R.I.P. Mike Hodges, director of Get Carter and Flash Gordon

Mike Hodges, the British director who spent most of his career making crime dramas—with one notable, high-camp exception—has died. This comes from Variety, which says the news was confirmed by producer Mike Kaplan. A cause of death was not given. Hodges was 90.

Hodges first worked in the entertainment business as a teleprompter operator for British television, which gave him an opportunity to get his foot in the door of actually making TV. He directed for various British TV shows in the ‘60s, but he transitioned to film in 1971 to write and direct the cult classic thriller Get Carter, which starred Michael Caine at the height of his powers as a cool tough guy (this was only a few years after The Italian Job, long before Caine transitioned into the more winky, self-aware roles he’s known for now).

Caine and Hodges also worked together on Pulp, a more comedy-leaning crime thriller. After The Terminal Man in 1974, Hodges was tapped to direct Damien: Omen II but left the project during production over creative differences. The most atypical project from Hodges’ résumé came a few years later when he directed the weird and campy Flash Gordon, which still gets reappraised every few years when someone pitches a remake, or when it becomes a weird reference point, or when everyone remembers its excellent Queen theme song.

Hodges did some music videos for Queen after that while directing films like Morons From Outer Space, The Hitchhiker, and A Prayer For The Dying. He found another surprise hit with the Clive Owen-starring neo-noir film Croupier in 1998, which was a much bigger hit in the United States than it was in England, and Hodges reunited with Owen for his final film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, in 2003.