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

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.

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.