads to violence, bloodshed and the eventual truth.

Get Carter was based on the 1969 novel 'Jack's Return Home' and the screen play was adapted and directed by Mike Hodges. The film is considered a British classic and was one of the first to portray sex and violence in a more gritty and realistic manner. Michael Caine is remarkable in his performance as the suave, fearless and violent Jack Carter, carrying out his interrogations in business-like fashion. Ian Hendry's performance was quite weak in my opinion and his career was in decline at the time as was his physical condition due to excessive drinking. It was great to see Bryan Mosley as Cliff Brumby in the film and he is better known for his enduring role as Alf Roberts in Coronation Street - the scene where Carter tells Cliff that he's in bad shape is one of my all time favourites (see quotes below). Also nice to see Glynn Edwards playing Albert Swift and he is better known for playing Dave in Minder, the landlord of the Winchester - "Hallo Arfur".

The reason for the film's inclusion in this website is due to the short scene filmed at Newcastle racecourse where Carter tries to find Albert Swift but ends up bumping into Eric Paice. We don't get to see much of the course but we do see the finish of one race in front of the paddock and the start of another race.

Get Carter is a classic British crime film which still has a cult following almost 50 years on and I'm just glad Jack Carter visited Newcastle races so that the movie could be included in this list. (Rating 9/10)