The British Gangster Classic That Rivals The Godfather

The Godfather arrived in 1972, reminding people of the classic gangster movies of the golden age of cinema. However, the movie was so popular that it overshadowed another gangster movie that came out one year before it. In 1971, Mike Hodges released his British crime thriller Get Carter, and it is just as good as The Godfather.

Based on the novel Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis, Get Carter stars Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a London gangster who returns home after his brother’s death. Get Carter is a revenge movie, as he settles back into his old home and looks for who might have been responsible.

Get Carter remains a masterpiece, and fans can catch the movie all over again when it is released in 4K Ultra HD in August 2025. It should give the film a chance to prove it is the British equivalent of The Godfather when it comes to the gangster genre.

If The Godfather Defined America’s Gangster Movies, Get Carter Did The Same For Britain

Michael Caine as Jack Carter, holding a man by the lapels in Get Carter

The Godfather defined American gangster movies. The first two films in this franchise were masterpieces by Francis Ford Coppola, earning not only Oscar victories but also a spot in history as the best in the genre. However, it is impossible not to look at Get Carter and realize that it did the same in Britain.

The only thing keeping Get Carter from being more recognized is the fact that The Godfather had the Hollywood machine behind it, so people had a chance to see its brilliance. Get Carter, being a British production, wasn’t as widely seen at the time and eventually became a cult favorite over the years.

The movie made Michael Caine as much of a star as The Godfather did for Al Pacino, as both men delivered masterful performances in very different roles. Carter was a lot more similar to Michael’s brother Sonny, but even more capable with a gun in the field. Seeing Carter killing without remorse was also more similar to James Bond.

Get Carter also tells a very different story, one that looks a lot more like a British gangster film than The Godfather’s more refined portrayal of the mafia family. This is a gritty revenge thriller, and it is precisely what British gangster filmmakers really dug their feet in and started making in the years after this film’s release.

Get Carter Heavily Inspired Guy Ritchie & Other Major Modern Directors

Jason Statham as Bacon in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Fans should look no further than Guy Ritchie’s movies to see how influential Get Carter was for British gangster films. More than anyone, Ritchie based his gangster films on Mike Hodges’ masterpiece, and he has never been quiet about how much this movie meant to him.

Watch anything from Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to Revolver and RocknRolla, and it is clear that these movies owe their entire existence to Ritchie’s love for films like Get Carter. It is so easy to see Jason Statham’s characters, in particular, as modern-day versions of Jack Carter.

This is even more obvious when fans see what Hollywood did when it tried to remake Get Carter for an American audience. With no possible understanding of what made the original movie so iconic, Stephen Kay directed the remake, with Sylvester Stallone as Jack Carter, and it was a monumental flop.

The Sylvester Stallone Get Carter release only grossed $19 million worldwide on a $64 million budget and has a terrible 11% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans, many of whom likely love the Michael Caine version, also gave it a low rating, at only 28%. It was clear that the original, with an 84% audience score, remains the masterpiece.

Released 1 Year Before The Godfather, Get Carter Deserves More Attention

Sadly, as great as Get Carter was, the arrival of The Godfather one year later made it almost impossible for it to maintain any semblance of relevance. Hollywood has a machine behind it that takes a masterwork like Coppola’s film and pushes it to the stars. Get Carter had less momentum and, therefore, took longer to earn its respect.

Thanks to filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie proclaiming the film’s excellence, it soon earned the respect and acclaim that it deserved. Get Carter goes a long way to portraying the class structure and life in the 1970s in a way that not even The Godfather accomplished.

Years after its release, Get Carter finally began to appear on lists as one of the best British films of the 20th century, and for good reason. Like The Godfather changed gangster cinema in America, Get Carter set the table for crime thrillers to come in Britain, and it deserves all the praise it receives.