Date: 14th July 2003

Caine's Carter is nastiest ever film character


Michael Caine's role in movie classic Get Carter has earned the title of nastiest screen character of all time.

As the eponymous Jack Carter he became a legendary anti-hero, throwing an adversary from the top of a car park among his remorseless acts of violence.

He was chosen by movie experts at Total Film magazine who have compiled a countdown of the all-time greatest screen "bastards".

Callous Carter is a psychotic gangland killer in the 1971 film, which broke new ground at the time for its cold, graphic scenes of bloodshed.

Caine told the magazine: "We made it very violent for the time because I had this bee in my bonnet that British films treated gangsters as though they were stupid or funny."

Having met many during his childhood in London's Elephant and Castle, he pointed out: "Never did I meet any of them who was stupid or remotely funny.

"
It was only violent insofar as I wanted to get across the point that if you whack a bloke eight or 10 times in the face, he isn't going to get up, shake himself down and come back at you."

The top 10 Total Film 'bastards':

1. Jack Carter (Sir Michael Caine) - Get Carter (1971).

2. JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) - Sweet Smell Of Success (1957).

3. Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich) - Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

4. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) - Wall Street (1987)

5. Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey) - Swimming With Sharks (1994).

6. Arthur Potter (Lionel Barrymore) - It's A Wonderful Life (1946).

7. Gunnery Sgt Harman (R Lee Ermey) - Full Metal Jacket (1987).

8. Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton) - Mutiny On The Bounty (1935).

9. Dennis Peck (Richard Gere) - Internal Affairs (1990).

10. Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) - As Good As It Gets (1997).

Source: Press Release