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Tributes are being paid to Mike Hodges, the British director behind movies including Get Carter and Flash Gordon, following his death at age 90.
The Guardian reports that Hodges passed away at his home in Dorset, southern England, last Saturday (December 17). No cause of death has been specified.
Hodges made a major splash with his very first movie, 1971's Get Carter, in which Michael Caine plays a ruthless London gangster who returns to his hometown to avenge the death of his brother. Hodges, who had previously worked as a TV documentary maker, infused the film with a gritty realism that made it stand out.
"One of the reasons I wanted to make that picture was my background," Caine told Gentleman's Journal in an anniversary piece. "In English movies, gangsters were either stupid or funny. I wanted to show that they're neither. Gangsters are not stupid, and they’re certainly not very funny."

Hodges directed Caine again in the 1972 comedy thriller film Pulp, in which Caine portrays a crime writer called upon to solve a real-life murder. He also directed 1980's Flash, the cult sci-fi movie with a soundtrack by Queen, and 1998's Croupier, a detective movie that helped to elevate Clive Owen's career. He and Owen teamed up again for 2003's I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a crime film that also gained a cult following.
Flash actor Brian Blessed is among those to have paid tribute to Hodges, whom he described in a BBC radio interview as "a very powerful personality and a joyful, cheerful, brilliant imagination." Hodges is survived by his wife Carol, whom he married in 2004, as well as by two sons from a previous marriage.
Rest in Peace, Mike Hodges, and thank you for your contribution.