Taken from the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted Hughes, this is one of the seminal British gangster films, with Michael Caine giving a superb performance as the controlled, menacing Jack Carter, a gangster from down South showing obvious destain for the Northerners. Fine support from Ian Hendry as a chauffeur cum dogsbody for the real villain of the piece, actor and playwright John Osborne, but the real honours belong to Caine and director Mike Hodges. Remade with an all-black cast in 1973 as Hit Man, and in 2000 with Sylvester Stallone in the lead and Caine giving a cameo.