On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 98/126 |
Kim Hollis |
Just a vile character played by an average actor. Yuck. |
Back in the swinging '60s, gender roles and attitudes toward sex led to a number of films that exemplify the cultural mores and mind-sets of the time. From the Rock Hudson/Doris Day-style comedies to the early James Bond flicks to Georgy Girl, the sexual revolution took place before viewers' very eyes on the big screen. One such film, a 1966 Michael Caine starrer and Best Picture nominee known as Alfie, is one of the more fondly remembered of this set.
Caine portrays a cockney Casanova and a big time lady killer who is wildly promiscuous and rather selfish. As Alfie, Caine breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience, which was quite a novel device for its time. Despite the fact that he essentially is the worst kind of cad, mistreating the women in his life constantly, Alfie is yet a sympathetic character that earned Caine his very first Oscar nomination and set off a distinguished career that now includes two Academy Award wins.
While the film long precedes such modern-day issues as HIV and female empowerment, it still dealt with some topics that are still relevant today. Alfie gets more than one woman pregnant, leading to an abortion in one case and an adoption in another. His self-centered nature leads him not to love, but a life of emptiness.
Those issues and other modern topics can be contended with now, though, as director/screenwriter Charles Shyer (The Odd Couple TV series, Father of the Bride) has adapted the story for a 21st century setting. With Jude Law reprising the role of the philosophical womanizer, this "reimagining" will again find our "hero" on a series of comedic escapades with sexy results.
One of the more memorable aspects of the original film is the well-regarded soundtrack from jazz man Sonny Rollins and in particular, Burt Bacharach's end-credits song as performed by Cher. This time around, scoring duties are being undertaken by former Eurythmic Dave Stewart, who has previously worked on such sexy stuff as 9 1/2 weeks, Showgirls and Striptease.
Fresh off his own Academy Award nomination for Cold Mountain, Law is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable performers of a new generation of Brits. If he can recapture the outrageous behavior of Alfie while simultaneously managing to make him as likeable as Caine did in his creation of the character, awards attention might be in the cards again. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
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