Last night's movie: Get Carter (1971 original version, of course -- you'd have to pay me to watch the Stallone remake). It's an intense but ultimately sordid British gangster flick, starring Michael Caine. This is not the breezily suave Caine but the cold, calculating bastard Caine. Much more Alfie than the Italian Job. He's a London mobster who goes back to his hometown in northern England to find out how his brother died. Well done, altho I did have trouble keeping track of the plot and figuring out just which lowlife Caine was beating up or killing much of the time. I'm glad to have seen it but I doubt I'll want to watch it again any time soon. I was surprised at the level of brutality (altho it was made 4 years after Bonnie and Clyde and only 1 before the Godfather so I don't know why I was surprised). I suppose you could make an argument that the movie is just flatout misanthropic. I think the movie does share Carter's dim view of most people, with the added bonus that he's not much better than anyone else in the wretched hive of scum and villiany he used to call home. But, for me, it crosses over the line into creepily misogynist. Too much angry sex, face slapping, verbal abuse, pornography and murder. It becomes clear that Carter is just a deeply unpleasant man seeking revenge on people even more fucked up and evil and that's not a whole lot of fun to watch.

Easily the best thing about the movie is the theme music.