I can't think of many actors whose career has been as good as Michael Caine. It's Saturday night and you are going to watch a triple feature. (I know that seems ridiculous to some people). But what three Michael Caine movies would you boot up.
ALFIE
GET CARTER
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
This was really hard. So many other great films. So which three do you pick. IMDB will help you out.
ALFIE would be my first choice, probably followed by GET CARTER (love the 1970s anti-happy-ending). But my third choice would be the rather obscure 1983 comedy WATER where Caine plays a diplomat assigned to a poor Carribean nation and what happens when a naturally-effervescent water is discovered there. In addition to Caine, the movie has an eclectic cast-- Brenda Vocarro, Valerine Perrine, Fred Gwynn, Dick Shawn, Billy Connelly, Jimmie Walker, etc.
ReplyDeleteHave never even heard of that one, Deb. Will have to look for it.
ReplyDeleteGET CARTER
ReplyDeleteTHE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
I haven't seen ALFIE in 50 years so don't remember it well enough.
Then there is ZULU.
THE IPCRESS FILE and FUNERAL IN BERLIN. He dials it down brilliantly to portray an outwardly drab little bureaucrat.
ReplyDeleteI saw a biography of Caine a few years ago and learned that he is a Korean War veteran who was very much in harm's way.
Tend to forget the US was not in Korea alone.
ReplyDeleteI love those two, Al. Hard to choose. And DIRTY ROTTEN SCANDALS is always fun to rewatch.
Yes--my Dad was stationed with the British Army in the DMZ 1954/55. He met my mother because one of her friends had a boyfriend in the same barracks as my Dad and through them my parents became pen pals.
ReplyDeleteAnd thus I am here...
Zulu, Get Carter, Ipcress File.
ReplyDeleteHave never seen ZULU.
ReplyDeleteI know if this was posted among another group of readers, many would choose CIDER HOUSE RULES. Just saying...
ReplyDeleteI bet Phil would love ZULU.
ReplyDeletethe one where he played the psychiatrist . was iWas it dressed to kill?
ReplyDeleteYes, it was and that one scared me to death!
ReplyDeleteThe first that comes to mind, and amazingly not yet mentioned, is SLEUTH.
ReplyDeleteLove that one, too. That's what I meant about how hard it is to settle on just three.
ReplyDeleteGet Carter, The Ipcress File, Mona Lisa.
ReplyDeleteBubbling under: The Wrong Box, The Man Who Would Be King, Harry Brown, Hannah and Her Sisters
I'd forgotten he was in MONA LISA.
ReplyDeleteTHE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
ReplyDeleteZULU
THE BAT-MAN MOVIES
THE IPCRESS FILE
ReplyDeleteSLEUTH
THE ITALIAN JOB
The latter film contains one of Caine's catchphrases. Organising a huge gold robbery, Caine watches as his men rehearse the job. After a bumbling henchman disintegrates an armoured van, MC cries in exasperation "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"
If you saw THE TRIP and/or THE TRIP TO ITALY (can't remember which one it was), Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do funny Caine impressions. That ITALIAN JOB line is one of their favorites and they repeat it several times.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered a wonderful comedy called THE WRONG BOX. His range is extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteOh, I did like Caine in The Man Who Would be King! And in Alfie and Hannah.... He is really talented.
ReplyDeleteJust to add a few that I haven't seen mentioned:
ReplyDeleteKingsman: The Secret Service
Blame it on Rio
and the unforgettable: Muppet's Christmas Carol.
Zulu, Zulu, and Zulu.
ReplyDelete