Alfie

“Michael Caine plays Alfie Elkins, a London chauffeur who works only occasionally but is constantly having affairs. He is a womaniser with chutzpah and charm, who lives entirely for his conquests and is absolutely unwilling to commit to any one woman – let alone be burdened by the supposedly tiresome weight of emotional intimacy. His dissolute sex life and – inextricably linked to it – his cool detachment towards the women who succumb to his charm are, for Alfie himself, a source of comedy. The unwanted pregnancies resulting from his escapades, on the other hand, turn into a tragedy. (…) The light-hearted, song-like theme with which the film opens sets the tone, which Caine picks up with a light touch – even though Alfie as a character is far more sleazy and sleazy than the music would ever suggest. Sonny Rollins’ tenor saxophone solo in this piece is brief, as it is in his other compositions for the film: They are incisive, precise miniatures of mood which, with their sparingly placed musical turns, suggest far more than the film’s scenes – with their wealth of dialogue and monologues – are capable of expressing.’ (Richard Brody, The New Yorker, April 2017)