ALFIE (1966)

 
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 9:10 pm    Post subject: ALFIE (1966) Reply with quote

I’ve been revisiting some movies I saw many years ago. Alfie is one that met with wide critical acclaim at the time it appeared.

The scene is London, and Alfie is a young man who enjoys women. He calls them “birds” and often treats them as if they are things, referring to a "bird" as "it." He treats his women as if they’re meant to serve his every need–and he’s thoroughly pleased with himself and the cynical place he has reached in his experience.

The story has its very funny moments, but the baby who puts in a very brief appearance steals the show with his facial expression at one point. We see the face for only a split second but it is hilarious. Written all over Alfie’s infant son’s face is far more skepticism than anyone would have thought a baby capable of.

Alfie’s “birds” are numerous, and one of them turns out to be Shelley Winters, whom I didn’t recognize. The acting is excellent, even Michael Caine as Alfie. He strikes the right note, somewhere between being vaguely attractive and being repugnant but not quite as loathsome as he could have been.

It must have been a difficult role to get right. As time goes on, Alfie will be subjected to some lessons–though how much he really learns is open to question. Still, the lessons are almost hammered home, and that is where I had problems with this movie.

The scene involving an abortion, followed by Alfie’s rather long discourse on his reaction to it, borders on being anti-abortion propaganda inserting itself into what purports to be an entertaining movie. And just what has Alfie really learned in spite of his lofty rhetoric?

Movies where a character undergoes too drastic a reversal often seem unrealistic and forced. At least Alfie remains pretty much himself throughout, though at times he seems to be sending mixed messages. Is he going to turn out to be really an old softie at heart? There are distinct signs of it now and then, but they don’t last.

So we come away not knowing just what to think of him. Maybe he’s just a confused young man who hasn’t sorted things out yet.

Then there is a scene towards the end where he sneaks a peek at the christening of the second child born to one of his “birds,” who has since married a man who was willing to be father to Alfie’s child. Alfie glimpses his own son, now a toddler referring to the man as Daddy. Are we to make something of this scene? Are we to believe that Alfie will take this experience with him forever and think about it and change his ways?

The movie gives no clue. But there the scene is, for the spectators to see: Look at what Alfie has missed out on through his misguided, exploitative way of life. Do we come away feeling sorry for Alfie?

I didn’t. I disliked him at the start of the movie, and I disliked him just as much at the end.
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