| Alfie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Lewis Gilbert |
| Screenplay by | Bill Naughton |
| Based on | Alfie by Bill Naughton |
| Produced by | Lewis Gilbert |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Otto Heller |
| Edited by | Thelma Connell |
| Music by | Sonny Rollins |
Production company | Sheldrake Films |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 114 minutes[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $500,000[2] |
| Box office | $18.9 million[3] |
Alfie is a 1966 Britishcomedy-drama film directed byLewis Gilbert and starringMichael Caine. TheParamount Pictures release wasadapted from the 1963play of the same name byBill Naughton. Following its premiere at the Plaza Theatre in theWest End of London on 24 March 1966, the film became a box office success, enjoying critical acclaim, and influencing British cinema.
The narrative follows a young, womanising man leading a self-centred life, focused on his own enjoyment until events force him to question his uncaring behaviour, his loneliness, and his priorities. Alfie cheats on numerous women, treating them with disrespect, using them for sex and domestic affairs. He frequently breaks thefourth wall, speaking directly to the camera, narrating and justifying his actions, despite broad contradictions.
Alfie Elkins, a handsome, self-centered, narcissisticCockney chauffeur in London, enjoys the sexual favours of married and single women while avoiding commitment. He is ending an affair with Siddie, a married woman, just as he gets his submissive girlfriend, Gilda, pregnant. Alfie thinks nothing of pilfering fuel and money from his employer and tells Gilda to do the same. Although he refuses to marry her, and despite his constant cheating, Gilda decides to have the child, Malcolm Alfred, and keep him rather than give him up.
Over time, Alfie becomes quite attached to his son, but his unwillingness to marry Gilda causes her to break up with him and marry Humphrey, a kindly bus conductor and neighbour who loves her and is willing to accept Malcolm Alfred as his own. Gilda bars Alfie from any further contact with Malcolm, forcing him to watch from a distance as Humphrey steps into his fatherly role. When a health check reveals Alfie hastubercular shadows on his lungs, the diagnosis and his fear of death, combined with his separation from his son, lead him to have a briefmental breakdown.
Alfie spends time recuperating in a pastoral sanatorium, where he befriends Harry, a fellow patient, a family man devoted to his frumpy wife, Lily. Alfie makes out with one of the nurses, disgusting Harry. When Alfie flippantly suggests that Lily might be cheating on him, Harry angrily confronts Alfie about his attitudes and behaviour.
Released from the convalescent home, Alfie briefly stops working as a chauffeur to take holiday photos of tourists near theTower of London. He meets Ruby, an older, voluptuous, affluent and promiscuous American who, although accompanied by an older gentleman, gives him her address and telephone number.
Alfie returns to chauffeuring and drives a Rolls-Royce to the sanatorium to visit Harry. He finds Lily finishing a visit with her husband, who asks him to give his wife a ride back to London to save her an exhausting train ride. Neither initially wants to spend time together, but they agree in order to please Harry. Along the way, they stop for tea and then a canoe ride where Alfie seduces Lily.
Later, chauffeuring again, Alfie sees a young red-headed hitchhiker, Annie, who wants a fresh start in London. A lorry driver picks her up just before Alfie gets to her. He follows them to a cafe and steals her away to London. She moves into his bedsit where she proves preoccupied with a love left behind, scrubbing Alfie's floor, doing his laundry and preparing his meals to compensate. The lorry driver finds Alfie in a pub and punches him in the face, causing a bar brawl.
Coming home with a black eye, Alfie grows resentful of Annie and drives her out with an angry outburst, immediately regretting it. Around the same time, Lily informs him that she is pregnant from their one encounter, and they plan for her to have an abortion. Lily comes to his flat to meet the abortionist. During the procedure, Alfie leaves Lily and walks around. He catches sight of his son Malcolm outside a church and witnesses the baptism of Gilda and Humphrey's new daughter. The abortion traumatizes both Lily and Alfie; he breaks down in tears when seeing the aborted fetus, the first time he confronts the consequences of his actions.
Stressed by the situations with Annie and Lily, Alfie decides to change his non-committal ways and settle down with Ruby. However, visiting her, he finds a younger man in her bed. He comes across Siddie, but she has lost interest in him and returned to her husband. Alfie is left lonely, wondering about his life choices and the meaning of existence. A stray dog approaches him, and he takes it in his care as he walks off into the night.
DirectorLewis Gilbert bought the film rights withLeslie Grade. Grade sold his share toJames Woolf, who wantedLaurence Harvey to play the role. Gilbert did not think Harvey would be right, but agreed only if Harvey played in the play onBroadway first. Harvey refused, electing to appear inCamelot instead.[2]
Gilbert was going to makeNo Bail for the Judge withGeorge Peppard forParamount, but the film fell over. Since Paramount still paid Gilbert his fee, Gilbert offered to makeAlfie for them instead at half his usual fee.Terence Stamp read the script and wanted to do it for a reduced fee, which made Paramount happy as Stamp was doingThe Collector forWilliam Wyler. Gilbert insisted Stamp do the play on Broadway and Stamp agreed; the play flopped. "He really was bad," said Gilbert of Stamp, "he didn't have the experience." Stamp decided not to do the film. Gilbert says his son suggestedMichael Caine who was a friend. Gilbert admired Caine's work inThe Ipcress File and managed to get him approved by Paramount.[2]
Vivien Merchant was a last minute replacement forRachel Roberts, who had to drop out because her father was ill.[4]
It was shot atTwickenham Studios with scenes shot at several locations in London;[5] includingWaterloo Bridge which is seen at the beginning and end of the film where the title character walks into the distance accompanied by a stray dog[6] andTower Bridge which is the backdrop for the photography scene with Shelley Winters.[7]
The film is unusual in that it has no opening credits and the end credits feature photos of the principal actors, as well as of the main technical crew, including director Gilbert and cameramanOtto Heller.
The original film soundtrack featured jazz saxophonistSonny Rollins with London musicians includingStan Tracey on piano, who improvised "Little Malcolm Loves His Dad" (although never credited),Rick Laird on bass,Phil Seamen on drums,Ronnie Scott on tenor sax.
The Sonny Rollins albumAlfie, orchestrated and conducted byOliver Nelson, was recorded in the United States in January 1966. It features Rollins withJ.J. Johnson – trombone (tracks 1 & 2),Jimmy Cleveland – trombone (tracks 3–6),Phil Woods – alto saxophone,Bob Ashton – tenor saxophone,Danny Bank – baritone saxophone,Roger Kellaway – piano,Kenny Burrell – guitar,Walter Booker – bass andFrankie Dunlop – drums
The title song, "Alfie", written byBurt Bacharach andHal David, was sung byCher over the film's closing credits in the US release reaching #32 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart.[8] It became a hit for British singerCilla Black (Millicent Martin sangAlfie on its British release) and forMadeline Eastman andDionne Warwick.
OnRotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on reviews from 29 critics, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's consensus states: "Anchored by Michael Caine's charmingly droll performance, Alfie is an equally raucous and heart-rending portrait of romance in the Swinging '60s."[9]
Bosley Crowther, film reviewer forThe New York Times, singled out Vivien Merchant's acting for particular praise:
There must be an abortion—a miserable and tragic thing, which Lewis Gilbert, who produced and directed, makes us sense in all its shabbiness and shame. But it is the performance of Miss Merchant as the woman brought to this shame, stunned and saddened by the necessity, deadened by her grief, that shocks us into feeling contempt for Alfie—and all the free-wheeling Alfies in this world.[10]
The film was a huge box office hit. Lewis Gilbert says the film's success promptedCharles Bluhdorn (who bought Paramount Pictures in 1966) to make "around twenty pictures" without stars at around $500,000 each "and they all died".[11]
The 1966 film was followed byAlfie Darling (1975), withAlan Price replacing Caine. An updated2004 remake starredJude Law in the title role.
