On March 11th Get Carter returns to the Craphouse to celebrate the movies 40th anniversary with a special screening sponsored by East Coast trains
Plus, Mike Hodges Retrospective, "What Would Jesus Say?"
Tyne Idols Tours of Get Carter Locations,
Jack’s Return Home, Generator Music Remix of Soundtrack
Mike Hodges Keynote Speaker at The Story Engine Screenwriting Conference
“The toughest, coldest and greatest British gangster film of all time”
The Guardian (1999).
“A revolting, bestial, horribly violent piece of cinema” Evening News (1971).
“(Like a) bottle of neat gin swallowed before breakfast” George Melly (1971)
* In GET CARTER the script describes Carter’s visit to Newcastle as going back to ‘the craphouse’!
British Director Mike Hodges returns to Newcastle on Friday 11 March to mark the 40th anniversary of what has been lauded as the Best British Film of All Time (Total Film) – the North East set classic 70s British thriller, GET CARTER. Created in collaboration between several North East cultural organisations, supported by Northern Film and Media and sponsored by East Coast Trains, the anniversary screening is one of a number of Get Carter themed events programmed to take place at the Tyneside Cinema and in landmark locations across the City during early March. Screen International are Media Partner.
Based on the 1968 novel, Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis, Hodges’s directorial debut, Get Carter stars Michael Caine as a London based gangster who returns to his Newcastle roots to investigate his brother’s mysterious death. His three-day quest for truth and vengeance is “ possibly Caine’s finest hour, in one of the grittiest, most suspense-filled crime dramas of all time “ (Empire).
The film is renowned not just for reinventing the genre of the British gangster film, nor Roy Budd’s memorable theme tune, Caine’s cool, Hodges’ directing nor its gripping storyline of corruption and pornography, but for its gritty North-Eastern setting, so evocatively captured by former documentary cameraman Wolfgang Suschitzky.
Says Mike Hodges: “It was important that Jack Carter came from a hard, deprived background, a place he never wanted to go back to. The only place that had survived the developers was Newcastle. The visual drama (of Newcastle) took my breath away. Seeing the great bridges crossing The Tyne, the waterfront, the terraced houses stepped up each side of the deep valley. We’d got there in time. But only just.”
“ Newcastle will be one of the stars of the film”, said producer Michael Klinger in 1970, and prophesised that Get Carter would do for Newcastle what Bullitt had done for San Francisco!
Unfortunately it took over 20 years for Klinger’s prophesy to come true. On its original release in 1971 Get Carter was not a critical success. Many journalists weren’t comfortable with Hodges’s vision of a violent criminal underbelly and consequently the film spent twenty years in the critical wilderness. It was not until Get Carter was re-released in 1999 that it took its rightful place among the pantheon of British cinema classics.
Said Michael Caine in Loaded magazine (February 1999): “ Quite often, you only realise how good a film is in retrospect. Then years later, a whole new generation picks it up and hails it as a classic!”
What Would Jesus Say? Mike Hodges Retrospective – To accompany the anniversary screening of Get Carter on 11 March Tyneside Cinema will also show a season of Hodges’ major film and TV work. The screenings will run from 10 to 16 March, and include: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003), Suspect (1969), Rumour (1970), Croupier (1998), The Terminal Man (1974), Dandelion Dead (1994), Flash Gordon (1980), Black Rainbow (1989), and Pulp (1972), which reunited Hodges with Get Carter producer Michael Klinger and also starred Michael Caine.
As well as the work of Hodges, the season will feature films which share similar themes or origins to Get Carter, such as Stormy Monday (1988), Payroll (1961), Brighton Rock (1947) and T Dan Smith: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utopia (1987), a documentary about the 70’s Newcastle housing corruption scandal that formed a backdrop to the filming of Get Carter.
Tyne Idols Tours – Chris Phipps, media historian, TV producer, who co-produced legendary rock show The Tube, is one of the brains behind music themed tour company, Tyne Idols Tours who have put together a special two hour tailor made Get Carter location tour. The tours will take place on Sunday 13 March and each will be preceded by a screening of the film at Tyneside Cinema, after which ticketholders are invited to climb aboard a Routemaster double-decker and step into the footsteps of Jack Carter.
Explains Chris Phipps: “ The cityscape of Newcastle and Gateshead has changed drastically in the 40 years since the release of Get Carter. Many of the locations used in the shooting of the movie still remain however and these include the stunning vista of the various Tyne Bridges, the Las Vegas guesthouse, the Oxford ballroom, the West Road crematorium, and much more. Where certain iconic buildings no longer exist, we aim to show “the essence” of Get Carter, to give a taste of how grim Tyneside was in 1971 before decades of major redevelopment”.
Mike Hodges at The Story Engine – The annual screenwriters conference The Story Engine, (Friday 11 March and Saturday 12 March 2011 £80/£100) this year takes Get Carter as its starting point to re-examine how the crime genre continues to enthral filmmakers and audiences, and explores current markets for the genre in film, television and online. Featuring case studies, panel discussions, and networking with leading industry insiders, the aim is to help new and emerging talent gain a better understanding of the art, craft, and business of screenwriting.
As well as Mike Hodges, who will give the keynote address, other speakers include: David Peace (Red Riding Trilogy, Damned United), Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Unloved, Death Defying Acts), Val McDermid (crime writer behind, Wire in the Blood), and the production team for Vera, the new ITV show starring Brenda Blethyn which is based on the Ann Cleeves novel Hidden Depths.
British Director Mike Hodges returns to Newcastle on Friday 11 March to mark the 40th anniversary of what has been lauded as the Best British Film of All Time (Total Film) – the North East set classic 70s British thriller, GET CARTER. Created in collaboration between several North East cultural organisations, supported by Northern Film and Media and sponsored by East Coast Trains, the anniversary screening is one of a number of Get Carter themed events programmed to take place at the Tyneside Cinema and in landmark locations across the City during early March. Screen International are Media Partner.
Based on the 1968 novel, Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis, Hodges’s directorial debut, Get Carter stars Michael Caine as a London based gangster who returns to his Newcastle roots to investigate his brother’s mysterious death. His three-day quest for truth and vengeance is “ possibly Caine’s finest hour, in one of the grittiest, most suspense-filled crime dramas of all time “ (Empire).
The film is renowned not just for reinventing the genre of the British gangster film, nor Roy Budd’s memorable theme tune, Caine’s cool, Hodges’ directing nor its gripping storyline of corruption and pornography, but for its gritty North-Eastern setting, so evocatively captured by former documentary cameraman Wolfgang Suschitzky.
Says Mike Hodges: “It was important that Jack Carter came from a hard, deprived background, a place he never wanted to go back to. The only place that had survived the developers was Newcastle. The visual drama (of Newcastle) took my breath away. Seeing the great bridges crossing The Tyne, the waterfront, the terraced houses stepped up each side of the deep valley. We’d got there in time. But only just.”
“ Newcastle will be one of the stars of the film”, said producer Michael Klinger in 1970, and prophesised that Get Carter would do for Newcastle what Bullitt had done for San Francisco!
Unfortunately it took over 20 years for Klinger’s prophesy to come true. On its original release in 1971 Get Carter was not a critical success. Many journalists weren’t comfortable with Hodges’s vision of a violent criminal underbelly and consequently the film spent twenty years in the critical wilderness. It was not until Get Carter was re-released in 1999 that it took its rightful place among the pantheon of British cinema classics.
Said Michael Caine in Loaded magazine (February 1999): “ Quite often, you only realise how good a film is in retrospect. Then years later, a whole new generation picks it up and hails it as a classic!”
What Would Jesus Say? Mike Hodges Retrospective – To accompany the anniversary screening of Get Carter on 11 March Tyneside Cinema will also show a season of Hodges’ major film and TV work. The screenings will run from 10 to 16 March, and include: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003), Suspect (1969), Rumour (1970), Croupier (1998), The Terminal Man (1974), Dandelion Dead (1994), Flash Gordon (1980), Black Rainbow (1989), and Pulp (1972), which reunited Hodges with Get Carter producer Michael Klinger and also starred Michael Caine.
As well as the work of Hodges, the season will feature films which share similar themes or origins to Get Carter, such as Stormy Monday (1988), Payroll (1961), Brighton Rock (1947) and T Dan Smith: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Utopia (1987), a documentary about the 70’s Newcastle housing corruption scandal that formed a backdrop to the filming of Get Carter.
Tyne Idols Tours – Chris Phipps, media historian, TV producer, who co-produced legendary rock show The Tube, is one of the brains behind music themed tour company, Tyne Idols Tours who have put together a special two hour tailor made Get Carter location tour. The tours will take place on Sunday 13 March and each will be preceded by a screening of the film at Tyneside Cinema, after which ticketholders are invited to climb aboard a Routemaster double-decker and step into the footsteps of Jack Carter.
Explains Chris Phipps: “ The cityscape of Newcastle and Gateshead has changed drastically in the 40 years since the release of Get Carter. Many of the locations used in the shooting of the movie still remain however and these include the stunning vista of the various Tyne Bridges, the Las Vegas guesthouse, the Oxford ballroom, the West Road crematorium, and much more. Where certain iconic buildings no longer exist, we aim to show “the essence” of Get Carter, to give a taste of how grim Tyneside was in 1971 before decades of major redevelopment”.
Mike Hodges at The Story Engine – The annual screenwriters conference The Story Engine, (Friday 11 March and Saturday 12 March 2011 £80/£100) this year takes Get Carter as its starting point to re-examine how the crime genre continues to enthral filmmakers and audiences, and explores current markets for the genre in film, television and online. Featuring case studies, panel discussions, and networking with leading industry insiders, the aim is to help new and emerging talent gain a better understanding of the art, craft, and business of screenwriting.
As well as Mike Hodges, who will give the keynote address, other speakers include: David Peace (Red Riding Trilogy, Damned United), Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Unloved, Death Defying Acts), Val McDermid (crime writer behind, Wire in the Blood), and the production team for Vera, the new ITV show starring Brenda Blethyn which is based on the Ann Cleeves novel Hidden Depths.
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