Get Carter

Before Guy Ritchie hit upon the idea of employing an ex-footballer to star in his films, Michael Caine walked out onto a cold Newcastle street wearing nothing but a fully loaded shot gun and it was then that the British Gangster film was truly born.

The film follows Caine, as Jack Carter, on his return up north for his brother's funeral. It soon transpires that his brother's death was not accidental and with the introduction of Cyril Kinnear the North East crime boss, (played by playwright John Osbourne), the body count can begin.

This is arguably Caine's best performance to date - as the hardened criminal he delivers violent retribution on those responsibe for his brother's murder without any remorse as well as some quite stunning insults: "You I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow."

Add to this a supurb use of the Newcastle locale by Hodges, one of the coolest soundtracks in film and you have one of the best films Britain has ever produced. Don't miss out on the chance to see the film that made a black trench coat a fashion must have and realise how laughable it is that the Americans’thought they could make a better job of it with Sylvester Stallone.

Emma Seldon

Set against a seedy backdrop of porn and gambling (it's not really this grim up north!), Get Carter stars Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a vicious London gangster who travels to Newcastle to attend his brother's funeral. Carter begins to suspect that his brother's death was not an accident and sets out to follow a complex trail of lies, cover-ups and back-handers that he hopes will ultimately lead him to the man who ordered his brother's murder.

A member of the highly regarded troika of British gangster films of the '70s and '80s (along with Mona Lisa and The Long Good Friday), Get Carter offers a very different view of Michael Caine to the one we are familiar with. Giving what is arguably the performance of his career, Caine's Carter is almost as unstoppable as the cyborg in Terminator and just as ruthless as he exacts his revenge. Caine basically spends the film being hard as nails and beating people up, and the film comes to a very violent conclusion. Like The Long Good Friday, Get Carter offers comedic moments punctuated by sudden, brutal acts of violence. So check out this piece of British cinema history, if only to see Alf from Coronation Street get slapped around.

Mike Curtis