Get Carter (1971) - Dreary, bleak and overrated revenge flick

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A slick and simple poster for Mike Hodges' Get Carter

Jack Carter is a gangster, whose brother has been killed. Now he searches out people with knowledge about the murder, until he finds the culprit. SPOILER He shoots the killer on a beach and is then sniped himself.

Get Carter is written and directed by debuting Mike Hodges (Flash Gordon (1980)), based on the novel Jack's Return Home (1970) by Ted Lewis (All the Way Home and All the Night Through (1965)).
England has rarely been drawn as a more hideous and dismal place than it is here, and regrettably the script doesn't lead one to care for a single character in the film either. When a film decides on a tone as cold as concrete at the dead of winter, I think it is pivotal that it makes up for it with some color or charm in its characters. With both of these negatives, the result with Get Carter is a dreary British crime flick, in which the only thing to interrupt the short-bitten, dull dialog and Michael Caine's (Last Orders (2001)) tight-lipped, side parted, horrid-looking anti-hero protagonist is a squeaking wind. Get Carter is a dreadful bore and wildly overrated.

Caine at the time of the film's release sends a message in a video here

Cost: 750k $ or £ (different accounts)
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Get Carter premiered 3 February (USA) and runs 112 minutes. Hodges was paid 7k £ to write and direct the film. Established star Caine's salary is not known. Shooting took place in England, including London, from July - September 1970. The film was reportedly a theatrical hit in Great Britain, where it was the 6th most popular at the 1971 box office. In North America it was shown on a double bill at drive-ins. Distributor MGM favored promoting another adaptation of Lewis' novel; blaxploitation movie Hit Man (1972). Get Carter was released in a long row of markets but its theatrical gross numbers are regrettably unreported online. It was nominated for a BAFTA. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. The film was remade under the same title in 2000 with star Sylvester Stallone, a film that was a massive failure critically and commercially. Hodges returned with The Frighteners (1972, TV-series)) and theatrically with Pulp (1972), again with Caine. Caine returned first in Kidnapped (1971). Get Carter is fresh at 84 % with a 7.14/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Damien: Omen II (1978) - Mimicking follow-up is a true turkey

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A poster for Don Taylor and Mike Hodges' successful Damien: Omen II

QUICK REVIEW:

Seven years after the events of the first film, (the masterpiece The Omen (1976)), devil-boy Damien lives with his rich, initially unsuspecting uncle and his family, until he is to go away to a military school.

Rarely has a phenomenal first film been followed by as poor a sequel as is the case here. The awfully titled Damien: Omen II is a big production, justified by the massive success of the original film, led by William Holden (The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)), who was there for what must have been a hefty paycheck, (let's not kid ourselves.) He was offered the Thorn-part in the original The Omen but turned it down due to his distaste of starring in a film of the devil, - but after the film's incredible success, he made sure to agree to do the sequel...
The tentative chills of the film are soon replaced by a sense of 'who-dies-next', which isn't scary at all, and worse is that the death scenarios are almost ridiculous more than once, SPOILER with the scene of the man who dies under the ice, - which changes from being glass-like to completely white and nontransparent between shots, - being the worst.
The promising premise of Omen II is wasted in what turns out to be nothing more than a stupid rehash, which attempts to match the brilliant first film as if filmmaking was nothing more than a can factory.
Stanley Mann (Firestarter (1984)) wrote the script, based on Harvey Bernhard's (Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, TV movie)) story and David Seltzer's characters (Bird on a Wire (1990)), and the film was initially directed by Mike Hodges (Flash Gordon (1980)), who was thought slow and therefore got replaced by Don Taylor (The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)). The film is a case of the fatal combination; bad start, middle and end. - Damien: Omen II is just plain bad!

Willam Holden applies a stern face in Don Taylor and Mike Hodges' Damien: Omen II

In lieu of a trailer for the movie, not currently on Youtube, here is Jerry Goldsmith's (The Omen) opening theme

Cost: 6.8 mil. $
Box office: 26.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Big hit (at least)
[Damien: Omen II was released June 9 and runs 107 minutes. The only returning actor is Lew McKern (The Blue Lagoon (1980)) as Bugenhagen, who, however, went uncredited. The film is mainly set in Chicago, and the Thorn Industries building is in fact Chicago's city hall, but filming also took place in Wisconsin. The film opened #1 in North America in just 525 theaters to an astounding 3.8 mil. $ first weekend. The franchise continued with The Final Conflict (1981), Omen IV: The Awakening (1991, TV movie), The Omen Legacy (2001, TV movie) and The Omen (2006, remake). Damien: Omen II is rotten at 41 % with a 5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

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