By Laurence Luckinbill
GET CARTER (1971)
If you want to source the blueprint for the tough-as-nails cinematic UK gangster of the last fifty years or so, go no further than Jack Carter, the ice-cold brute at the heart of Mike Hodges’ brilliant 1971 thriller Get Carter.
As played with a scathing lack of compromise by Michael Caine (who was on an absolute hot streak after appearing in the era-defining hits Zulu, The Ipcress File, Alfie and The Italian Job), Carter is the definitive British gangster.
A terse, embittered and disturbingly functional go-to man for the London mob, things get uncharacteristically personal for Jack Carter when he travels to the drab, grey surrounds of Newcastle for his brother’s funeral.
Despite showing no emotion (Caine deliberately and expertly keeps everything below the surface in a terrific example of slow-burn acting), Carter begins to suspect foul play in his brother’s death, and pretty soon he’s bashing and threatening his way through Newcastle’s criminal underworld, relentlessly and ruthlessly looking for answers.
Carter, however, is more than just a hardman. As the film unravels, his metallic outer shell is slowly corroded, revealing a well of pain – and, most surprisingly, a sense of responsibility – that drives his violent actions.
SNATCH (2000)
With 2000’s Snatch, writer/director Guy Ritchie followed up his propulsive 1998 debut, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, with another rock-solid slab of British crime fiction. This time boasting a bigger budget courtesy of his first film’s monster box office haul, Ritchie drafted several big name American stars (Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, Benicio Del Toro) to swagger alongside his British actors (Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Stephen Graham) in a trans-Atlantic tale of stolen diamonds, man-eating pigs, crooked boxing matches, double crosses, and burnt loyalties.
“I originally wanted to make this film very serious,” Guy Ritchie told FilmInk. “It just evolved like that. I wanted to make it more serious initially. But all I really want to do is entertain people, and show some walks of life which haven’t been too over exposed. But to me it’s all entertainment, whether it be people laughing or crying or whatever. And to me, nothing makes me happier than seeing a bunch of people laughing.”
Interestingly, the film’s American characters might have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they’d done their research by checking out some UK casino reviews before they flew into England.
THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (1980)
“It’s not my life, it’s how I earn my living,” actor Bob Hoskins once told FilmInk. “People ask me what my favourite roles are – to me, it’s like asking a plumber to remember his favourite pipes! Fuck that!”
Though the late Bob Hoskins might not have liked to trawl back through his cinematic past, one of his greatest roles is unquestionably in the 1980 crime film The Long Good Friday, one of the best in British cinema history.
Hard, tough, nasty and utterly uncompromising, The Long Good Friday introduced the world at large to the singular talents of Mr. Hoskins, who delivers an extraordinary performance as Harold Shand, a vicious mobster who runs his patch of London with a complete lack of mercy.
Packed with local vernacular and defined by a claustrophobic sense of realism, The Long Good Friday (which also features early performances from Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan) is a masterclass in British crime cinema.
A minor hit upon its release, the influence of the film is profound, with practically every UK crime released since owing it some kind of debt. “The Long Good Friday was a very realistic piece,” Snatch director Guy Ritchie told FilmInk of the film. “That was Bob Hoskins at his best.”
