Alfie (1966)

Introduction

When Alfie premiered in 1966, it sent a cultural shockwave through British cinema. Directed by Lewis Gilbert and based on the stage play by Bill Naughton, it was at once funny, brash, deeply moving, and unflinchingly honest. Powered by a career-defining performance from Michael Caine, Alfie captured the swinging spirit of 1960s London while simultaneously exposing the emotional emptiness and moral cost of its hedonism.

This is a film that could easily have been a shallow sex comedy, but instead, it evolves into a poignant, complex character study — a tragicomedy that holds a mirror to a generation giddy with newfound freedoms but uncertain of their consequences.

Plot Overview

Alfie Elkins (Michael Caine) is a charming Cockney womanizer who drifts through life indulging in casual affairs without emotional attachment. With his easy grin, sharp suits, and glib philosophy about not getting "involved," Alfie sees women as conquests or conveniences.

The film follows Alfie through a series of relationships:

With Gilda (Julia Foster), a sweet girl who bears his child.

With Ruby (Shelley Winters), a wealthy American divorcee who uses Alfie much as he uses others.

With Annie (Jane Asher), a young woman he beds casually.

And more fleeting encounters with various women along the way.

At first, Alfie’s life seems enviable: carefree, hedonistic, and without consequences. But gradually, the emotional debris he leaves behind — and his own growing sense of loneliness and aimlessness — begin to catch up with him. By the end, Alfie is left questioning the choices he's made, facing a future that looks far bleaker than he ever allowed himself to imagine.

Direction and Style

Lewis Gilbert (who would later direct several James Bond films, including You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me) brings a perfect touch to Alfie. He blends stylishness with rawness, capturing both the vibrant energy of 1960s London and the underlying despair of Alfie’s lifestyle.

A key stylistic device is breaking the fourth wall — Alfie speaks directly to the camera throughout the film, sharing his thoughts, philosophies, and rationalizations with the audience. It’s an intimate, conspiratorial tactic that makes viewers complicit in his escapades — and ultimately makes his downfall feel personal.

Gilbert maintains a tricky tonal balance between comedy and tragedy. He allows the humour to flow naturally from Alfie's wit and situations, but never shies away from showing the pain he causes others — and himself.

The cinematography by Otto Heller (who also shot The Ipcress File) is naturalistic and often handheld, giving the film a spontaneous, documentary feel that sets it apart from more polished, studio-bound productions of the era.

Performances

Michael Caine is absolutely magnetic as Alfie. It’s a role that made him a global star and remains one of his finest performances.

Caine’s Alfie is a masterclass in charm and self-delusion. He is funny, charismatic, and often disarmingly honest about his selfishness — but Caine also imbues him with vulnerability and insecurity. As the film progresses, subtle cracks appear in Alfie's breezy facade, revealing the frightened, lonely boy underneath the swagger.

It's a testament to Caine's skill that even when Alfie behaves reprehensibly, the audience never entirely turns against him. His final moments of self-reckoning — lost, confused, and desperately trying to make sense of his own emptiness — are devastating.

The supporting cast is uniformly excellent:

Julia Foster brings tenderness and strength to Gilda, the woman most hurt by Alfie's refusal to commit.

Shelley Winters is pitch-perfect as Ruby, whose cool pragmatism serves as a chilling mirror to Alfie's own exploitative behaviour.

Vivien Merchant, as Lily, Alfie's married lover, delivers one of the film’s most heart breaking performances. Her storyline — culminating in a deeply emotional (and controversial) abortion scene — shifts the film firmly from light-hearted romp to painful tragedy.

Jane Asher and Eleanor Bron also bring nuance to their smaller roles.

Themes and Interpretation

Alfie tackles a number of rich and often uncomfortable themes:

Consequences of Hedonism: At first, Alfie’s casual, commitment-free life seems enviable, but the film steadily peels away the glamour to show the wreckage it leaves behind — not just for the women he uses, but for Alfie himself.

Loneliness and Emotional Poverty: Alfie's greatest tragedy is not that he is a "bad" man, but that he is emotionally stunted, unable to form meaningful connections. His pursuit of pleasure leaves him isolated and adrift.

Masculinity and Vulnerability: Alfie embodies a version of masculinity based on conquest and emotional detachment. Yet beneath the bluster lies vulnerability, fear of intimacy, and a desperate need for validation.

Social Change and Morality: Set during a period of rapid social change in Britain, the film reflects the tension between the liberating aspects of the sexual revolution and the emotional consequences that liberation sometimes entailed.

The film’s final line — "What's it all about?" — sums up Alfie’s existential crisis and leaves the audience grappling with the same unanswered questions about love, life, and meaning.

Tone and Pacing

The tone of Alfie is deceptively light at the start — witty, lively, filled with playful sexual escapades — but it gradually darkens as the consequences of Alfie's actions mount. By the film’s end, the mood is sombre and reflective, culminating in one of the most quietly devastating endings in 1960s cinema.

The pacing is deliberate but never slow. Each episode in Alfie’s life builds naturally to a cumulative portrait of emotional and moral decline.

Legacy

Alfie was a critical and commercial success, earning five Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture and Best Actor for Michael Caine) and winning a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. It solidified Caine’s status as one of the leading actors of his generation and paved the way for more adult, character-driven dramas in both British and American cinema.

It also opened up discussions about abortion on film, with the abortion scene being ground breaking in its frankness and emotional impact at a time when the subject was still highly taboo.

The film’s cultural influence has been lasting:

It helped usher in a new wave of more realistic, socially conscious British films.

Alfie Elkins became a cultural archetype — the charming but emotionally empty Lothario — echoed in countless later films and TV series.

Burt Bacharach’s theme song “Alfie,” though not originally used in the movie itself, became a huge hit and is now inseparably associated with the film’s melancholic spirit.

A 2004 remake starring Jude Law attempted to update the story but largely missed the emotional depth that made the original so powerful.

Conclusion

Alfie is a brilliant, layered, and deeply human film — a dazzling mixture of charm, humour, and sadness. It captures both the seductive energy and the emotional bankruptcy of a life devoted to casual pleasure without connection.

Michael Caine delivers a legendary performance, supported by sensitive direction from Lewis Gilbert and a strong ensemble cast. More than just a portrait of a lovable rogue, Alfie is an unflinching exploration of loneliness, moral blindness, and the universal human need for love and belonging.

In the end, Alfie — like the audience — is left to ask the most painful and necessary question: "What's it all about?"