Get Carter (1971)

4 corrected entries

★★★★☆

Starring: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne

Corrected entry: In the scene where Jack Carter is chasing Thorpey, Thorpey hides by going into a dance hall. Watch for one brief shot of the dance floor - there's a tall skinny youth on the dance floor wearing an orange shirt and a black waistcoat. This shot was the (uncredited) screen debut of Jimmy Nail - later of "Auf Weidershen, Pet" fame. (00:42:00 - 00:43:00)

Correction: Jimmy Nail is not on the dance floor. I froze the DVD to take a good look. It's well known he is next to the entrance of the night club when Caine walks in. I made an entire web site devoted to the film.

Corrected entry: In the "drink up and die" sequence at the end of the film, Jack Carter is chasing Eric Paice along a coal landing wharf, saying "You couldn't win an egg and spoon race, Eric". Eric jumps, and...next shot, they are running across a filthy stormy beach. The coal landing wharf was at Cambois Staithes, Blyth, Northumberland. The filthy beach was at Blackhall, County Durham. The two are over 37 miles apart. Even Sir Michael Caine can't jump over 37 miles in a single leap... (01:40:30)

Correction: Unless there is an obvious physical discontinuity between the two scenes, then this is not a film mistake. Using one location for another is not a mistake, it is part of the film making process.

Corrected entry: In the scene where Jack Carter stabs Albert Swift to death (in the toilets at the back of the betting shop) we only see a teaspoon-sized bloodstain on Albert's shirt. If you stab someone through the heart with a knife, you'd usually see more blood then that. (There were at least two takes of this scene - one with lots of blood, and a 'toned down' version with very little. At the request of the BBFC Censors, the 'toned down' version was the one used)

Correction: He doesn't get stabbed in the heart. Jack stabs him in the left side of his stomach/gut area.

Corrected entry: In the 'drink up and die' sequence near the end of the film, Jack Carter is chasing Eric Paice. Carter is carrying a loaded shot gun. (He even says "move away from the car - or I'll blow you away"). Yet Jack Carter killed Eric by smashing his skull in with the gun butt. Why didn't Carter just shoot Eric with the gun? After all he couldn't miss - Eric was lying on the beach when they were less than 2 ft apart...

Correction: Because he didn't want to. Eric had killed his brother and Carter wanted to make him suffer - thus, the "drink up and die" sequence. So, shooting Eric wasn't enough for Carter. That's why he cracked up the guy's head instead of merely shooting him.

cinecena ★

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Mistakes

Other mistake: At the end just as Carter is about to be shot, he is facing the sea as he goes to throw his gun away. At this point the gunman fires and hits Carter square in the forehead. The position of the gunman is shown as being behind Carter and to his right (this is seen when the gunman lines up to take aim). Even though Carter leans back as he throws his gun away, he would have been hit somewhere on the right side of his head or temple at best.

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Quotes

Jack Carter: You couldn't run an egg and spoon race Eric.

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Trivia

Trivia: 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.

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Questions

Question: Why does Jack insist that his pint of bitter be in a THIN glass? I've tried doing some Google research on the question and haven't come up with a satisfactory answer. One person says it's a Northerners vs Southerners custom, one says it's in case he needs to use the glass as a weapon, another says he's just being a jerk to the barman as he'd already started to pull it, and a fourth says it's just because that's how Carter ordered it in the novel. Nobody seems to know for certain, though. I'm hoping that maybe someone's seen an interview with Michael Caine or Ted Lewis and has the real answer.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: It's a show of sophistication. Working class men in pubs and clubs (north, south, and London) typically drank from beer mugs. By insisting on a thin glass Jack is making a public display, of socially distancing himself from the average beer drinking peers, showing he has refined himself from his working class roots.

This is 180° wrong. Thick pint pots with handles were just becoming fashionable when this was made, by ordering a straight "thin" glass he is opting for traditional over trendy.

This is 100% rubbish. The new design of the dimpled mug glass in the 70s was a continuation of the fluted mugs of the 1920s. Northerners, particularly Yorkshire, preferred their beer in jugs, not straight glasses.

Not true at all: everyone I knew in the 70's and 80's always preferred their beer in a normal "thin" pint glass, not the thick, chunky dimpled things. Rightly or wrongly, we always felt it tasted better from a proper glass.

Chosen answer: Its the northerners V southerners for that time period - northerners drank from jugs (the pint glass with the handle) and southerners drank from tall pint glasses that are more commonly used today. Jack, being from London, wanted it in a tall glass.

Answer: Absolutely not. This is gangster. Carter knows if he has a thin straight glass he can tap it on the bar and he has a makeshift weapon. You can't do that with a dimpled 'glass' with a handle, which is a mug by the way.

Nobody smashes a glass on the bar first - the face or head is used to "glass" someone. Agreed, it's not called a jug, but a mug usually has a hot beverage, although alcohol can be served in a beer mug, tankard, or dimpled beer glass. The handled glass would most likely knock you out before breaking on your head! I think it's more likely the North/South divide rather than cutting your hand breaking it on the bar.

Answer: The reason is to imply that he wants a full pint of beer, "in a thin glass" wasn't in the script, it was Michael Caine's addition and just reinforces the character's image of an 'alpha male'.

It's still gonna be a 568ml (British) pint regardless of the shape of the glass! Northerners generally preferred more of a head of froth than anyone South of Watford, and I believe that "bitter" or "heavy" laterally came in a glass with a handle and lager more commonly in a straight glass. Personally, I'd be reluctant to take the time to break a pint glass on the bar, possibly cutting my hand in the process, while your opponent has already broken theirs over your head and followed up in your face.

Answer: Jugs can survive being chipped on the rim and difficult to spot, any chip on a thin glass would produce an obvious crack and not be used, so you could cut your mouth on a chipped jug. Nothing to do with class, just thickness of glass.

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