DIRECTOR MIKE HODGES BEATS MICHAEL CAINE TO A BREEZY 'PULP'

Michael Caine gets fiction in PULP Year: 1972 Rates: ****

Director Mike Hodges and his GET CARTER anti-hero Michael Caine found the perfect antidote in PULP, a dark comedy in which a deliberately bad "gangster fiction" novelist becomes part of his own style of flimsy storytelling while narrating along in the usual Gumshoe fashion... 

Then landing a plot/purpose after a random and eclectic forty-minutes of anticipation for a has-been actor that Caine's slippery scribbler will ghostwrite an autobiography for... 

Michael Caine in PULP with Al Lettieri

Enter Mickey Rooney as a George Raft/James Cagney hybrid who, for no reason, annoys Caine immediately. Sure he's obnoxious but doesn't seem bad enough to steer the audience to dislike. Meanwhile, Hodges trades his dark and dangerous GET CARTER Newcastle, England location for the sunny biblical-like island of Malta...

That eclectically harbors a pool of shocked secretaries transcribing King's erotic prose; Lionel Stander as Rooney's mafioso partner; Noir veteran Lizabeth Scott as a Fascist candidate's sultry wife; stock ingenue Nadia Cassini as our own stock ingenue; GODFATHER villain Al Lettieri as an enigmatic red-herring; and Al Pacino's GODFATHER II bodyguard Amerigo Tot as a helpful communist... 

Michael Caine in PULP

All reminding the smug central character and audience there's a movie going on that he's more stuck inside of than an integral part in. So between the talky meantime and sporadic sudden bursts of jarring, noisy violence, simply let go and go with it...

And, while quite silly compared to Mike Hodges' and Michael Caine's previous neo noir, GET CARTER, both features share an extremely dark backstory serving into each twist ending.   

Michael Caine in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP

Michael Caine and Nadia Cassin in PULP

Mickey Rooney in PULP

Lionel Stander and Mickey Rooney in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP

"Outside I hailed a cab... Stop..." Michael Caine and unnamed hottie in PULP

Michael Caine and Al Lettieri in PULP

Lizabeth Scott in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP with Mickey Rooney

Michael Caine in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP

Amerigo Tot in PULP

Michael Caine in PULP

Aka Gary Rough aka Dan Wild aka Susan Eager aka Paul S. Cumming aka S. Odomy aka Dr. Or Gunn aka Les Bian

Italian bombshell Cristina Gaioni as 2nd Typist in PULP

Cristina Gaioni steps out to see Michael Caine in PULP

Swedish hottie Janet Agren with Leopoldo Trieste & Lionel Stander in PULP

Gorgeous coach hostess Irene Sophie Opperman in PULP

Al Lettieri and Michael Caine in PULP

Swedish hottie Janet Agren with as the secretary in PULP

Swedish hottie Janet Agren with as the secretary in PULP

Michael Caine, Nadia Cassini and Lionel Stander in PULP

Nadia Cassini sits poolside in Mike Hodges' PULP

"The cock crowing made me uneasy" Michael Caine in PULP

Sweeney 2 Malta-born actor Joe Zammit Cordina in Malta for PULP

Another Four-Letter Word for Mike Hodges' pulpy picture PULP

Nadia Cassini films within the film PULP by Mike Hodges

Mickey Rooney as Preston Gilbert in PULP

Michael Caine hails PULP as Mickey Rooney's credited

Double Artwork Covers for Dueling PULP artwork dammit

Double poster cover images for PULP

Get Carter and Pulp both end with a killing on the beach

Janet Agren with Lionel Stander in PULP

Michael Caine as Mikcey King in Mike Hodges' PULP

Michael Caine in PULP