Alfie

Alfie (1966) starring Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Shirley Anne Field. Caine plays Alfie, a philandering cad, who thinks he's got it all figured out but ends up asking "What's it all about?" The young Michael Caine was certainly handsome enough to pull off the role as a serial womanizer whose credo is, Take your pleasure, but don't let anyone get too close. He never falls in love, seeing no advantage in getting all involved with a bird. And he refers to all "birds" as "it." He's a tremendously misogynistic character, and hard to like, but by the end of the movie I had developed a kind of sympathy for him. Cher sings title song, "What's it all about, Alfie?" (Subtitles in English are available, as are closed captions.) Grade: A-