Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11082 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-08-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"What's it all about, Alfie?" asked the hit Burt Bacharach/Hal David title song, to which the less philosophical answer might be: an amoral young man comically seducing a succession of beautiful women in swinging-sixties London. Michael Caine was the titular anti-hero, here consolidating his new star status from Zulu (1964) and The Ipcress File (1965), his conquests including Shelley Winters, Jane Asher and Shirley Ann Field. Alfie was a huge success, bringing a new frankness about changing sexual attitudes to the screen, in which respect it was almost the male companion to Julie Christie's then shocking, Oscar-winning performance in Darling (1965). It was also a sort-of contemporary Tom Jones, which had swept the Oscars for 1963, however, Alfie was not only better made, but in Michael Caine's guilelessly amoral asides to camera, offered a groundbreaking illustration of a newly self-conscious cinema. It is a technique Caine would reprise as the middle-aged philanderer in Blame It On Rio (1983). With Blow Up also released in 1966, and Ken Russell's Women In Love following in 1969, British film-making was truly in the midst of a sexual revolution. Michael Caine would reunite with director Lewis Gilbert and meet his female match in Educating Rita (1983). --Gary S. Dalkin

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Dolby Digital 5.1
Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis
In ALFIE, Michael Caine stars as the title character, a guiltless London lothario whose only pleasure in life seems to be a good time--he has a date with a different woman for each day of the week. After accidentally impregnating his live-in girlfriend, Gilda (Julia Foster), Alfie takes a vacation in the country to think about things--but he can't hide forever. Dodging his fatherly responsibilities, Alfie continues to engage in sexual affairs with a variety of women: millionairess Ruby (Shelley Winters), young runaway Siddie (Millicent Martin), and eventually his friend's wife, Lily (Vivien Merchant). The good times seem endless until misfortune strikes and Alfie is forced to face the product of his reckless debauchery.
Based on the novel of the same name by Bill Naughton, ALFIE touches on a number of controversial topics (polygamy and orphaning, for starters). Director Lewis Gilbert cleverly mixes comedy and tragedy; the end result: a crucial lesson about immorality and the rewards of peace of mind. The film features one of Caine's finest performances as well as an excellent supporting role by Merchant.

Customer Reviews

A life
Alfie is simply a walking penis. He thinks with it, eats with it and dies with it - he thinks with his head not his head. He has no notion of the pain and suffering he causes. This men like many simply does his thing. End of.

But he is not the only one at 'fault'. These women are not children. They know what sex and pregnancy mean, etc. Alfie does not rape them. They partake in his fantasy. Maybe humdrum lives are the reason.

This is simply a life mixing up the gene pool. I like too the song sung excellently by Cilla Black and which portrays Alfie's ignorance - what's it all about, Alfie?

Remorseless?
This is not a fluffy film like the Jude Law version, Caine's Alfie is far harsher and abrupt however it makes hims a far more honest and iconic character that truely brings the movie into some sort of social context, and the fashions are just as infamous as the film itself

What's it all about?
Alfie starts out as a cheeky chap who is revealed to be increasingly morally vacuous as the film goes on. The comedy of a 60s chancer lulls you in to a much more serious plot about the conflict between temptation and responsibility. I have just watched the film for the first time, after renting it from Amazon. The way the film talks about women may shock a contemporary audience, even though the protagonist is obviously portrayed as a chauvinist. Michael Cane plays the lead role in his unique style, with his asides direct to camera being a highlight of the storytelling of the film. This is an enjoyable watch with more substance than it may appear to have at its start. Having said this the message of the film is very much spoon-fed, even force-fed, to its audience.