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.
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