Get Carter - Plot

Plot

Newcastle-born gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) has lived in London for years in the employ of organised crime bosses Gerald and Sid Fletcher (Terence Rigby and John Bindon). Jack is sleeping with Gerald's girlfriend Anna (Britt Ekland) and plans to escape to South America with her. But first he must return to Newcastle and Gateshead to attend the funeral of his brother Frank, who died in a purported drunk driving accident. Not satisfied with the official explanation, Jack investigates for himself. At the funeral, Jack meets with his brother's teenage daughter Doreen (Petra Markham) and Frank's mistress Margaret (Dorothy White), who is evasive.

Jack goes to Newcastle Racecourse seeking an old acquaintance called Albert Swift (Glynn Edwards) for information about his brother's death. Swift evades him, but Jack encounters another old associate, Eric Paice (Ian Hendry), now employed as a chauffeur, although he will not say for whom. Tailing Eric to the country house of crime boss Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne), Jack bursts in on Kinnear playing poker. He meets a glamorous but drunken woman called Glenda (Geraldine Moffat). Having learned little, Jack leaves. Eric warns him against damaging relations between Kinnear and the Fletchers. Back in town, Jack is threatened by henchmen to leave town, but he fights them off, capturing and interrogating one to find out who wants him gone, and is given the name Brumby.

Jack knows Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosley) as a businessman with controlling interests in local seaside amusement arcades. Visiting Brumby's house, Jack discovers the man knows nothing about him; believing he has been set up, he leaves. Next morning, two of Jack's London colleagues arrive, sent by the Fletchers to take him back, but he escapes. Jack meets Margaret to talk about Frank, but Fletcher's men are waiting and pursue him. He is rescued by Glenda driving a sports car, who takes him to meet Brumby at his new rooftop restaurant development atop a multi-storey car park. Brumby identifies Kinnear as Frank's killer, explaining Kinnear is trying to take over his business. He offers Jack £5,000 to kill the crime boss, which he refuses.

Jack has sex with Glenda at her flat, where he finds and watches a pornographic film. The participants are Doreen, Glenda, Margaret and Albert Swift. Doreen is forced to have sex with Albert. Overcome with emotion, Jack becomes enraged and half drowns Glenda as she is the bath. She tells him the film was Kinnear's and she thinks Doreen was 'pulled' by Eric. Forcing Glenda into the boot of her car, Jack drives off to find Albert.

Jack tracks Albert down in a betting shop. Albert confesses that he told Brumby that Doreen was Frank's daughter. Brumby showed Frank the film to incite him to call the police on Kinnear. Eric and two of his men arranged Frank's death. Information extracted, Jack fatally knifes Albert in the stomach. Jack is attacked by the London gangsters and Eric, who has informed Fletcher of Jack and Anna's affair. Jack shoots one of them dead; Eric and the others escape, pushing the sports car into the river, with Glenda trapped inside. Returning to the car park, Jack finds Brumby, beats him senseless and throws him over the side to his death. He then posts the porn film to the Vice Squad at Scotland Yard in London.

Jack abducts Margaret at gunpoint. He telephones Kinnear in the middle of a wild party, telling him he has the film and making a deal to give him Eric in exchange for his silence. Kinnear agrees, sending Eric to an agreed location; however, he simultaneously phones a hitman to dispose of Jack. Jack drives Margaret to the grounds of Kinnear's estate, kills her with a fatal injection and leaves her body there; then he calls the police to raid Kinnear's party.

Jack chases Eric along a beach. He forces Eric to drink a full bottle of whisky as he did to Frank, then beats him to death with his shotgun. As Jack is walking along the shoreline, he is shot through the head by the hitman with a sniper rifle.