No, it's not the 2000 version with Sylvester Stallone. As with most remakes, the original (based on Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis) remains more popular. We may have Michael Caine to thank for that; he was always a better actor than Stallone.
Jack Carter, a thug, hears that his non-thug brother died under personally suspicious circumstances, but it looks enough like an accident that the authorities will inspect it no further. As he starts asking around, he clearly hits a nerve when other thugs advise him to drop it. This only encourages him, of course. It's hard for him to know what answers to trust, but one thing is clear: The resolution will get ugly.
In several ways, GC is highly representative of early '70s cinema. It's dark and demanding of attention, if not particularly brooding. It experiments with more realistic gang violence than was allowed on screen before. It includes clips of a super cheap porno. The hairstyles have not been presentable in my lifetime. And the ending...well, let's just say it ensured no sequel.
Honestly, that's just as well. Carter is the biggest antihero I've seen in a long time, less likable than any other Caine character to my knowledge. He's shamelessly rude to good people and relentless to anyone he deems to have had any part in his brother's death or obstruction of his vigilante justice. We're not liable to root for him when he kills, especially after he's forced his victims to do things at gunpoint. No wonder he describes himself as "the villain of the family."
I'm undecided on whether to label Carter a misogynist. He's certainly licentious, and even his treatment of designated enemy women is vaguely sexual. But lewdness seems to be the only difference in how he treats them; he's not really nicer to men. Furthermore, when he learns that his teenage niece (or possibly daughter by adultery) was strong-armed into porn, he gets extra furious.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about Carter is that he comes across as basically invincible for most of the story. Only at the finale does he suffer any physical injury. He has no trouble smacking other men around. The only emotion he ever shows strongly is anger. I almost saw him as a career criminal counterpart to traditional depictions of James Bond, albeit without half the class.
I can see why someone would want to remake GC, no doubt with a more modern caliber of action. For my part, it reminds me why I became wary of revenge flicks. All too often, they offer little more than an excuse for protagonists to do terrible things.
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