There was a time when jokes abounded about Michael Caine saying he would take on any role at all in hopes of a paycheck. The thing was at the time I don't think he was in need of the money but he was seen in numerous films each year. But early in his career he played several roles that put him in a position to become the movie star that he was. One of those was GET CARTER. Unfortunately, for me at least, he and director Mike Hodges followed that up a year later with PULP.The term "pulp" here refers to those low grade thriller novels once written and published on cheap paper stock, books that told of hard boiled detectives and the seamier side of life where women were dames and gangsters ruled. The movie tells the story of Mickey King (Caine) an author of that style of books. King is not the best of people you will find having left behind his average job as well as wife and three children behind to pursue his muse and write pulp fiction. Under pseudonyms hoisted on him by his publisher like Gary Rough and Dr. O.R. Gann, his books are spoken onto tape and transcribed by services in whatever country he is in.King is contacted by a man named Ben Dinuccio (Lionel Stander) with the request to be a ghost writer for the autobiography of an ex-actor and possible gangster named Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney). Preston was at the top of his game portraying gangsters in films back in the 30s and 40s. But those possible connections he once had with the gangster crowd forced his deportation from America. Now he wants to tell his story.King takes on the task but due to the attitude of Preston finds himself not enjoying it much. Preston is full of himself, feels more important than he truly is and takes far too much pleasure in ridiculing those around him. Where he feels he's being funny it's always at the costs of someone else's feelings or embarrassment. When King finally gets the nerve to tell him off Preston is shot and killed. Now that same person is out to kill King as well. Could it be that Preston told him something he shouldn't have heard? Now King must find the answer to that question as well as who is behind it in order to stay alive.Sounds like the basis for a good movie, right? Except that it isn't. What I've provided gets you to the halfway point or more into the film. The rest is a mish mash of political commentary and discussion of what was going on in Malta at the time as a reflection on the rest of the world. Some 45 years later none of it seems relevant.My issue may be a personal one but I find films that make the conscious decision to play fast and loose with reality, to mix the off the wall moments with a solid story, often fail to entertain, to enlighten or to offer any enjoyment. That's the problem I had with this film. The mixing of oddball characters, of using a hero you don't care about, of absurd situations just doesn't work for me. The voice over narration, what is supposed to be a sort of homage to the style of pulp fiction works like those of Mickey Spillane doesn't work either, coming off as more an attempt at the style without fully capturing what it was like. Instead it seems like the work of someone turned down even by the publishers of those novels.Caine even comes off poorly here. I felt like he was just walking through and using carious characters he'd portrayed in the past, dusting them off and combining them in a character with no charm but who seemingly has women falling all over themselves to get to him. That in itself becomes an issue as the women depicted here come off as little more than bimbos ready to jump into his arms simply by his standing next to him. Really?I've read several reviews of this film from various people who praise it. No offense intended but those that do make me wonder if they actually watched the film or if they are part of the cadre of movie lovers that love to show how worldly they are by taking on the task of adoring films that are out there, that are strange, that are just weird in an attempt to show that they are above the masses who enjoy the standard movies that are offered. If so then fine, enjoy them and discuss them with other like-minded individuals. The fact that the film did poorly at the box office and is only around now because it's developed a cult like following speaks volumes about how good the movie actually is.Arrow Video still has provided the best version of the film to be found with a 2k restoration from original film elements supervised and approved by director of photography Ousama Rawi. Extras are well done including an interview with director Mike Hodges, an interview with Rawi, an interview with assistant director John Glen, an interview with Tony Klinger (son of producer Mike Klinger), the original theatrical trailer and reversible sleeve artwork. While the movie may not be my cup of tea for fans this will be the version you'll want to have thanks to Arrow.

Mickey King is a talented man who writes pulp fiction under several pseudonyms. As the film starts, he is living abroad, after abandoning his native Britain. He gave his latest novel to be transcribed from the tapes he dictated. The agency where the job is being done employs ladies who have a field day listening to the Mickey's narrative as they put Mickey's words into the written format.A change occurs, when the writer is contacted to ghost write a sort of biography by a man that once was a Hollywwod star, Preston Gilbert, whose friendship to mafiosi men in America served to get him deported back to his birthplace, an island in the Mediterranean,off the Italian coast. But before Mickey can get to meet the man, he must endure an adventurous trip by motorcar that almost gets him killed.Director Mike Hodges, went to work right after his wonderful "Get Carter", wrote this comedy probably with Michael Caine, the star of his previous venture, in mind. Both director, and star, show the good rapport they shared as it shows in the finished product. Mr. Hodges was blessed with the casting of some Hollywood stars of the past, Mickey Rooney, Lizabeth Scott and raspy voiced, Lionel Stander. The result is an off beat comedy that has great moments, but does not work as well as Mr. Hodges intended.The best thing in the film is the voice over by Mr. Caine who is heard narrating some of the prose he writes for fans of his genre. Mickey Rooney's Preston was a funny recreation his own experience as a former film star. Others seen in supporting roles include Dennis Price and the excellent Leopoldo Trieste, but unfortunately, their participation is limited. The locations in Malta are captured by Ousama Rawi, the cinematographer. The incidental music is credited to George Martin.

Mike Hodges' GET CARTER (1971) is, supposedly, a realistic gangster flick about a hit man, played by Michael Caine, who murders without demur and, indiscriminately, screws every bird in sight; yet, wells up at the thought that - is it his niece? - has been snatched up by a porno-movie ring. He systematically knocks off mob kingpins and we are invited to watch him do it - with cold-blooded relish.PULP is gangster related too, but pure Lewis Carroll in narrative plausibility; nevertheless, Caine's Mickey King is amusingly credible in the manner in which he drinks in the dream world that happens to him.PULP pulls off something that few films (including SUNSET BLVD., with the marvelous William Holden) are able to do. It makes an author its central character and you believe, from start to finish, that he is, in fact, a man of curiosity and invention, who makes his living by the employment of words.Among Hodges' other films, CROUPIER (1998) is closer to PULP than GET CARTER is because its protagonist's literary pretensions resemble King's habit of describing a shady milieu which operates in moral twilight. Both pictures suffer from direction too tightly melded to intriguing fictional conceits. However, the phlegmatic understatement of Caine's voice-over commentary (written by Hodges) is maintained impressively, the Malta locations and surprising russet colors - not to mention the freak-show supporting cast of Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Dennis Price, Nadia Cassini's mile-long legs and, Bogart look-a-like, Robert Sacchi make it a must for connoisseurs of the truly offbeat.Was this comment useful to you?

I watched this video because I like Malta and this movie was filmed in its entirety there. Very disappointing, since it fails to catch any of the flavor or beauty of the island - just the hot, dry, and barren elements. The movie was dull, boring, completely incoherent from beginning to end, pretentious, and devoid of any conceivable plot. You had to be a psychic to follow the plot line, or lack thereof. It had its moments, sure; but so does going to the dentist.In short, I'd much rather endure another colonoscophy before viewing this horrible mess again. It was so bad, I actually couldn't fall asleep. There are quite a few "Eurotrash" movies out there that were obviously made without adult supervision. This is one of them. On the bright side, who is Nadia Cassini? Never before have I seen a more beautiful set of legs. She is the one saving grace of this movie.Disturbing, too, was the cruel boar hunt depicted in the closing credits. A boar that was released on someone's property (Malta has very few native mammals; all of them small - rats, bats, etc.) and then set upon by dogs before it was shot. Oh, well - go visit Malta anyway despite this film - it's a beautiful, colorful island; rich in history and lots of fun.