Mike Hodges was born on July 29 1932 in Bristol. He qualified as chartered accountant before his two years of national service aboard a British minesweeper. Following his service, he worked as a teleprompter operator in British television. The job allowed him to observe television production and learn about writing scripts for television shows. He wrote a script for Armchair Theatre that was not produced, but led him to get writing commissions.
In the Sixties Mike Hodges served as a producer on the TV movie Sound??, as well as the TV shows World in Action, Tempo, The Tyrant King, and ITV Playhouse. For television he wrote two episodes of ITV Playhouse. He directed episodes of the TV shows World in Action, Tempo, The Tyrant King, and ITV Playhouse.
In the Seventies he wrote an episode of The Frighteners. He also wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for the films Get Carter (1971), Pulp (1972), The Terminal Man (1974), and Flash Gordon (1980). He was the original director on the film Damien: Omen II (1978), but received no credit for his work. He also directed the Queen video for the song "Flash" (the theme song for the movie Flash Gordon).
In the Eighties Mike Hodges directed the movies Morons from Outer Space (1985), A Prayer for the Dying (1987), and Black Rainbow (1989). He directed the music video for the Queen song "Body Language," and the TV movies Missing Pieces and Squaring the Circle.
In the Nineties Mike Hodges directed the movie Croupier (1998). He directed episodes of the television mini-series Dandelion Dead. He directed the TV movie The Healer. In the Naughts he directed the movie I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2004) and the documentary Murder By Numbers (2004).
Mike Hodges also wrote plays for the theatre, including Soft Shoe Shuffle (1985) and Shooting Stars and Other Pursuits (2000). He also wrote for radio and wrote the novel Watching the Wheels Come Off and the collection of novellas Bait, Grist, and Security.
Mike Hodges was a very talented director and one who was also very versatile. Each of his films had their own particular style. Get Carter was a tough, edgy neo-noir. Pulp was a comedy thriller that sent up pulp fiction and Old Hollywood. Flash Gordon was a camp science fantasy that had the look of a comic strip on film. Black Rainbow was a psychological thriller. Croupier was another rough-edged neo-noir. Mike Hodges was comfortable in a number of genres and always produced great work regardless of the type of film he was directing. He really should make any list of the great directors of the later half of the 20th Century.
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