Watching this marvellous film again last night, I began to think about how peculiar that a film which has so severely dated in so many respects still manages to say something profound today. In certain respects, this film just couldn't be done today. First of all, gender roles have changed a great deal, and many of Alfie's "birds" simply wouldn't be plausible in a modern film. Second of all, sex has changed so much. Back in the 80s, we had plenty of films (usually bad ones) which took a similarly cavalier attitude toward sex, but that's a relic of a simpler, pre-HIV world that's gone forever.

But "Alfie" still manages to say something, even to a modern audience. On one hand, it's got a very funny script, and Michael Caine plays Alfie with such an infectious charm that it's impossible not to smile. But also, there's a deeper layer of meaning to the film. "I never mean to hurt anyone," Alfie says. "I know," says Harry, "but you do." Alfie ignores this lovely and rare moment of real honesty, but the audience shouldn't, because the heart of the film is right here.

Alfie himself is such a fascinating character. At first, he seems like simply a rogue, a rascal. But there's a helluva lot going on under the surface. His deep, deep insecurities, his tragic loneliness (he wouldn't see it that way, naturally), his pathological inability to have a real relationship with anyone. Especially his own son, whom he obviously loves very much.

While it's easy to see "Alfie" as a tragic story and feel sympathy for the character, it's important to hold onto the hatred. Alfie is a cruel, merciless, and heartless man. He is self-absorbed, utterly insensitive, and totally domineering. He cheerfully holds his "birds" to standards of loyalty he himself needn't bother with. He ruthlessly undermines the individuality and autonomy of everyone he is with, even when pretending to be a liberating force. Notice in his scenes with Gilda how his words sound as though he's endorsing freedom, independence, and self-determination, but the effect of those words is to keep her right under his thumb where she belongs. Alfie deserves our sympathy, yes, but he also deserves our hatred, loathing, and utter contempt.

Anyway, like the DVD box says, this is just a sweet, frothy little comedy, if you like, and it's very enjoyable as such. But, if you care to look deeper, there is so much more to behold. The tagline to "American Beauty" was "look closer", but all of its profound ideas and insights (if any) were plastered right across the screen. "Alfie" is a film which asks you to look closer, and it rewards the effort.

I only realised last night that I had not seen Alfie all the way through, but I'm glad I did now. This was a real eye-opener, not only from a historical point of view but also proof once again that Michael Caine is a British treasure, and one of the screen greatest actors.

I read the script for the original play a few years ago and found that I totally disliked the character of Alfie. But seeing Caine playing the role, and although I didn't like his whole attitude to women (calling them "it"), you cannot but like him. Caine plays the cheeky chappy so well that it's no wonder women would fall for his charm.

But the true taste of the pudding is the scene after the abortion, when Alfie enters the kitchen. A truly emotional sequence that shows the true power of Caine's acting ability.

It was also an interesting study of life in 60s London. Not the swinging, hippy sixties of Carnaby Street that is so often shown in most 60s London films. And as a piece of historical social study, you can't get better than this.

This movie has long been one of my favorites. It is one of the few quintessentially "60's" movies, using filming methods that were quite unusual at the time (the direct dialogue between the main character and the audience, for example). While its style is clearly confined to that era, and England in particular, its subject matter is profoundly universal.

The subjects of love and devotion, or more accurately their opposites, philandering and infidelity, are treated with a unique sensitivity in the script. Michael Caine is at once both lovable and detestable, perfectly characterizing the age-old dynamic between the need for love and the need for physical pleasure. But this is not a feel-good movie, it is a movie that explores the difficult decisions that confront a person as they mature in both life and love, and it conveys the basic feelings that are present in all human beings, regardless of outward appearances.

I would recommend this as a thought-provoking exploration of human nature.

This is one of Caines best films and proof that with the right material he can be a very good actor. The story is based on the popular 1960's British theme of human emotions and how the central character faces up to their shortcomings. Alfie, the character, is a dinosaur by today's standards, but there were, and still are men who behave in this way. The film broke new bounds at this time, particularly with the abortion scene. It is said that many cinema-goers walked out in disgust at this harrowing point in the film. How times change. Denholm Elliot's short performance as the sleazy abortionist is worth a mention here as it captures the filthiness of the moment perfectly.

In fact all the supporting roles are excellent. As a period 1960's piece, the film is almost flawless and Sonny Rollins' jazzy soundtrack is beautiful. The ending of the film is very moving with Caine summing up his life and the arty end credits being run whilst Cher sings Burt Bacharach's "Alfie" theme tune. Watch it and your views on life will change.

Having seen most of Michael Caine's work before, it was a pleasant surprise to see one of his first films. You can tell that it is one of his early roles and was not made with a large budget, but, as a good film should portray, it is quite clearly the quality of the script and the acting that outshines the sets and other superfluous aspects.

Caine's character is inherently unlikeable, but, he exudes such a strong charisma that one warms to him gradually. The films choice of supporting actress is also well done as they are controlled by Caine's character, but not upstaged.

The ending, for me is the key point in liking Caine's character, as without spoiling the film, the final scene, set against the Thames at night, is an outstanding piece of writing and direction.

Alfie is an excellent introduction to Michael Caine's work and, for all its flaws, it remains an outstanding film.

I have just managed to pick this film up on DVD for a bargain price for what is a classic in any era. The way the film is shot, Caine's acting and the music score just draw you in to Alfie's tale. The film does not hide from the grim consequences of Alfie's selfish life but at the end of it you feel sorry for him as his life is really empty as a result. A Film with a message & Caine is mesmerising in the lead role. Great soundtrack from Jazzman Sonny Rollins & the end theme by Burt Bacharach (and sung by Cher) is a classic ballad that leaves you in deep though after what you have seen ...

This is a seriously good comedy. Michael Caine is delightfully saucy as the title character. He ought to seem a cad, and at times he is, but he takes his lumps too, and takes them in stride. The supporting cast is very effective, with especially excellent performances by Jane Asher, Shelley Winters and Millicent Martin. The camera work is also notable, and London serves as an effective backdrop. Definitely worth a look, and a reminder Michael Caine was as good then as he is now.

Alfie Elkins, that irresistible roguish Cockney character, takes us into his confidence right at the start of this film, as he invites us, his audience, to follow him in this fantasy filled with sex that reflected a Mod society of London in the sixties. Alfie, by talking directly to the camera, seems to be performing asides a character would do in a play to emphasize a point. Some comments in here indicate they are an annoyance, but in fact, they enhance the charm of Alfie. He is a happy go lucky man who scores with all kinds of women, who find him, not only attractive, but hard to forget. Alfie is not bashful in telling us his sexual encounters with the women we get to meet.

Lewis Gilbert's 1966 film made an impact when it was released. Watching it in the DVD format, one can clearly see the film has been preserved well. It still has a crisp look and frankly, it doesn't have that "dated" look of other films of that period. Aside from some of those 60s hair styles, seen in some of the actresses, the film looks as though it was recently shot.

This is a film to relish Michael Caine in one of his best creations. As Alfie, he is never mean. He is a man who is only interested in satisfying the women he meets. This was Mr. Caine's break through film, which indicated, even then, his potential as the versatile actor one has always cherished.

The women in Alfie's life show a lot of different types. Shelley Winters is at her best with her take of Ruby, the wealthy American "bird" that loves her encounters with Alfie. Millicent Martin, seen briefly, makes a fun Siddie. Vivian Merchant is Lily, the married woman who strays when she can't resist Alfie's charms. Jane Asher as Annie is excellent. Julia Foster plays Gilda, the only one to give Alfie an heir. Eleonor Bron is seen briefly. Alfie Bass is the only actor who has any extended role in the film.

This is a film that reflects that sexual liberating era.

Michael Caine made several good films in the sixties and early seventies, such as "Zulu", "The Ipcress File" and "Get Carter", but in my opinion "Alfie" is his best from this period, and only equalled among his later films by "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Educating Rita". It is set in what might be described as the kitchen sink end of swinging London. The anti-hero, Alfie Elkins, is a young working-class Cockney who works as a mechanic and driver for a car-hire company. In some respects the film looks back to the social-realist school of the late fifties and early sixties. Alfie is in some ways a very traditional character. He lives in the sort of drab, seedy flat familiar from "kitchen sink" realist films and hangs out in old-fashioned East End pubs rather than discos. He dresses smartly but conservatively, at one stage even sporting an RAF blazer. Not for him the long hair, sideburns, bell-bottom jeans, loud shirt and kipper tie which constituted the uniform of the sixties trend-setter.

In one respect, however, he is very different to the traditional social-realist hero. The "angry young men" from films such as "Look Back in Anger", "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" and "Room at the Top" were characterised by anger and resentment against the Establishment. Resentment is an emotion quite alien to the happy-go-lucky Alfie, whose main preoccupation is not settling scores with "the system" but rather scoring with women. He is a practised seducer, and the film introduces us to a number of his conquests. The nearest thing he has to a steady girlfriend is Gilda, the mother of his young son Malcolm, but even she tires of his infidelity and refusal to commit to her. Eventually she leaves him to marry her long-time admirer, bus conductor Humphrey. Humphrey is everything Alfie is not; he is far from handsome, but is caring, faithful and deeply in love with Gilda. Alfie suffers a setback when he is taken into hospital with a suspected lung infection, but he is soon well enough again to go back to his old ways, taking advantage of Lily, the wife of a fellow-patient. Among his other victims are unhappily-married Carla, home-loving Northerner Annie, and wealthy older woman Ruby.

"Halliwell's Film Guide" describes the film as a "garish sex comedy", which strikes me as a misconception. Despite a certain superficial similarity in plot to the likes of "Confessions of a Window Cleaner", the film is actually a deeply serious one. Certainly, Alfie himself is a bit of a comedian who sees life as one big joke, always endeavouring to look on the bright side. Cheerfulness can in some cases be an admirable attribute, but in Alfie's case it goes hand-in-hand with a crass insensitivity to the problems and emotions of others. What he wants out of life is commitment-free relationships which will enable him to find sexual satisfaction with as many women as possible. Perhaps the most telling detail about his character is that he habitually refers to women as "it" rather than "she".

Only at the end of the film does it start to dawn on him that there might be more to life than a series of one-night stands, and he starts to ponder the question "What's it all about?" (The question is enshrined in the famous song which we hear at the end of the film as Alfie stands by the Thames pondering his future). There are three key moments in Alfie's gradual enlightenment. One comes when he wanders into a church where Gilda and Humphrey are having their first child baptised, and he realises that he is missing out on family life. Another comes when he discovers that Ruby has dumped him in favour of an even younger toyboy. For the first time he is being used in the way he uses others, and he doesn't like it. The most moving comes when, after Alfie has bullied Lily, whom he has got pregnant, into having an illegal abortion, he is shocked by the sight of his dead unborn child.

Caine gives one of his best performances as the cheerfully immoral hero, and he receives good support from a number of others, especially Vivien Merchant as the tragic Lily, Alfie Bass as her invalid husband Harry and Denholm Elliott as the cynical abortionist.

The film is firmly rooted in the working-class London of the mid-sixties, and reflects the Zeitgeist of that period. It was a time when the Pill was a recent invention, when the sexual revolution was just beginning but when older, conservative, attitudes towards sex were stronger than they are today. Although Alfie's conquests are played by some of the best-looking British actresses of the period, such as Shirley Anne Field, Julia Foster and Jane Asher, they are not mini-skirted dolly-birds, but basically old-fashioned girls, conservatively, even dowdily, dressed. All of them, except the sluttish Ruby, are looking for love rather than sex, and he is smart enough to know this and cynical enough to exploit it.

In some respects the film was a progressive one for its period, both in its stylistic devices, such as having the hero speak direct to camera, and in its frankness about sexual matters, especially the highly controversial topic of abortion (still illegal in Britain in 1966, although it was to be legalised the following year). In its view of social matters, however, it is more conservative; its attitude towards abortion, for example, is more pro-life than pro-choice. The film can perhaps be seen as a critique of the sexual revolution, showing how greater sexual freedom was giving irresponsible philanderers like Alfie more opportunities to seduce women. The irony is that Alfie ends up ruining his own life as effectively as he has ruined theirs. Beneath its permissive surface, "Alfie" is a devastating exposure of the dark side of the sexual revolution. 9/10

Michael Caine plays Alfie, a hipster swinger in 1960s London whose attitudes and actions we abhor even as we warm to the twinkle in his eye.

Caine plays the role just right. The movie would go nowhere if he wasn't able to make us understand what about Alfie attracts women despite his treatment of them. The film has noble ambitions, and explores some pretty dark (and for the time, edgy) terrain, when Alfie's antics catch up with him and he leaves one of his conquests (played quietly by Vivien Merchant) in the hands of a sleazy abortionist. The look on Caine's face when he returns to his apartment and sees the aborted fetus, visual confirmation of his callous disregard, was enough on its own to earn him the Oscar nomination he received for this film.

Much of the marketing for "Alfie" positions it as a gay romp through the swinging 60s, but it's actually quite a bitter little pill to swallow, and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

With Shelley Winters as a blowsy American who's as good at playing Alfie as he is her.

Grade: B+

There were many films that capitalized on the mod-scene in London during the swinging 60's but very few of them have stood the test of time but this film remains as a solid reminder of how morals and ethics were starting to be portrayed in films and the main reason it still holds up is the unabashed performance of the lead. Story is about Alfie Elkins (Michael Caine) who is the ultimate ladies man in London and he seems not to just conquer his women but to own them as well. Even when living with someone he still keeps his options open and has a few ladies on the side from Gilda (Julia Foster) to the American Ruby (Shelley Winters) who is actually much like Alfie herself.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Alfie ends up getting Gilda pregnant and she eventually has a boy that he learns to care for but he doesn't have any aspirations of getting married and Gilda later marries another man. Alfie ends up in the hospital with an infection and while there he meets Lily (Vivien Merchant) who's the wife of his roommate and later starts an affair with her. He also meets a hitchhiker named Annie (Jane Asher) who tries to make him feel more domesticated but Alfie gets fed up and forces her to leave but he also gets Lily pregnant and helps her get an illegal abortion and it's at this point that Alfie starts to think about his life and where he's going.

This film is directed by Lewis Gilbert who is a very talented and respected director who would work with Caine again in the future with "Educating Rita". This script is from Bill Naughton and his play and at times the film has a stage feel especially when Caine turns to the camera and talks to the audience about his inner thoughts. The character Alfie is depicted in a brutally honest manner and the best way to describe him is either as a cad or a rogue but this is partly why Caine's performance is so riveting. Caine was a working actor but after this film was released it made him a worldwide star and gave him a celebrity status where he never had to look back. Caine's screen presence is part of his performance and the way he can look at the camera and stay in character can be hard to pull off but Gilbert's intuition in casting Caine was correct and ultimately vital to the film. This is Caine's first great performance and he does add many layers to his character from being incredibly selfish and cynical to moments of remorse and disgust of his own actions. The supporting cast is also excellent and actress Merchant is nothing short of memorable with her role as a vulnerable middle age woman. This film is almost 40 years old and was made when morals and ethics were being questioned and along with Caine's unflinching performance this still holds up very well after all these years.

Alfie is a difficult film to come to terms with as it is most definately not what it seems. Its at its most base level is a movie about an arrogant womanising Jack the Lad, whose only virtue is his rogueism. However In my opinion it is an educated, witty, and ironic journey through the male ego during the sixties/seventies. Alfie is a tragic coming of age.

Michael Caine was 33 years old in 1966...the year Alfie was made. He was a relatively unknown actor. After Alfie, he was famous and in demand. Caine appears to have approached this role with a lot of confidence ...and why not, he already had a cockney accent...and he was also very cocky. His performance is 95% of the reasons why this is a very good movie. He gives one of the truly GREAT screen performances. The film is not just a comedy...there are examinations of deep and complex social issues...and there are lots of windows into the swinging sixties. But in the final analysis this is Michael Caines movie....for it is his character that stays with us, long after we are mesmerized by his bravado performance. He is still working today...at the age of 79. He has given some great performances over the years...but none to equal his work as Alfie.

A superb film. Michael Caine is Alfie, a working-class Londoner who weaves his way in and out of episodes with various birds, referred to using the neutral "it," as in "it's all in love and ghosty now," and the consequences grow more dramatic.

Alfie waltzes through all these sequential affairs with aplomb. Nothing bothers him. He's on the hedonic treadmill. He interrupts the goings on from time to time in order to deliver a wisecrack to the camera or sometimes a soliloquy with philosophical content such as "a man and a woman talking' about things is intimate. You know what? Sometimes I think it's more intimate than the other." Those consequences, though, rather accumulate and begin to distress him. Not for very long. He's incapable of being genuinely depressed, taking advantage, as he does, of Kierkegaard's unfolding moment. What I mean is -- the guy is pretty shallow.

His first problem comes when one of his girl friends gets pregnant. Quite an inconvenience when she insists on having the baby. She names the boy Malcolm Alfred and Alfie manages to stick around, without marrying her, for two years or so. The woman, Gilda, saddled with a child, an irresponsible lover and financial expenses, marries someone she doesn't love but whom she respects. Good-bye Gilda and little Malcom.

Not that it bothers Alfie naturally. There is a crisis, though, when he's called back to the doctor's office after a chest X-ray. Oh, he's carrying on, flirting with the nurse, winking at the camera, telling us how he's not doing anything any other bloke wouldn't do, when the nurse interrupts him to tell him he has two "shadows" on his lungs. This doesn't penetrate his denticles either. He scoffs that there's something wrong with the "picture." And then he glances out the window and glimpses a funeral across the street. "SHADOWS! Oh, me God! I'm being eaten up inside!" And he faints. You see, he has to be hit over the head with representations of the future before he can grasp what's going on.

There isn't space to go into this. Another ex girl friend shows up three months pregnant and Alfie arranges for an illegal abortion. ("Well, it was the least I could do.") The woman pays the abortionist. And the end result is a tiny well-formed fetus which causes Alfie to cry and run away. ("When it comes to women's troubles, I don't know and I don't want to know.") He tells an acquaintance that the sight of the dead fetus made him feel sorry, a queer emotion for him. "Sorry for the baby?" "No -- he was past it. Sorry for myself." He never does fully grow up. This is a movie for adults and in real life superficial people don't undergo epiphanies. "I just don't have me peace of mind." That's the best he can do.

Nobody could do a better job in this role than Michael Caine. He's an extraordinarily likable actor, for one thing. For another he has respectable range. His native working-class accent here contrasts with his upper-class put-on accent in "Zulu." And the other performances could hardly be improved upon.

The script is extremely effective. Alfie's asides to the camera in no way interrupt the flow of events we witness on screen. The speech of people of Alfie's class is captured precisely. Alfie is given no easy excuse for his careless attitudes towards the feelings of others. "I don't mean to hurt people, really I don't" he tells a friend. "Ah, but you do, Alfie, you do." (He's boffing the guy's wife.) He wasn't abused as a child. He isn't haunted by a tragic love affair. The women Alfie picks up are no more and no less attractive or sexy than those one might meet in a supermarket. Here, I must register a complaint. I don't know why it's so easy for Alfie to pick up his birds, so much more difficult than it was for me. He just looks like Michael Caine, whereas I looked like a reincarnation of Cary Grant. Well -- the perfect film is not yet with us. I attribute his success to pheromones.

Nice, appropriate score too. (Sonny Rollins.)

You know something, love? You really ought to watch this if you have a chance.

Caine is Alfie, an unrepentant ladies man who gets close to and uses several women before tossing them away at the slightest sign of complication. He eventually learns that his actions have consequences and that he faces increasingly diminishing options along the path he's chosen. Not exactly a deep film, but one that's elevated by Caine in his career defining performance. Caine walks a very thin line, never letting the audience forget that he's really a creep while simultaneously charming the pants of them with a running narration pitched directly to the audience in 4th wall breaking asides. He pretty much carries the film. It seems like Kubrick must have studied this one while preparing "A Clockwork Orange".

Only a handful of movies left a warm feeling on me after viewing, such as The Pianist, Forrest Gump and 500 Days of Summer; and I'm glad to include Alfie as one of those movies that left the same impression on me. Alfie is a British comedy drama released in 1966 with the main star Michael Caine as the titular playboy who has a libertine philosophy and readily disposes any woman he meets as just another 'bird'. The plot revolves around Alfie's relationship with these women and the consequences of each and each relationship have a character of their own as Alfie manipulates the girls to satiate himself, and to cower away from responsibilities. Essentially, the story is Alfie's adventures and shenanigans with laugh out loud jokes and innuendos.

The film Alfie is a stunningly beautiful and well crafted film with a narrative characteristic of other good contemporary films at that time (such as The Godfather)- subtle and lets the audience read the situation for themselves. This type of narrative was used effectively in the movie especially in some scenes bringing a very edgy and powerful emotion for the audience and this is very true near the end of the movie which I wouldn't spoil. Another aspect special in the narrative is breaking the fourth wall. Alfie talks to the audience directly for hilarious effect. The cinematography is also excellent that complements well with the script and so every scene in the movie feels like they have their own life. Every place seen in the movie feels unique from the countryside, the apartment, the convalescent home, the pier everything has been filmed beautifully.

In relations to acting, I have not seen the 2004 remake with Jude Law to compare with bur Michael Caine is absolutely excellent and he, only him, could play the role of Alfie and no one else. Michael Caine's English accent coupled with the English charm gives an impeccable performance making Alfie as a character very unique. The other casts as well have given excellent performance on the same level of Caine. Julie Foster as the timid and clingy Gilda, Vivien Merchant as the Lilly who is a shy and submissive wife of Alfie's friend Harry and Shelley Winters who plays as Ruby, the promiscuous American female counterpart of Alfie. The actresses have given excellent performances and like the character of Alfie, the female characters that the women have unique and interesting personalities that interact with Alfie. Personalities that fit to Alfie's As previously mentioned, the story is essentially Alfie's adventures and shenanigans but beneath the layer is Alfie's own personal development. As the story progresses, it becomes more and more mature and dark leading to the infamous gut-wrenching scene which I wouldn't spoil to some but to note, the scene I refer to is intricately crafted as we see a close-up look of Alfie's face turn from curiosity to disgust. That scene punched right in to the gut and left me speechless. At the end, Alfie's closing monologue have made him, and us, ponder about life when he asked us: What is it all about? Indeed what is it all about? His closing monologue certainly rings true but sad as Alfie outlines the advantage of being a care-free playboy but at the same time, miserable for being incapable to commit. The thought-provoking ending makes you and I think of the nature of life but specifically relationships, similar to the movie Annie Hall by Woody Allen. In the end, what is it all about?

This movie is yet another case of the original being the best. No offense to Jude Law but Michael Caine is perfect as Alfie. He has a charm and charisma that speaks in volumes. I love this little portrayal of the trials and tribulations that coincide with love and life.

The women in the film were really excellent in their roles. Jane Asher was amazing as the sweet, sad and naive Annie. I just can't imagine anyone but Shirley Winters in the role of the older American woman. I admire the casting directors for putting Jane, Shirley, Eleanor and so forth in the roles of the ladies in Alfie's life.

I like the use of the scruffy dog at the start and end of the film. It is a perfect reflection or representation upon the personality of Alfie.

Overall, this is a fun yet poignant film that should be seen by all.

The technique of having Caine speak directly to the camera is what makes the film. Alfie is so open and frank with the audience that we share his experiences. If the film were shown in a conventional third person style we would obviously dislike Alfie. He takes us in with his charm just as he imposes his will on the "birds" he manipulates. In a sense the audience has become another of Alfie's birds. I was struck by a similar style in the more recent High Fidelity. Cusack speaking directly to the camera reminded me of Alfie.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Having been born before this was released, I've heard of this movie my whole life, knew the song, etc. but never had the opportunity to see it.

Well unfortunately that opportunity presented itself last week, and now I can see I didn't miss a damn thing the past forty years.

He's a heel..so what? Does he have to brag about it?

I'm not a big fan of actors speaking directly to the camera and he does that constantly here, usually only to justify his own actions. Meanwhile the other character that he just treated badly doesn't get to see the 'cute' side, they get the bastard.

I also kept thinking ans wishing what this would have been like with Albert Finney in the title role. Out of the millions of movies Michael Caine has made, I can count the ones I like on one hand. Its weird cause I like him, I just don't like his movies.

I see an actress named Vivien Merchant got a Best Supporting Actress nomination. She could have been any of at least three women. Denholm Elliot has a small part; years later, he'd lose an Oscar to Caine (Elliot nominated for "A Room with a View" and Caine winning, for some reason, for "Hannah and her Sisters).

The only thing more amazing than the success of this movie is the fact that its one of the only times Shelley Winters doesn't raise her voice, bug her eyes or do everything she can to dominate a scene. Its a small part but she restrains herself.

Maybe Jude Law's remake will improve on the material. 3/10.

I am very glad I finally got around to seeing "Alfie". For years I incorrectly assumed two things--that it was a smutty little film and that it was a comedy. While the film does have a very strong message about sex and the title character seems to be sexually addicted, it is far, far deeper. And, while the film appears to be a comedy, as the film progresses it becomes more and more serious. All in all, I was very impressed by this film--it had far more depth than I'd assumed.

The film begins with Alfie (Michael Caine) making it with a married lady in a car. You don't see any of it but hear them as he tries to convince her to go all the way. Now here is where it gets weird--Alfie gets out of the car and then begins addressing the audience. In fact, throughout the film he stops to talk to the audience--to discuss his philosophy about women, marriage and relationships. Now MOST of what he says is pure drivel--a guy coming up with 1001 reasons why it was okay to use women and why emotionally connecting with any of them was a BIG mistake. However, as the story unfolds, Alfie discovers that staying that emotionally distant is very difficult. I could easily say more--but don't want to give away the plot twists.

I really loved this film. Michael Caine was at his best as a lovable but emotionally stunted rogue. But what really impressed me was the writing. This film would be WONDERFUL to show to young men--especially since there are so many 'Alfies' out there and seeing how lonely this sort of life could be is a great lesson for young folks. See this film--it's so much more than I'd expected and had amazing depth.

Michael Caine gets well-deserved praise for his acting, but I'd like to give credit to Bill Naughton, the man who wrote the play on which the movie is based and who wrote the screenplay. Naughton's understanding of Alfie is deep and caring, even though Alfie is a narcissistic jerk. Caine gets the character right, showing us all Alfie's flaws without making the character unbearable.

Alfie is a man whose goal in life is to screw women. His references to women in general, and each particular woman he dates, is to "bird" and "it." "It's a nice little bird, isn't it?" he'll ask us -- Alfie looks straight at the camera and addresses us the viewers as his co-conspirators in life. If you didn't see Michael Caine in the 60s when he was in his prime, you may be surprised at his good looks; he was almost pretty. It makes it totally credible that Caine's Alfie could be a ladies man and get quite beautiful women to stay with him in spite of his narcissism and lack of any caring at all. Alfie's asides to the camera are plentiful and revealing of his character. We're taken into his confidence, even as the women are taken.

The film is very 60s in its view of things. Sex outside of marriage was a sin, nice girls didn't do it, and girls who did were looked down upon. And Alfie is a cad who preys upon nice girls. Among his victims are Annie, played by Jane Asher. (Asher was an actress from her pre- school days, but she may be best known as Paul McArtney's long-time girlfriend. She's said to be the inspiration for the songs "And I Love Her," "All my Loving," "Here, There and Everywhere," among others.) There's also the sad Lily, wife of a long-term patient in a nursing home who is an acquaintance of Alfie's. Lily is very well played by Vivien Merchant. (Merchant had some sad times of her own, I understand. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for this role, and she was in many other plays and movies. Married to Harold Pinter, he cheated on her, setting up his script for "Betrayal." After the divorce, Merchant died from the consequences of her alcoholism at the age of 53.) Shelley Winters plays Ruby, the character Alfie likes most of his birds. But she's too much like him for it to work.

"Alfie" can be seen as comedic, but the underlying themes are depressing. Naughton uses humor to make an otherwise unrelentingly inhuman and inhumane point of view -- well, not likable, but at least bearable. The script is very impressive as Naughton (and Caine) peel away Alfie's layers of defenses, baring his sorry excuse for a soul. When we finally get to Alfie's heart, there's nothing there.

The music is excellent; original music is by Sonny Rollins. He did a great job of capturing the spirit of the 60s and the spirit of Alfie. Cinematographer Otto Heller and director Lewis Gilbert made great use of the sets and the camera, capturing Alfie in his milieu. "Alfie" received 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Best Screenplay based on Material from another Medium.

If you liked Caine in this, I suggest seeing "The Ipcress File," which came out a year earlier.

I saw Shelley Winters being interviewed on TV about this movie. She said she couldn't understand a word Michael Caine said and that the movie was re-dubbed for American audiences to soften Alfie's cockney accent. At least that's my recollection, and I'm sticking with it.

I haven't seen the later version with Jude Law. My impression is that the two versions cannot be compared. Don't let your like or dislike of the later version sway you in seeing the 1966 "Alfie."

Alfie (1966)

There are two ways to love this movie. One is the way people in 1966 did, with a certain amount of shock at the candor and callousness of the main character, and how the dealt with pregnancy and abortion. The other is how it is made, which was impressive at the time and equally so now--even more so, considering how it has aged so well. I truly "tells" a story, and Michael Caine is brilliant, subtle, chilling, and believable in the starring role of Alfie.

On the first score, there is something unsettling, really really funny, and daring about the subject--a true cad, a British young man who has his way with women but only, it seems, in the most superficial way, emotionally. You want to hate him for it, but he's so likable, and so honest, and fresh, and frankly charming to the gills, you can't help but have mixed feelings. Caine defines the role so thoroughly, in the remake, you feel Jude Law trying not to be Alfie, but be Michael Caine (and it doesn't work nearly as well).

On the second, the way the movie was made, with many long takes, and with the main character (and no one else) narrating directly into the camera, but often in the middle of real action, is uncanny and virtuosic. Everyone involved had to have been sharp as a tack to get this right, the timing and feel, the light and the deadpan acting (I saw a crack of a smile during the long clinic scene). It makes for a dry approach, in a way, and it forces detachment from the plot proper. But it draws you into Alfie's plight, and flight, and complicated character.

There are other movies made in the mid 1960s that are about the early and mid 1960s in working class London without trying to be, but this is among the best, like "Easy Rider" is clearly about the later 1960s in America. The new mores of the fresh sexual revolution are just being sorted out by cast and character and audience, almost before our eyes as we watch. It's quite remarkable, really. There's a lot of talk, and if you don't get into that pace right away you'll be doomed. But if you connect, and see the brilliance of it, you'll be blown away. Singular and special.

Notice also the terrific music by Sonny Rollins, and of course the famous title song, sung by Cher. And though Michael Caine steals the show, the rest of the cast is spot on serious and authentic. Oddly, this is roughly the same time as the recent "An Education" and it has a little echo in some ways. But oh how much more true "Alfie" is from top to bottom. This may be fiction, but it gets to what matters very much.

At first I was annoyed by the seemingly awkward narration which consists of Caine talking to the viewer, which could have easily become distracting. A regular voice-over narration would have been just as fine, but one quickly gets used to this, too. A little tougher to get used to was Caine's damn cockney accent, so unless you're a cockney expert or a cockney yourself, you'd better watch this on DVD with subtitles. "Alfie" is a visually nice-looking, very 60s in some ways, entertaining blend of comedy and drama - a tough mix to succeed making a good movie from. There are no laugh-out-loud moments but the movie kept me interested for the two-hour duration (which actually became closer to three hours because I had to keep rewinding due to the occasionally incomprehensible cockney mumbling/slang). Alfie at one point refers to his house-girlfriend (hence all women) as "it", which almost made him appear like a David Attenborough type describing a couple of lizards on "Animal Planet".

I can only imagine what a mess the new "Alfie" version must be.

This is an excellent, pretty frank and even-handed look at the life of a mid-1960s womanizing single man. The story and acting are excellent, utterly convincing, and interesting.

Alfie's character is very well-developed and portrayed; rather than being a single-dimensional icon or stock generalization, he is complex. Alfie is sympathetic and unsympathetic at the same time. He is a chauvinist who cares little for the people (primarily women) in his relationships, avoids emotional attachments or long-term relationships with women who seem to want them, lives in the moment for himself, uses women, has them cook for him, etc. Yet at the same time he also shows some consideration for them and at least appears to want them to do what they want, be free, etc. He in some ways wants (or at least truly thinks that he wants) the women to live by the same rules he does. He also clearly never has any intention to hurt people, which he also states quite clearly. However, he clearly does not think about how his actions do hurt people and he is too focused on himself, while he may at first think that he wants the women to be as "free" as he, but in reality he doesn't as he realizes only too late how hurtful it is when women treat him the way he has treated them. This dichotomy in his character is handled with great subtlety and care, and the way he comes to realize how hurtful it is to be in a relation with someone like him is perfect. It is also developed excellently with his first-hand look at how his actions hurt women whom he professed never to want to hurt, when he sees the pain that he admits he never wanted to know about. Meanwhile, throughout the movie he is slowly (very slowly at first) beginning to realize what he is missing by shutting the women out and cutting his ties with them when they get too close. The final scenes of the film where each of these realization hits home one after the other is handled perfectly.

The film is also an excellent look at the time, on the cusp of radical social change with respect to gender and sexuality and the specifics of the story appear utterly out of place and unconvincing in the modern remake. There is, moreover, no real point in remaking such an excellently executed classic as this.

Finally, I want to add that, although the comparison never seems to be made, I find this film to be somewhat similar to La Dolce Vita in some of the overall themes (pointlessness, pain, etc., of superficial relationships and living solely in the moment), yet this film is handled far better. Obviously, the films are not entirely on the same points, with La Dolce Vita dealing with other elements as well and in a different country, etc., but some of these basic points are very close, and the approaches are also very similar: showing the stream of changing, empty relationships and the failure to grasp at the chances for a full, meaningful relationship, that in the end ultimately leave the character without any meaningful life or direction, lost and lonely. I also find Alfie to be more gripping and watchable as La Dolce Vita, for all its strengths, sags pretty badly in the middle and never really quite hits things on the head.

The second best film of 1966 (after BLOW-UP) is a cleverly written story of a ladies' man who finds out some truths about himself. Michael Caine gives his finest performance and Shelley Winters is right on the money as the "older" woman. Jane Asher is beautiful and Vivian Merchant is heartbreaking as a married woman who gets too close to Alfie. She was Oscar-nominated and should have won (no offense to Sandy Dennis).

A 9 out of 10. Best performance = Ms. Merchant (once married to Harold Pinter). Great title song. I can't imagine them updating this in the recent remake with Jude Law. What's the point? If you're going to remake a great film, it had better outdo it. I've heard nothing good about the new one.