Croupier (1998)

Although he doesn’t get an automatic free pass from me, film-maker Mike Hodges is someone who has done enough good work, and at least one classic, that I am always happy to give him some of my time. Croupier is a film I have been hearing praised for decades, but just never got around to seeing, and I finally kicked myself up the behind and got it watched. I’m glad I did.

Clive Owen plays Jack (although he spends a lot of time developing a personality he calls Jake), a young man who is directed towards a casino job by his father (Paul Reynolds). He shows great skill as a croupier, and hopes to earn enough money to afford him to pursue his real passion - writing. Becoming more and more intrigued by those around him, however, Jack soon starts to play with fire, but he’s not the only one who could end up being burned. There’s his partner, Marion (Gina McKee), other staff at the casino, and an intriguing gambler (Jani, played by Alex Kingston) who might not be as cool and collected as she appears.

Written by Paul Mayersberg (someone else with a filmography certainly worth exploring), Croupier is an enjoyably odd film, blending moments of grim realism with plenty of cinematic polish, delivering very familiar fare with laconic wit and a suitably wry performance from Owen. In fact, the leading man is so good in his role that many decided he would be the perfect choice for James Bond at this time. We know that Daniel Craig got the role instead, and I would argue that Owen has given us a number of other treats we would have otherwise been denied (do check out “The Knick”, if you haven’t seen it).

Hodges seems to enjoy wandering through this world, using the mirrored surfaces, security camera placement, and watchful eyes of the main character to show viewers an environment where the line between riches and ruin is about as thin as you can get. Casinos love to be busy, but their success depends on their customer base being happy to lose much more often than they win.

Owen is almost constantly assured and one step ahead of those around him. The couple of scenes that have him on the back foot are fleeting, but his inner sense of panic is easier to notice, due to any unforeseen eventuality being such a rare occurrence. It’s a fantastic performance, he feels at ease and professional when in the casino and has enough charm to keep viewers on his side as he starts to misbehave. Kingston is the other standout, and the chemistry between her and Owen is fantastic. She even does quite well with a South African accent that gives her an extra connection to our lead. McKee gets the short end of the stick, but she does okay with what she’s given, and both Kate Hardie and Nicholas Ball are familiar faces given key roles as they lead Owen’s character away from his rules and his own code of ethics. Alexander Morton is the casino boss, someone who comes across as harsh but fair, although he also seems quite naive when it comes to spotting problems/scams.

Playing out at times almost like a parody of neo-noir films, Croupier holds up well precisely because it doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. The very end of the film mishandles things slightly, with most of the plot strands tied up in a way that feels a bit too flippant, but it mostly succeeds in doing what it set out to do. Which is a good deal more than some manage. Good deal . . . get it? Because croupiers deal cards, and . . . right, I will end things here. Before the whole review turns into a bust.

8/10

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Noirvember: Get Carter (1971)

Written and directed by Mike Hodges, based on a book by Ted Lewis, Get Carter is a cool and gritty gangster movie that features arguably the most iconic performance of Michael Caine’s career, couched in a film that easily jostles for a top spot when discussing landmarks of British cinema.

Caine plays Jack Carter, a London gangster who heads up to Newcastle to investigate the sudden death of his brother. There are a number of people who don’t want him poking around in their business, including the menacing Eric (Ian Hendry), but that just makes Carter more determined to find out the truth about the death of his brother. His instincts are right, but more people start to try and send him back to London, at the very least, as he gets ever closer to something very unpleasant. There seems to be a reckoning on the way, but who will be left at the end of it?

Get Carter is one of those films that always impresses, however many times you watch it. If you have never seen it, please do so immediately. If you haven’t watched it in a while, please treat yourself to a revisit. It is just one of those classics that has everything mixed together perfectly in a way you could never replicate nowadays (just ask Sylvester Stallone, although I am sneerily dismissing his remake without having actually seen it yet). The atmosphere, the landscape of Newcastle at that time (dominating the narrative as much as any of the main characters), Caine being cool and ruthless, the supporting players, the Roy Budd score, every technical aspect, and the script and direction from Hodges. This is a perfect film, and even the scenes that aren’t necessarily needed to push the story along provide moments and images worthy of your time.

It’s also worth noting, although I am not entirely sure how to put this, that Get Carter wins a prize for being the most sustained selection of unsexiest sexy exchanges, whether it is a naughty phone conversation that creates a triangle of Caine, Britt Ekland, and Rosemarie Dunham, the aftershock of an encounter between Caine and Geraldine Moffat, or even the oft-depicted image of Caine striding nakedly out of a house while he keeps a shotgun pointed at some ill-prepared henchmen. Everything has a frisson to it, but also a layer of grime and nastiness, and it adds to an overall sense of the film being very much a one-off.  

Saying Caine is great in the lead role is like saying water is wet. It’s a given. This IS the role he feels born to play. Which is unlucky for Hendry, who was also in the running for the lead, but makes the bitterness between them all the more palpable. The aforementioned Dunham is excellent, Ekland and Moffat bring a touch of glamour to the whole thing, no matter how fleeting their screentime, and there are excellent performances from Alun Armstrong, Bryan Mosley, and John Osborne, to name just a few standouts.

This and The Long Good Friday remain the peak of British crime movies. They have moments that are cool, that are incredibly cinematic and memorable, but they also focus on the cruelty, showing how the main characters are shaped as much by the events and people around them as they are by their self-created position of power. These are the films that everyone should watch, that entertain even as they look at the morality of things from all angles. And it’s why many film fans become upset when something like Rise Of The Footsoldier 7: Footsoldiers Go Footballing In Ibiza becomes the latest British crime film that casual viewers rate as a great night in. I implore you not to check out any of those films until you have seen this.

10/10

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