Alfie
film by Gilbert [1966]
Alfie, British romantic comedy film, released in 1966, that featured a breakout performance from Michael Caine and caused a sensation with its frank depiction of casual sex. The film—based on a radio play turned stage play turned novel—presents Alfie (played by Caine) as a streetwise, self-absorbed bloke who lives only to seduce and abandon as many women as possible. Although the birth of his child with a onetime lover (Julia Foster) fails to inspire him to settle down, his carefree ways are tempered when a woman (Vivien Merchant) with whom he has had a casual fling becomes pregnant and opts ...(100 of 198 words)