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Alfie

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Why in the world producers want to film remakes of classics like "Alfie" (and recently "The Ladykillers") is beyond me, because the remakes can only pale by comparison. It's a fool's errand. I haven't seen the recent remake of "Alfie", but I predict it will suffer by comparison to the original. Of course, the PR men will say that the film is not really meant to be an American copy of "Alfie", but if not, why not name it "Wendell"?

The technique of having Alfie philosophize into the camera could have flopped, but Michael Caine pulls it off. Although his character is indeed a cad, he is also vulnerable and capable of feelings (The scene in which Vivien Merchant gets an abortion and Alfie is mortified). He is indeed self-centered, with his life being driven by how many "birds" he can bed, but Caine convinces us that Alfie is not a simple character.

And at the end when Ruby (Shelly Winters), who Alfie is considering "settling down" with, dumps him, having found sombody younger, his ego takes quite a bruising.

Finally, there is Malcolm. This is a child that Alfie had with one of his girlfriends, who, since Alfie is not the marrying kind, sensibly married someone else. Alfie secretly, wistfully, watches the three of them in the park, and you actually for once feel sorry for him because he knows Malcolm is his child but Malcolm will never be a part of his life. He ends the movie speaking to the camera and, to those who may envy his way with the fair sex, laments that he does not have "peace of mind", and that he probably never will.

The English films are almost always better than American films. More honest, less sophomoric, more adult, and more candid. "Alfie" is definitely one of those films. Michael Caine gives the performance of a lifetime, with the support of a superb cast, under the great direction of Lewis Gilbert. If you want a light, frothy comedy, look elsewhere. But if you are interested in human relations, character studies, and fine performances, you must see "Alfie" (this review refers to the ORIGINAL film :-)

"Alfie," released in 1966, is considered one of the most famous, influential movies of that decade. It's credited with being a classic study of the 60's, and introducing London to the world, just as it began to swing. Also with making a big star of its star, Michael Caine, although by this time Caine had already starred in "The Ipcress File," and stolen "Zulu," a dandy war movie, out from under Stanley Baker. No matter, "Alfie" is still considered the sexy, handsome young Caine's star-making turn. The part, that of a London cockney lad about town, is one he was born to: he was, in fact, born to be a Covent Garden barrow boy (that is, a man selling fruits and vegetables from a wheelbarrow in the open-air market), as was his father before him.

Alfie (Caine) is a London limo driver, a job that enables him to meet girls, girls, girls, and he does. Uses them, abuses them, moves on. The movie's based on the stage play of the same name by Bill Naughton, who adapted it for the screen, and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won five Oscar nominations, seven other awards, and 16 more miscellaneous nominations. Terence Stamp, cockney himself, and possibly the handsomest man alive at that time, was playing the title role on Broadway, but refused the movie, as he thought it "too immoral." Filmed on location in London and environs, Naughton "opened up" the play by adding many Thamesside scenes, making the mighty river another, mood-setting, reminding-us-of-eternity, character. Denholm Elliott has one unforgettable scene; Sydney Tafler and other cockney types provided Caine with excellent support; some of the women in Alfie's life were played by Shelley Winters, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field, Vivien Merchant, and Eleanor Bron.

When the movie first opened, it was accompanied only by a jazzy Sonny Rollins score. To sweeten things up a bit, the famous, award-winning song, "What's It All About, Alfie," was commissioned from Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The song, done by Cher for the American market, and Cilla Black for the English, was spliced into the movie. (Of course, Dionne Warwick had the big hit with it, on both sides of the Atlantic.) The song, however, is not an accurate summation of the movie, as it is generally considered. The song famously asks, "Is it just for the moment we live? Are we meant to take more than we give?" Well, Alfie, as Caine plays him, knows that he's been trying to live only for the moment, and that he's been taking far more than he's been giving, and he knows where it's gotten him.

He knows that he dislikes women -- calls them "birds," and occcasionally, jarringly, "it." But he knows their power. He knows he has no education, money or position, and a woman such as the doctor Eleanor Bron plays has no interest in him. He knows he's alone, and getting older; were he to forget, Shelley Winters, in the part she was born to play, a rich American, is there to remind him. He knows that he's lost two sons, one by a second-stringer of his who married a nice man to get the support she needed. One by the character played by the greatly-admired Vivien Merchant, a married woman who feels an abortion is necessary.

The scene where Alfie recognizes just what abortion means is the most powerful in the movie. "You reap what you sow," is the lesson he's forced to relearn, and it's a painful one. At the end of the movie, he stands and faces the camera, says he's gotten the better of the many women in his life, and yet, they've moved on, presumably to happiness, and he has nothing, not even his "peace of mind." Our Alfie has been forced to learn what it's all about.

Michael Caine plays the title character, a rogue who spends his life having affairs with various women and making them (and himself) miserable. One woman (Julia Foster) he impregnates, but refuses to marry, and as he goes to other, more selfish women, he bemoans his "ties" to Foster as he sinks into the depths with the others. By the end he's a fairly detestable character, despite his feeling of remorse, Caine acts the part excellently, as does Shelley Winters who plays a rich, man-using lush. There is also a great jazz score written and played by Sonny Rollins. Definitely worth a watch (and listen).

Michael Caine plays the title role to perfection. Alfie is an attractive, sexy, but shallow and obnoxious playboy who goes about his business of womanizing while frequently turning to address the audience with his views, philosophies, justifications, etc., so that you get a sense of shadowing him like an invisible imaginary friend he's always talking to. He has very little respect for women and he's every mother's nightmare of the type of fellow she would not want her daughter involved with. Some may find the film disturbing because Alfie is such a rotten person, but the unfortunate fact is, he is realistic. Almost everyone has known men who behave just like him, just as everyone has known wonderful 'nice guys' like several of the male characters who appear in contrast to Alfie's type.

Alfie seems to be in a constant battle with himself to remain insensitive, uncaring, and focused only on an 'empty sex is everything' point of view. He carries on affairs with married women who yearn to run away with him, and at the same time with single girls who'd do anything to pry a commitment from him, and he makes a few people pregnant along the way. Every female he meets is desperate to get him for a serious partner and he is indifferent to them all. Irony comes when he meets and finally falls for someone, at last wishing to commit himself. The object of his desire is a flashy, worldly older woman (Shelley Winters), and the problem is, she is a female replica of himself who uses men and views them with the exact same disregard he has for women. To her, Alfie, 'the bloke all the other gals are dying for', is just another meaningless piece of sexual action, and thus, he ends up getting a good dose of his own medicine.

The DVD is beautifully clear, almost 3-dimensional. I've never seen it with such clarity! And yes, as someone asked below, the great hit song 'Alfie', sung by Cher, is indeed played with the end credits. I've heard that the British release of the film had it sung by Cilla Black, but the American DVD has Cher's version, as did the American theatres.

It took me a number of years to finally catch up with "Alfie" and, boy, did I have a misconception about the film. I thought Alfie was a free-spirited dandy who loves and leaves the ladies. Little did I know that he's a self-loathing misogynist.It's a brilliant device to have Alfie address the audience. Alfie may think he's pleading his case but instead he digs a deeper hole for himself. Unlike the angry British young men of a few years prior social conditions don't seem to have effected his mindset. Nope, Alfie was probably always a louse. Credit Michael Caine for making this cretin if not sympathetic at least palatable. I also found the film's decidedly pro-life stance refreshing. The irony is that the case for the sanctity of unborn life is delivered most compellingly by of all people an abortionist played by Denholm Elliott. This film is an interesting counterpart to the 2004 remake. Jude Law's gives a more sympathetic rendering of Alfie even though the character is no less of a cad.

In this engaging film,Michael Caine represents the blocked and emotion fearing english working class man.
His attititude towards women is hauntingly vacant.He uses them to fill the time with a no committment banter to the camera.
He fathers a child,picks up homeless women,and retreats to an older woman for mothering and the nice things she has to offer(Shelley Winters).
Alfie drops his defenses when he experiences the aftermath of his married girlfriends abortion.Caine is excellent at making you believe his limited and lonely perspective.
Cher is the perfect singer with her recording of "Alfie" during the closing credits. The pathos of her voice and the youth in her reading remind us of the "birds" Alfie uses to cover his lonely dreams.
All in all a memorable film,with comedic touches to keep it from being maudlin.

Based on the play by screenwriter Bill Naughton, director Lewis Gilbert's "Alfie" is a black comedy of mores and manners about a naïve womanizer who wonders, as in the title song, "What's it all about?" Caine, in a star-making role, is sensational as the charming but emotionally clotted Alfie, whose hilarious asides to the camera leaven the film's heavier moments. Just as good is a brassy Shelley Winters as Ruby, a seductive vixen who turns Alfie inside out. Even today, Gilbert's unsparing riff on the emptiness of sexual conquest still resonates, and the film also benefits from the palpable electricity of London in the swinging sixties.

London was swinging in 1966. Mod fashion and the mini skirt were in vogue, discos featured the sound of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Sean Connery starred in the latest James Bond 007 flick, drawing in crowds at the cinema, the counter culture was defining itself, the availability of medically prescribed contraceptives helped usher in the Sexual Revolution, even though Women's Lib was still a ways off - and Director Lewis Gilbert's "Alfie" was released. It turned out to be the most talked-about, controversial film of the year, launching Michael Caine as an international film star, and earning five Oscar nominations. Although "Alfie" is very much a period piece, I saw it again recently and was tremendously surprised at how well it holds up, especially in the context of its time.

Michael Caine's Alfie Elkins is the ultimate ladykiller, a sexual predator who approaches women and relationships the way a serial killer homes-in on a victim. He objectifies females, and many of his women are, indeed, victim-like in their neediness and vulnerability. This 30-something misogynistic, working-class, low-class playboy epitomizes narcissism, as he travels from "bird" to "bird," single women and married alike, without responsibility or care, and without malice. And then he moves on to his next conquest. Michael Caine is superb and very believable as the reckless lover with the Cockney accent. His hard-core arrogance and brutal honesty, (with his monologues to the audience), are chilling and, at times, funny - but we're talking about very dark humor. This is a cold and distant man. Not to get too deep into psychology here, but Michael Caine is able to bring the depth of a damaged person to his outwardly cool cad of a character.

The talented Mr. Caine couldn't pull-off this performance alone, however, so credit must be given to his supporting cast. Caine's counterparts are extremely credible, even by today's much more feminist and politically correct standards. These women are not Playboy Bunny types. A few of them are almost plain, and there is no cleavage except for the abundance of Shelly Winters.' Gilda (Julia Foster), is the working class woman, desperately in love with Alfie, who bears him a son out of wedlock. Although he states from the start that the baby is not his problem, he shows more affection to the child than he does to all his women combined. Vivien Merchant is excellent as Lily, the drab, lonely, married woman whom Alfie seduces and impregnates. She winds up having an abortion and, I must say, that the scenes surrounding this traumatic event are shocking in their emotional intensity, even in today's world. Annie, (Jane Asher) is the forlorn hitchhiker Alfie picks up and takes home to be his house maid, among other services. He winds up referring to her as "it." Shelly Winters is Ruby the vulgar older woman who dumps Alfie for a younger man.

I watched a double feature of this 1966 version of "Alfie" with Michael Caine, and Alfie, 2005 with Jude Law. I was curious to compare the two movies. The only comment I will make here, because I believe it is pertinent, is that although I like Jude Law as an actor, the remake is nowhere near as effective as the original - which I highly recommend.
JANA.

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have seen this film in the theatre. Fortunately, I did! Many more viewings on the tele. I never got tired of this great film.

Michael Caine's Alfie was all the terrible things mentioned by other reviewers, but it was presented in a way that was humorous, in spite of the fact that you cringed on some of the antics.

The point most people miss is this guy does horrible things, but I really don't think any of it was intentional. He did things out of stupidity and really not knowing any better.

Shelly Winters character was the first to bring him down to earth. By the time the film ended, he was left alone. You actually felt a bit sorry for him at the end in spite of his behaviour.

I'd like to believe if there was a sequel, you would have seen a transformed man, far more caring than the one in this picture. Just a great movie that I can watch over and over again.

I can't believe it took the remake to inspire me to buy the original ALFIE with Michael Caine and watch it for the first time. I regret that I waited so long to see this, the best version, and to again see why Michael Caine is such a great actor. Forget that we're in London in the 60's, and just focus on this story of a guy who beds anything in sight and has about as much depth as a wading pool. (Some themes never age.) Caine plays his part wonderfully, including sharing his inner thoughts directly with the audience, straight-on into the camera. The women he crosses paths with are an assortment of types and each actress plays the part well. My favorites among his "birds" are Vivien Merchant as Lily, and Shelley Winters as Ruby. Talk about the extremes in his life! And as if the performances aren't enough, the end titles are creatively enhanced by Cher singing the title song. This one will hold a special place in my DVD collection. It took me almost 40 years to see ALFIE and I'm glad I finally did.