Get Carter (1971) - 5 trivia entries

John "Biffo" Bindon (played Sid Fletcher) had numerous roles during the '60s-'70s as the gangster-type. In real-life he had a violent temper, provoked pub fights and ran a protection racket. It's been suggested that he was known to associate with organised crime leaders the Kray twins and the Richardson Gang, but the extent of his involvement in the English underworld has never really been proven. In 1968 he was awarded the Queen's Award for Bravery (a police bravery medal) for rescuing a drowning man by diving off the Putney Bridge into the River Thames. Some have said that it was Bindon who pushed the man off the bridge but was forced to rescue him when a policeman showed up. By 1971 Bindon went into organising security, which had unfortunate results when hired to be security co-ordinator for Led Zeppelin, during their U.S. concert tour. Then in 1978, Bindon was in a knife fight with London gangster John Darke, which resulted in Darke's death, and by 1979 was on trial where the prosecution claimed it was a contract killing. Defence argued that Darke's death was in self defence (there were allegations that while awaiting trial Bindon bragged to a cellmate that he was a hitman). Though Bindon was acquitted of Darke's murder, his reputation was badly damaged and he became reclusive in the 1980s, before his death in October '93, of AIDS.

Early in the film, when Jack Carter is in the bar and asks for a "a pint of bitter...in a thin glass" there's a brief shot of an old guy raising his pint glass to the camera. Look carefully, and you'll see that the old guy has six fingers (five fingers and a thumb)

Michael Caine's character was called Jack Carter. According to the film's director, Mike Hodges, the stand-in used for Michael Caine during the filming actually was a guy named...Jack Carter

Michael Caine appears in the 2000 remake, which stars Sylvester Stallone as Jack Carter.

One of the most memorable things about Get Carter is its use of locations in and around Newcastle. (Indeed, director Mike Hodges even rewrote the script at some points to make use of the locations he'd found.) But what is not so widely known is that the book the film is based on - "Jack's Return Home" by Ted Lewis - was not set in Newcastle at all. It was set in Doncaster.