Get Carter. One of the most iconic British films of all time, starring the great Michael Caine, and directed by Mike Hodges is a film that any film fan knows. and whilst they may know the name of Mike Hodges and know his work. With this new documentary you’ll learn far more than you previously know about the man and his movies. , In this two hour documentary about the Cult British director , we learn more about Get Carter, Flash Gordon and much more, including some of his earlier work such as The Terminal Man, Pulp, and one of my favourite horror films Damien: Omen II, which Ill be honest, I hadn’t even known Mike Hodges was involved with for a time  (as he was credited as Michael Hodges on the film) 

Mike Hodges: A Film-makers Life, directed by David Cairns and filmed and edited by Jonathan Zaurin is a cracker of a feature-length in-depth sit down with Mike Hodges, who takes us through his career and shares his views on the industry and life in general, alongside charming stories about some of the stars he has worked with, including Michael Caine( Get Carter) , Brian Blessed (Flash Gordon)  and Clive Owen( I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead ) Mickey Rourke (A Prayer For the Dying)

This documentary was filmed in a single day according to the voiceover at the start of the two hour runtime and I bet was such fun to capture on film (one of only two bits of voiceover in the film as it very smartly realises that the star of the film is Mike Hodges, and lets Mike do all the talking  I had the pleasure of meeting Mike at the film event a few years ago and whilst we didn’t manage to chat for hours, a few pleasantries were exchanged and for me to meet the man himself, was and still is a huge highlight of some of the things I do and so i cant imagine (well I can) how cool and interesting it would have been to be able to sit down for a few hours and delve into some of the stories from Mike that might not have been told before.  I know that I heard so many stories that I hadn’t known before. such as his travels from the UK to the US, to Vietnam, and other places around the globe back in the early days before the words ‘Get Carter’ were even a thing. With filmmakers we often know many of the ‘highlight’ stories of their career and I always love hearing beyond those stories. 

The documentary itself is really well put together and isn’t just a ‘talking head’ type film, whilst of course the voice of Mike Hodges is the main star and focus of the doc we are also shown a wealth of behind the scenes pictures, film clips, newspapers clips and much more which all adds to this fantastic ‘Mike Hodges Masterclass’ documentary. The two hour runtime flew by and whilst some may think that listening/watching someone talking for two hours about any subject might be hard to keep someones attention, the fact that its Mike Hodges thats talking , means that  this isnt a difficult task at all.

Whether you know a lot about Mike Hodges or dont know a lot about Mike Hodges, this documentary works brilliantly for either option. I cant recommend it enough for fans of film, or just fans of listening to really interesting stories.

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Just as an added epilogue. Whilst of course its not part of the documentary. I wanted to include the moment I met Mike Hodges at the Newcastle Film Festival a few years ago.   Lovely guy and he is missed! (thats me in the middle!)

At the Newcastle Film Festival I had the pleasure of talking with Mike, but before that, I was able to film the man himself talking about Get Carter (as they were screening the film at this event) Here is that talk which took place after a 35mm screening of the film.