An oldie but a goodie

The New York Times has a blog post by Judith Eisler about Michael Caine and the 1971 movie Get Carter:

Michael Caine stars as the gangster Jack Carter, an unsympathetic antihero who travels from London to his hometown of Newcastle intending to avenge the suspicious death of his brother Frank. Also starring Britt Ekland, John Osborne and the residents and locations of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Jack Carter is a hard-boiled merciless criminal whose impeccable fashion sense and laconic demeanor fail to gloss over a penchant for violence. Although he’s warned by the London mob not to meddle in the affairs of Newcastle, Carter’s moral code of family loyalty propels him to mete out brutal and exacting revenge. He follows the local criminals (led by John Osborne) into a seedy world of gambling and porn, which ultimately involves his niece (who might possibly be his own daughter).
Caine’s celebrity presence dominates nearly every frame of the film, but a surrounding cast of local nonactors drinking beer, betting on the horses, belting out songs or just watching Carter as he exits a house (naked save for a double-barreled shotgun) lend the film an unflinching realistic documentary style. Girls sport miniskirts and dance to swinging ’60s music, but the camera shows us a depressed industrial city marked by alcoholism and decay.
Visually stylish but far from glamorous, Get Carter exudes a raw visceral feel without relying on the usual action film clichés. Originally panned by the critics and slapped with an X rating for violence and female nudity, Get Carter revitalized the gangster genre with pessimistic grit and toughness. Roy Budd’s funky reverb- and echo-laden soundtrack propels the film to its downbeat ending.