Get Carter

Get Carter (1971)

7 quotes

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Jack Carter: Frank wasn't like that. I'm the villain in the family, remember?

Jack Carter: You couldn't run an egg and spoon race Eric.

Eric: So, what're you doing then? On your holidays?
Jack Carter: No, I'm visiting relatives.
Eric: Oh, that's nice.
Jack Carter: It would be... if they were still living.

Edna: What's that gun doing in your room? Suppose I phone the police, told them there's a bloke in my hotel... who's planning to shoot somebody?
Jack Carter: You wouldn't do that.
Edna: How do you know I wouldn't?
Jack Carter: 'Cause I know you wear purple underwear.
Edna: What's that supposed to mean?
Jack Carter: Think about it.

Jack Carter: You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like. Still the same. Pissholes in the snow.

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Mistakes

Other mistake: At the end just as Carter is about to be shot, he is facing the sea as he goes to throw his gun away. At this point the gunman fires and hits Carter square in the forehead. The position of the gunman is shown as being behind Carter and to his right (this is seen when the gunman lines up to take aim). Even though Carter leans back as he throws his gun away, he would have been hit somewhere on the right side of his head or temple at best.

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Trivia

Trivia: Michael Caine's character was called Jack Carter. According to the film's director, Mike Hodges, the stand-in used for Michael Caine during the filming actually was a guy named...Jack Carter.

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Questions

Question: Why does Jack insist that his pint of bitter be in a THIN glass? I've tried doing some Google research on the question and haven't come up with a satisfactory answer. One person says it's a Northerners vs Southerners custom, one says it's in case he needs to use the glass as a weapon, another says he's just being a jerk to the barman as he'd already started to pull it, and a fourth says it's just because that's how Carter ordered it in the novel. Nobody seems to know for certain, though. I'm hoping that maybe someone's seen an interview with Michael Caine or Ted Lewis and has the real answer.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: It's a show of sophistication. Working class men in pubs and clubs (north, south, and London) typically drank from beer mugs. By insisting on a thin glass Jack is making a public display, of socially distancing himself from the average beer drinking peers, showing he has refined himself from his working class roots.

This is 180° wrong. Thick pint pots with handles were just becoming fashionable when this was made, by ordering a straight "thin" glass he is opting for traditional over trendy.

This is 100% rubbish. The new design of the dimpled mug glass in the 70s was a continuation of the fluted mugs of the 1920s. Northerners, particularly Yorkshire, preferred their beer in jugs, not straight glasses.

Not true at all: everyone I knew in the 70's and 80's always preferred their beer in a normal "thin" pint glass, not the thick, chunky dimpled things. Rightly or wrongly, we always felt it tasted better from a proper glass.

Chosen answer: Its the northerners V southerners for that time period - northerners drank from jugs (the pint glass with the handle) and southerners drank from tall pint glasses that are more commonly used today. Jack, being from London, wanted it in a tall glass.

Answer: Absolutely not. This is gangster. Carter knows if he has a thin straight glass he can tap it on the bar and he has a makeshift weapon. You can't do that with a dimpled 'glass' with a handle, which is a mug by the way.

Nobody smashes a glass on the bar first - the face or head is used to "glass" someone. Agreed, it's not called a jug, but a mug usually has a hot beverage, although alcohol can be served in a beer mug, tankard, or dimpled beer glass. The handled glass would most likely knock you out before breaking on your head! I think it's more likely the North/South divide rather than cutting your hand breaking it on the bar.

Answer: The reason is to imply that he wants a full pint of beer, "in a thin glass" wasn't in the script, it was Michael Caine's addition and just reinforces the character's image of an 'alpha male'.

It's still gonna be a 568ml (British) pint regardless of the shape of the glass! Northerners generally preferred more of a head of froth than anyone South of Watford, and I believe that "bitter" or "heavy" laterally came in a glass with a handle and lager more commonly in a straight glass. Personally, I'd be reluctant to take the time to break a pint glass on the bar, possibly cutting my hand in the process, while your opponent has already broken theirs over your head and followed up in your face.

Answer: Jugs can survive being chipped on the rim and difficult to spot, any chip on a thin glass would produce an obvious crack and not be used, so you could cut your mouth on a chipped jug. Nothing to do with class, just thickness of glass.

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