Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

christopher-underwood I don't recall whether I saw this theatrically back in the day but not having been a massive fan of Get Carter, the year before, it is possible I didn't. Not many did it seems and the film has rather languished, lacking a clear pidgin hole of a genre for it to shine anew. Well, Arrow Films now give it a second chance with a glorious Blu-ray release and it is a wonder to behold. Whatever you are expecting you will be confounded and the trick seems to be that you should sit back and enjoy rather than rant that it is not Get carter or that it should not have continuous narration. Now, that narration, almost continuous from Michael Caine, is quite wonderful. It may seem strained at first but once you realise that it is a pastiche of pulp paperbacks, sex, violence, gangster, the lot, much fun is to be had. The film opening, beneath the credits is fantastic and eases you into this unique film even before you have any idea of what is going on. So, the narration is great (and amusing) the dialogue is equally good, the music (thank you George Martin) is very fine and the look of the film a joy to behold. The acting by all is effective, I personally thing that Mickey Rooney is a bit over the top but maybe that helps. Anyway, its a must see for adventurous filmgoers, lovers of the unusual and quirky and absolutely essential for fans of Michael Caine because this just might be his best performance!

writers_reign All films begin with the screenplay and this lucks out because Mike Hodges thinks he's Raymond Chandler which is as ludicrous as Cliff Richard thinking he's Frank Sinatra. Mr. Richard is, of course, aware of his limitations and if Mike Hodges had similar self-awareness he may have turned out something half decent instead of this piece of cheese which makes the atrocious Beat The Devil seem almost watchable. There can seldom have been a more unglamorous location than Malta, a Malta shot theoretically in colour but a colour that is actually inferior to Black and White. I'm struggling for something positive to say about the screenplay, acting, photography or direction but I'll have to give it up as a bad job.

jacegaffney Mike Hodges' GET CARTER (1971) is, supposedly, a realistic gangster flick about a hit man, played by Michael Caine, who murders without demur and, indiscriminately, screws every bird in sight; yet, wells up at the thought that - is it his niece? - has been snatched up by a porno-movie ring. He systematically knocks off mob kingpins and we are invited to watch him do it - with cold-blooded relish.PULP is gangster related too, but pure Lewis Carroll in narrative plausibility; nevertheless, Caine's Mickey King is amusingly credible in the manner in which he drinks in the dream world that happens to him.PULP pulls off something that few films (including SUNSET BLVD., with the marvelous William Holden) are able to do. It makes an author its central character and you believe, from start to finish, that he is, in fact, a man of curiosity and invention, who makes his living by the employment of words.Among Hodges' other films, CROUPIER (1998) is closer to PULP than GET CARTER is because its protagonist's literary pretensions resemble King's habit of describing a shady milieu which operates in moral twilight. Both pictures suffer from direction too tightly melded to intriguing fictional conceits. However, the phlegmatic understatement of Caine's voice-over commentary (written by Hodges) is maintained impressively, the Malta locations and surprising russet colors - not to mention the freak-show supporting cast of Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Dennis Price, Nadia Cassini's mile-long legs and, Bogart look-a-like, Robert Sacchi make it a must for connoisseurs of the truly offbeat.Was this comment useful to you?

qormi I watched this video because I like Malta and this movie was filmed in its entirety there. Very disappointing, since it fails to catch any of the flavor or beauty of the island - just the hot, dry, and barren elements. The movie was dull, boring, completely incoherent from beginning to end, pretentious, and devoid of any conceivable plot. You had to be a psychic to follow the plot line, or lack thereof. It had its moments, sure; but so does going to the dentist.In short, I'd much rather endure another colonoscophy before viewing this horrible mess again. It was so bad, I actually couldn't fall asleep. There are quite a few "Eurotrash" movies out there that were obviously made without adult supervision. This is one of them. On the bright side, who is Nadia Cassini? Never before have I seen a more beautiful set of legs. She is the one saving grace of this movie.Disturbing, too, was the cruel boar hunt depicted in the closing credits. A boar that was released on someone's property (Malta has very few native mammals; all of them small - rats, bats, etc.) and then set upon by dogs before it was shot. Oh, well - go visit Malta anyway despite this film - it's a beautiful, colorful island; rich in history and lots of fun.