TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Hitchcoc Except for the wonderful cheek of Michael Caine, this would be a pretty ordinary movie. The thing is, however, this rake is really a destructive force. These little sex comedies in the Sixties were pretty much for male viewers or fantasizing women. This is the kind of cad who makes promises with no desire to ever commit to anything. His motivations are strictly physical and without direction. And yet, Micael Caine lights up the screen. He is one of those actors who I automatically go to, like Anthony Hopkins or Gene Hackman. I know that even if the script is somewhat lacking, these guys will rise above it.

Spikeopath One of Michael Caine's launching pad movies, Alfie is a cunning observation of the hedonistic swinging 60s, of a mod London that time has left behind. Adapted by Bill Naughton from his own play, it's directed by Lewis Gilbert and sees Caine supported by Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field and Vivien Merchant.Undeniably dated and arguably pushing the boundaries of the war between the sexes, it's a picture that is often wry and bittersweet and yet also so sad. It never shies away from responsibility, deftly showing the pitfalls of the era, with Caine absolutely marvellous as Alfie goes through his armoury of sexual charm and bizarre naivety.The viewing of sex and adultery, from both sides of the coin, is frank and telling, with the smartness of the production garnering 5 Oscar nominations. Come the end of the play, you will have feelings you didn't think were coming your way. Especially after a turn of events that is harrowing and potent in equal measure.Of its time for sure, but relevant film making? Without a doubt. Exceptionally performed in to the bargain. 7/10

bkoganbing It was interesting to learn that Alfie had its origins on stage with a play because the way it was brought to the screen clearly showed author Bill Naughton's bow to Eugene O'Neill's influence. The play and film are about cheerful hedonist Alfie Elkins who wants nothing more in life than to kanoodle with as many women as he can. As apparently he does not believe in condoms that creates several problems for him, a couple of which would never have occurred with use of same.Michael Caine plays Alfie endearing cockney charm and all and as he goes through various sexual entanglements all in the spirit of fun and pulls aside as in Strange Interlude and talks about the 'birds' and his philosophy of life which changes as he changes as the film progresses. Caine creates a memorable character worthy of the Best Actor nomination he got.The women are pretty memorable as well. Jane Asher plays a runaway who Caine steals from a truckdriver who picked her up. Shelley Winters is as cheerful a hedonist as Caine is and a bit more experienced. Winters put down of him is devastating.Most memorable is Vivien Merchant who got a Best Supporting Actress nomination playing the wife of a fellow patient of Caine's while Caine is in a hospital for a short stay. He seduces Merchant, the mother of three and gives her a fourth. The guilt for this indiscretion that Merchant bears brought her that nomination.Also in that hospital is Dr. Eleanor Bron who is the only woman seemingly immune to Michael Caine's charms. Perhaps because she looks at him from a clinical perspective only.Alfie also got nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Song for the 60s classic What's It All About Alfie. Bill Naughton also got a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Naughton also did another fine film from that decade, The Family Way. I recommend you see both.

Framescourer Crumbs. I was expecting a light period vehicle for the carousing Michael Caine. Instead I got tough social realism, with no small amount of satire. It's also a technically interesting film with Caine addressing the audience directly by speaking into the camera. He remains in character, speaking in soliloquy rather than stepping outside the drama. It's effective, at once establishing the link of charm with the audience that might otherwise have been at a distance between characters, and makes the pain of the weave of stories all the more vivid.Alfie is not an unreconstructed Lothario. He's just self-deluded, mixing up his own, genuine growing pains with a warped, self-centred logic. Equally, the film isn't a proto-feminist tract. Although the women involved are independent characters the drama isn't ideological but domestic. Though the behaviour of the women from the contemporaneous London film Blow-Up is similar the two films are polar opposites in terms of their reach, Antonioni making a sublime thriller, Lewis Gilbert going inside, looking for the dramatic gemstone in the kitchen sink.He finds it, too. Caine is strong in Alfie (justly Oscar-nominated), notably when faced with the fall-out - literally - of another of his casual conquests. The support acting is mixed. Shelley Winters, Julia Foster and Vivien Merchant stand out from the women, with Denholm Elliott making a short but heavyweight appearance at the crucial juncture. London also features nicely too, although it still has a Dickensian gloom, not least with many shots with Thames-side industry for a backdrop (something that the enterprising Antonioni manages to escape). 6/10