'Get Carter' holds up as Michael Caine and UK's coolest film ever

Yesterday I had the privilege of seeing one of my all-time favorite gangster genre films -- the original Get Carter -- on the big screen for the first time, and boy, does this film still have bite.

Anchored by a never-better, cool-as-ice Michael Caine, this influential British film gets better every time I see it, and its sophistication is striking amid all of its surface level pleasures.

It's both a fascinating character study and a pretty straight ahead revenge thriller. Caine plays Jack Carter, something akin to an enforcer for a crime boss. We learn early on that his brother (who he wasn't apparently particularly close to) has been killed, and against the wishes of his superiors -- Carter decides to get even.

Caine is feline-like presence throughout, all barely concealed menace that eventually leads to florid explosions -- some funny, some furious -- that cement his status as one of the great movie stars of all time.

Jack Carter has run out of patience

The dialogue and settings work wonders for Caine too -- this is a dirty, grimy London, the underbelly which has served many great crime thrillers from the region. His Carter, despite his elegant dress and look, is an uncouth man -- given to doling out cash when he has erred and who has little if no respect for anyone but himself. He uses women largely as playthings, and men are there from him to either brush past or beat up, depending on his mood.

And yet, this theoretically repugnant character is eminently watchable, in part thanks to Caine (who delivers his dialogue with a sexy sneer), but also director Mike Hodges who establishes a methodical unraveling of the plot and some truly excellent sequences that are not too stylized and therefore don't date the film too much.

I've never seen the Sylvester Stallone remake -- I intend to, although I am well aware it's supposed to pale in comparison to the original -- and I imagine it would be virtually impossible to top this film. It's one of those movies that is just the perfect fusion of actor and character.

In fact, Jack Carter may be one of my favorite movie characters of all time, period.

The Brits really excel at this time of film -- see The Long Good Friday or Sexy Beast for example -- because their gangsters have a certain ruthless, flinty exceptionalism. They are usually immaculately dressed and articulate, so when they commit their brutality it has even more shock value and incongruity.

There is also an oddball vulnerability to their heroes. Caine's Carter is a pill popper and clearly unhinged. For all of his cultivated cool -- he becomes incensed at the notion of his family name being besmirched, even though he himself indulges in a life of crime.

Of course, every great gangster protagonist needs a fatal flaw -- but what is unique to British films in the genre is that decorum and saving face often take center stage.

Jack Carter is like one long middle-finger in the face of polite society. He enjoys killing people -- hence his gleeful final moments in the film -- and he doesn't for one second stop to think about the moral consequences of his actions. Characters like this are fun to indulge in the movies because they simply aren't palpable in real life -- and can't be or shouldn't be exalted.

But in the world of Get Carter, Caine is king -- and I will always worship this film for being the badass gem that it is.