Here's a right treat for film fans... we ’ ve Got Carter!
These exclusive pictures were taken behind the scenes as Michael Caine played a hitman in the classic British crime movie Get Carter – which is 50 years old this week.
Celebrity snapper Terry O’Neill took the pictures on set in Newcastle, where Sir Michael’s character Jack Carter ran amok, avenging the death of his brother.
Fans gather round to grab an autograph from the star, who is also seen in a dressing gown, having his hair tweaked and rehearsing a smooch on a couch.
That was one of the few tender moments in a gritty movie which inspired generations of crime flicks here and in the US.
Lensman O’Neill died two years ago aged 81. But his images offer an eternal record which Carter fans will love.
They are timely for another reason – Sir Michael turns 88 on Sunday.
He based Carter on a real killer from the South London patch where he grew up.
And, he revealed, when they met after the film was made the gangster gave him an earful.
Sir Michael said: “He’d never been charged with murder – but he killed about 11 people. I was in a discotheque one night and saw him there.
“He came over and said, ‘I saw Get Carter’. I said, ‘What did you think?’
He said, ‘Biggest load of crap I’ve seen in my life’.
“He gave me a proper bollocking about having to kill people to look after his family. I’m glad I never told him I based it on him!”
Get Carter was directed by Mike Hodges and based on Ted Lewis’s 1970 novel Jack’s Return Home – inspired by a real-life gangland hit.
Hodges shot the film in just 40 days, with backdrops including Wallsend Ferry Terminal, Newcastle Swing Bridge and Blackhall colliery.
Not to mention the Gateshead multi-storey which became known as the Get Carter car park after a scene in which one victim goes tumbling.
Praising Caine, Hodges told the British Film Institute: “He’s incredible. To make a psychopath empathetic is what Michael brought to it.”
