Mike Hodges

Michael Tommy "Mike" Hodges (born 29 July 1932) is an English screenwriter, film director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include Get Carter, Pulp, The Terminal Man and Black Rainbow; as director, his films include Flash Gordon, Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.

His theatre plays include Soft Shoe Shuffle (1985) and Shooting Stars and Other Heavenly Pursuits (2000), which was adapted for BBC radio. Other radio plays include King Trash (2004). His first novel, Watching The Wheels Come Off, was published in 2010.

Life and work

After qualifying as a chartered accountant and serving out his two years' National Service on the lower deck of a Royal Navy minesweeper, Hodges got a job in British television as a teleprompter operator. This allowed him to observe the workings of the studios and time to start writing scripts. One of these was Some Will Cry Murder, written for ABC’s Armchair Theatre series. Although never performed, it served to get him enough writing commissions to quit his job as a technician.

After that, he quickly progressed to producer/director status, with series such as Sunday Break for ABC Television, World in Action for Granada Television and the arts programmes Tempo and New Tempo for Thames Television. Again for Thames Television he wrote, directed and produced two filmed thrillers, Rumour (1969) and Suspect (1970). These films formed the basis for the creation of Euston Films, the influential television production company that continued into the 1980s. These two films also led to Hodges being asked to write and direct Get Carter, which has been described as "one of the great British gangster films of all time",^[1] and Flash Gordon which has enjoyed cult status ever since.^[2]

Interspersed with his cinema work are some interesting and critically successful television films, including The Manipulators (1973), Squaring The Circle (1984; scripted by Tom Stoppard), Dandelion Dead (1993; scripted by Michael Chaplin), and The Healer (1994; scripted by GF Newman).^[3]

Selected filmography

Feature films

• Get Carter (1971)
• Pulp (1972)
• The Terminal Man (1974)
• Damien: Omen II (1977 – screenplay)
• Flash Gordon (1980)
• And the Ship Sails On (1983 – English version of Fellini's film)
• Morons from Outer Space (1985)
• A Prayer for the Dying (1987)
• Black Rainbow (1989)
• Croupier (1998)
• I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003)

Television

• The Tyrant King (1968)
• Rumour (1969)
• Suspect (1970)
• The Manipulators (1972)
• Missing Pieces (1982)
• Squaring the Circle (1984)
• W.G.O.D. (1985)
• Florida Straits (1986)
• Dandelion Dead (1993)
• The Healer (1994)
• Murder By Numbers (2001 – documentary)

References

Further reading

• Steven Paul Davies: Get Carter And Beyond: The Cinema Of Mike Hodges, Batsford, 2003, ISBN 0-7134-8790-9
• Douglas Keesey: Neo-Noir: Contemporary Film Noir From Chinatown to The Dark Knight Kamera Books, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84243-311-9
• Steve Chibnall & Robert Murphy: British Crime Cinema, Routledge, 1999, ISBN 978-0-415-16870-0
• Steve Chibnall: Get Carter (British Film Guides #6), I.B. Tauris, 2003, ISBN 978-1-86064-910-3
• Geoff Mayer: Guide to British Cinema (Reference Guides to the World's Cinema) Greenwood Press, 2003 ISBN 978-0-313-30307-4
• Interview with Mike Hodges
• Interview with Mike Hodges 2000
• The Telegraph, Film-makers on film-Mike Hodges 2004
• The National: Get Carter turns 40
• Interview with Mike Hodges 2010
• Michael Klinger Papers The Michael Klinger Papers; Interview with Mike Hodges by Tony Klinger and Andrew Spicer

External links

• Mike Hodges at the Internet Movie Database
• Mike Hodges at AllMovie
• Interview at The Guardian
• Interview by Dan Lybarger