When I switched on my computer this morning I found a dubious e-mail in my inbox. The headline said that it concerned the non-delivery of my parcel, which I could collect from my nearest USPS depot, and there was a word document for me to print my delivery label. I didn't open the document. Despite the fact that it had made it into my in-box, and not even my spam box, the e-mail didn't look quite right. For starters, I am not expecting a parcel at the moment. I often am, as I do much of my shopping over the net, but the only things I'm currently expecting are some Whichford flowerpots, which will probably come in Whichford's own van, and certainly won't be left in a depot somewhere. And the wording was not quite right. It said that my parcel had been at the post office since 3 November, and that I could collect if from the USPS office. Post offices and delivery company offices are quite different things. And it didn't apologise for their failure to deliver, which a genuine service company would almost certainly do. And generally such communications include all the information you need in the body of the e-mail, including the identity of the sender and a tracking number, and don't require you to open an attachment. And they had sent the e-mail twice, which made me look at it twice. And like I said, I'm not expecting a parcel. But if I had been, I might have clicked without thinking, first thing in the morning, if I was pushed for time and about to rush out.
We watched Get Carter last night. It was released in 1971, so 2011 is its 40th anniversary. I saw it once before, a long time ago, and knew that it featured the brutalist car park, because there was a lot of furore recently about that being demolished, plus I remembered a beach, and that was about it. Watching it again I realised what a superlatively good film it is. The structure would be daring and unusual now. It is a film with no scene setting or explanations at all, beyond the sequence ahead of the credits where Michael Caine's character says that he is going north to find out why somebody died. We don't find out who is dead, or how, or what they have to do with Michael Caine. Then there is a long sequence of Michael Caine sitting on an intercity train, reading a book (The Long Goodbye), looking at his fellow passengers, and eating a meal in the restaurant, until he gets to Newcastle. Nothing happens on the train. I'm not sure you could get away with such a long non-action sequence at the beginning of an action movie nowadays.
Once in Newcastle events unfold (don't worry, no plot spoilers to follow). Somebody called Margaret hasn't met him in a pub, and he is annoyed. Who is Margaret? Why hasn't she come? He goes to a shabby house. Whose house is it? He views a body, presumably that of the person whose death has brought him north, but we don't find out who they are, yet. And so on through the entire film. As the audience we gradually piece together who the characters are, how they are connected, and what is going on, and the tension builds. When I started watching The Sopranos (which I love) it took the whole of a feature length first episode just to introduce the characters. Get Carter throws the characters at your head and leaves you to sort it out.
Wikipedia and the IMDb site are great inventions. After watching the film, having not looked it up before to avoid finding out what happened, we were able to see what else the actors had been in, and how the film reviewed at the time. The answer is, very badly. Most critics disliked the violence, the sex, and the atmosphere of ruthless cruelty. Soulless and nastily erotic...virtuoso viciousness, one would rather wash one's mouth out with soap than recommend it, according to Wikipedia. By 2004 Total Film magazine acclaimed it as the greatest UK film in any genre. It is a nasty film. Quite a few people get killed, and none of the sex takes place within the context of a loving, committed relationship. Gangsterism is a nasty business. Which makes Get Carter a more moral film than the cuddly, semi-comic gangsters of the Guy Ritchie genre. Though there are some moments of farcical comedy in Get Carter.
Besides Michael Caine, who made some very good films at that stage of his career (Alfie, The Italian Job), the other star of Get Carter is the scenery. Filmed on location in Newcastle and Gateshead, it is set largely among scenes of urban decay, slum housing, bridges, the docks, and of course the famous car park, and the coal stained, ravaged beach. I can't think of many other films that convey such a strong sense of place, and where the place seems so irrevocably linked with the action. In 2000 the Americans remade it, starring Sylvester Stallone. Goodness knows why. It bombed. I regret to report that Michael Caine took a part in the remake. Though as he himself admits in interviews, he is a working actor and if he isn't doing anything else at the time he'll accept all sorts of scripts, meaning that as well as being in some of our best films he has been in some real turkeys.
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