Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable film, October 24, 2004
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 :-)
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alfie Knows Very Well What It's All About, May 8, 2007
"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.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's it all about, Alfie?, May 11, 2005
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).
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