SHADOWS RISING - The Extended McLean Cut

By Russel D McLean

At Bouchercon this year, I was lucky enough to be involved in two brilliant panels. The first was called WOMEN TROUBLE, and boy was that ever an apt description… tasked with trying to control the femmes fatales that are Christa Faust, Lori G Armstrong, Karen Olson, Judy Clemens and Lauren Milne Henderson (also known as Bonkbuster author Rebecca Chance), I was expected to be eaten alive but thankfully came out relatively unscathed.

However, as much fun as the panel was (and boy, it really was) this week I’m talking about my other panel – SHADOWS RISING – which concerned films for the discerning crime fan. The panel was chaired by Jeremy Lynch and also featured Todd Ritter, David Corbett, Megan Abbott and Wallace Stroby (all of whome are well worth reading).

Oh, yes. We were talking movies. But of course, as it turned out, we needed a lot longer than we got. Which was a shame because we were just about to hit one of my favourite movie periods when the time ran out. Yup, in movie terms, I adore the late 60’s and pretty much all of the70’s. While I appreciate and can articulate my love for the dark noir of the forties and fifties – we didn’t progress beyond this period, having so much to talk about! – there’s something about the gritty naturalism of this period of film-making that really grabs me.

So here are my choices for the time period we never got to discuss:

POINT BLANK
One of those films that would later be “defiled” by modern Hollywood in the form of Mel Gibson vehicle PAYBACK*, the original is a powerhouse of a movie. Lee Marvin’s “Walker” would come to colour the way I viewed the Parker character from the source material (Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER) and embody, to me, the ultimate criminal bastard. He’s cold, tough and deadly. He says more with a look than a little boy like Gibson could say with a thousand tough-guy speeches. He owns the screen every second he’s on there, and his refrain of “I want my money” is delivered so coolly and devoid of the kind of faux-anger lesser actors might employ that it sends a chill down your spine.

Okay, I admit, the scene in the nightclub has dated a little (it’s pretty groovy, man) but a couple of slips aside this is an absolute masterpiece of tough guy cinema and one of my favourite all time movies. Which is why it’s a crying goddamn shame that it ain’t available on DVD here in the UK…



GET CARTER
One of those rare UK crime movies I love, GET CARTER is perfection from start to finish. The opening score is brilliant and contrasts beautifully with the dull grey of 70’s Newcastle. And Caine is perfection. A very British Walker, I suppose, his tough guy menace is on a par with Marvin’s. Again its in the spaces between the action that Cain really shines. Just a little or a little movement shows you he means business. This is a gritty, dirty and brilliant little movie that capitalises on its UK setting in a way very few films ever manage.

Again, like Point Blank, Get Carter was subjected to Hollywood remake. In 2000, Sylvester Stallone foolishly moved the story to the US and created one of the great cinematic turkeys. Although I do believe he at least gave Caine a cameo.



IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
Was my third choice. It was narrowed down from a further short list that included later films like Serpico and Bullitt. So why plump for the earlier In The Heat of the Night?

Well, the answer was simple: it was a film that showed me a world utterly alien to me. I grew up in a tolerant Scottish household that taught me to treat all people equally, and here was a world where a black man had to fight for respect, had to struggle against ignorance and fear because he looked different. It was a world that was shocking to me to discover, and the sheer power of the performances from both Poitier and Steiger had me glued to the screen. This is one of those films that shows crime fiction can be the ideal way to explore social and political issues. And of course, its got that great Ray Charles theme. What else could you ask for?



There were two more periods, of course, we had left to cover. And while my brief comments were recently put up by Jeremy Lynch on the Crime Spree blog, I really felt I had to expand and say what I would have if I had the chance to expand on my ideas and thoughts on what I consider to be just a smattering of the movies that for me define certain decades.

So unless something else crops up, I guess next week I’ll be talking eighties. Which probably means I have to mention my special “sacred cow” that resulted in a several minute long rant that I think took much of the audience by surprise…

*Jay Stringer and others defend this movie, especially the “director’s cut”. But I refuse to listen. Seriously, PAYBACK is a bad movie. Deal with it.

"I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow."

Michael Caine’s latest movie, Harry Brown, is, according to the man himself, about the kind of man that Jack Carter might have been if he survived to a ripe old age.



I have no idea whether the film is any good or not, but it has done is get me thinking about Get Carter, one of the best damn crime flicks you’re ever likely to watch. And more surprising because of Caine.

It’s easy to forget sometimes just how damn good Michael Caine is. He’s so recognisable for being himself and he’s done so many bad movies that when he comes back at you with an incredible performance, you just sit there open mouthed.

Get Carter is one of those performances. It is literally iconic. You watch Caine and you think, “That man is cool.” And he is. In the best sense of the word. There is no posing for Carter. He exists and he does what he does. He is the UK equivalent of a man like Parker in the way that Caine plays him. His eyes are ice-cold, his expression unchanging and his determination absolute. Nothing will stand in his way.

What brought home the absolute brilliance of Caine’s performance was going to see Get Carter on stage at the Fringe a couple of years back. It was a good show, but what was interesting was to see how the lead interpreted the character of Jack Carter. On stage, he was bluster and anger and sheer rage. This character was heading towards his own doom. He was out of control. He created his own troubles and you could see it in every move he made.

It was a great and affecting performance, but what works so well with Caine is that you just don’t know what he’s going to do next or how he’s going to react. He is unreadable. All you know is that you don’t want to be on the wrong side of him. Say the wrong thing and there will be no warning. He will strike back. Fast, deadly and brutal. Beneath that cool exterior, the rage that the stage projected is bubbling up and threatening to explode, but Caine’s Carter keeps it so reeled in that when it is unleashed, you – and those around Carter – are shocked and horrified.

But it is interesting to think about the different ways in which characters are interpreted – not just in film, but in the minds of readers – and how that affects their actions. The Carter on stage went through a very similar (with some minor variations) journey to the character of Carter on film. And yet the emphasis was very different. The conclusions drawn were different. The Carter on stage was a thug, a loudmouth, a man filled with anger. The Carter on film is a bastard, through and through, self centred and yet curiously indifferent to the world around him if it stays out of his way. Were it not for the fact that his family are affected by the machinations of local criminal elements, Carter would just shrug his shoulders and walk on his way. He wouldn’t hurt anyone, wouldn’t even notice them. There is a beautiful scene where a fella Carter knows has been beat to shit. Its Carter’s fault. Carter offers some money to the fella because, well, its in part Carter’s fault this happened. The fella moans about his girlfriend is coming down from Liverpool, and what’s she gonna think when she sees him like this?

Caine, dismissvely throw the money, says, “Here, go get yourself a course in Karate” and walks. He doesn’t care. He’s giving the guy money because its Carter’s fault and he knows you have to take responsibility. But in his cold heart, he truly does not give a shit.

Carter is one of my favourite on screen tough guys. Truly, he’s the real deal. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Get Carter is probably one of the most perfect British crime movies ever made. Not a false step in there.

And one of the coolest opening themes you’ll ever hear:



PS – you’ll notice I didn’t mention the Stallone interpretation of this character. There’s a very good reason for that. But if you want me to explain it, you’ll just hear a lot of bad-tempered swear words…