0:00:02 > 0:00:04Here, sweet Lord, at your service.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07Michael Caine is one of Britain's most successful movie stars.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Good night, sweet prince.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15We've watched, as boyish good looks and curly blond hair have matured and aged.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Tell me again and again.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20He's played a whole lifetime of roles.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Roles that range from Jack the lad...
0:00:23 > 0:00:26You drop a tanner, look around, and what do you find?
0:00:26 > 0:00:27Ruby!
0:00:27 > 0:00:29- ..to fading geriatric. - Oh!
0:00:30 > 0:00:35Great performances, set over 50 years of change in the movies.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38He's spent a lifetime on our screens.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Your life changes, buster.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Not always for the better.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05He kind of made it possible for people like me
0:01:05 > 0:01:09to be in films, or to be taken seriously.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17If you can get Michael Caine in any part in your movie,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20over the title, you've got box office.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26It just seemed exactly right.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Michael looked, sounded, behaved, like a movie star.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35He's been acting since before most of us were born.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38We've watched him grow up to be a huge international star.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43Now we can look back at the many faces of Michael Caine as they happened.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45He's always very current.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49He's moved with the century, I think, you know.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52His development as a person, a human being and an actor
0:01:52 > 0:01:55has developed as the century's gone on.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57With a wife like Ruby, you wouldn't want
0:01:57 > 0:01:59nothing on the side, you know what I mean?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01GIGGLING
0:02:01 > 0:02:06I think what his career has done is span an enormous number of different styles of film-making
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and the evolution of cinema, both in Britain and in Hollywood.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13That's the strength of his presence as an icon.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15He represents so many different kinds of film-making.
0:02:15 > 0:02:20- There are other people, you know, Palmer.- Why don't you try them?
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Michael Caine is iconic because of the way he looks, the way he sounds, the way he acts.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26He's like a national monument.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29If there was a Mount Rushmore of Hollywood stars,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Michael Caine's face would be up there.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40As a teenager, Caine already had an eye for the girls.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44And it was the opposite sex that first drew him to the Clubland Youth Centre.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Here he discovered a new passion.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Right here is where I started.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The very first time, at the age of 14,
0:02:54 > 0:03:00I came on to this stage to do a play called Rossum's Universal Robots.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02I got very good reviews for the play.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Everybody thought I was marvellous in this play,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10but what I must point out is what I was playing was a robot -
0:03:10 > 0:03:14completely stiff, expressionless, with a flat voice,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and I came on, and of course I was really, really right in the part.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24In the very early days of television, he took bit parts in plays that went out live.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28His first ever appearance was in The Lark,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31as a walk-on soldier, Boudousse.
0:03:31 > 0:03:32Hey there, Boudousse.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Take her away and give her a ducking, and then lock her up.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39You can send her back to her father tomorrow.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42But no beating, I don't want any trouble, the girl's mad.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44You can lock me up, my Lord, I don't mind that,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47but when they let me out tomorrow evening I shall come back again.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51- It will be simpler if you let me talk to you now.- Million thunders! Don't I frighten you?
0:03:51 > 0:03:52No, my Lord. Not at all.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Well, get back to your post.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59You don't need to stand here listening to this.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04So that was Michael Caine's first television entrance, and later we actually hear him speak.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Boudousse.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I'll take her out and give her a ducking, sir.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14No, you idiot. Fetch her some britches and bring a pair of horses, we're going for a gallop together.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18- But the council, sir, it's four o'clock.- It can wait till tomorrow.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I've used my brains quite enough for today.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26He spent ten, hard, penniless years as a minor actor,
0:04:26 > 0:04:31but it wasn't his talent on stage that earned Michael Caine his ambition of being on the big screen.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36It was his time in National Service, as a real-life soldier in Korea.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Well, A Hill In Korea was a very small-budget movie.
0:04:42 > 0:04:49He wrote to them and said he had been in the Korean war, so they saw him.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52He looked like a National Serviceman,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56and his knowledge of the war in Korea,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00he knew how the wear the uniform and things like that.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03He got the job, and it was no skin off their nose
0:05:03 > 0:05:07because it wasn't an important part, so he couldn't ruin anything.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09We arrive in Portugal where we were shooting it,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11go to the hotel,
0:05:11 > 0:05:18and we see that Stanley Baker, George Baker and Harry Andrews have got a room each.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Small budget, you've all got to pair off and have a bedroom between two.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Michael and I ended up in a room.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28He hadn't been to drama school.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32He had no pretensions to Shakespeare or the grand theatre.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Here, tell you what.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Let's have this war out on Arsenal's ground.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Standard prices, our boys versus the Chinks.
0:05:38 > 0:05:45Character actors like Victor Madden and Michael Medwin were in every bloody film, and it was all fixed.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Private Docker, the world's leading tank buster-upper.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52It's 1956, and a classic British war film.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56Stanley Baker takes on the entire Chinese army.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58You dirty little yellow...
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Things don't work out for Stanley's character.
0:06:07 > 0:06:08Ugh!
0:06:08 > 0:06:14- But he does cue Michael Caine's big-screen debut.- Pity.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16He was the toughest bloke we'd got.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I used to see him in the pub, in the Salisbury,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24where all out-of-work actors used to meet.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29You know, we were all out of work, Sean Connery, all the lads,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33and Michael was going up for Zulu.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Now the thing is that...
0:06:34 > 0:06:37the snobbery of this country
0:06:37 > 0:06:41was such that we hadn't quite got over
0:06:41 > 0:06:45the Phyllis Calvert, Dulcie Gray syndrome
0:06:45 > 0:06:46of where you had to say,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48POSH VOICE: "Hello Harry, how are you?"
0:06:48 > 0:06:51You couldn't be a leading player unless you spoke like that in those days.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54You've seen all those old black-and-white movies.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Take a look at that hill beyond the village.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59That jolly-looking building must be a temple.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Americans don't have that prejudice.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05They rather like the Cockney voice,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10and they don't see it in the class barrier way that the English do.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12- Whistle up the Korean.- Kim!
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Now what's cooking? Think I'll go home.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Not without you've plugged your ration of Chinks, Jackie.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24It's what you were stood this lovely trip for.
0:07:24 > 0:07:31There was no way that a Cockney actor could play a diplomat,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36or a university professor in this country
0:07:36 > 0:07:43until you're famous, and then, as a film producer said to me many years later,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48"If you can get Michael Caine in any part in your movie,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51"over the title, you've got box office."
0:07:52 > 0:07:56That kind of success was still nearly ten years away.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Life was tough for Michael Caine, right through his 20s.
0:07:59 > 0:08:07Then, at age 31, in 1964, Michael "Cockney" Caine got his break.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Stanley Baker, the actor he had met on A Hill in Korea,
0:08:11 > 0:08:16arranged for Michael to meet producer Cy Endfield, who had a big project.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21The screen test was actually terrible, and I think most screen tests are.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24All you do is photograph somebody's fear, not their talent.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28And any way, that was done on a Friday, and on a Saturday night
0:08:28 > 0:08:33I went to a party, and quite by coincidence Cy Endfield was there,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and I thought, "Well, have I got the part or not?"
0:08:36 > 0:08:39And he came in and he just said, "Good evening" and walked by.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44And my eyes followed him all round the room, waiting for him to say something.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47At least say, "You haven't got the part."
0:08:47 > 0:08:50And he finally, he came up to me and he said,
0:08:50 > 0:08:55"You did, yesterday, probably the worst screen test I've ever seen in my life."
0:08:55 > 0:08:59He said, "Stanley Baker and I may be mad, but we're going to give you the part."
0:08:59 > 0:09:01It was Zulu.
0:09:01 > 0:09:08Caine looked the part of the English gentleman soldier, but there was still the issue of that accent.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13I was nervous when I first did it, because your first film is always the most nerve-wracking.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15I could probably do it better now.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18I remember Cy Endfield, when he did the first take,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21said "Cut", half way through the very first take, and he said,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24"Michael, your voice has gone up about three octaves."
0:09:24 > 0:09:28My voice was up here with nerves, and they could hardly record it,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30and we had to start again and then I brought my voice down.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34But what had happened was, everybody came out of the production offices
0:09:34 > 0:09:36because they were sure this Cockney couldn't speak like that.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40I was sitting on this horse, and I suddenly turned round and there was the entire crew -
0:09:40 > 0:09:44office, people's staff, producers, everybody - who had never been on the set before,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47just standing there staring at me, and I was sitting on this horse.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49This is what threw me for the first take.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Bromhead.
0:09:51 > 0:09:5324.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55That's my post. Up there.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02And nothing has ever thrown me on a take since, and I'm sure never will.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07Lamps fall over and I still keep going straight through it, because I think I'm in live television
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and no matter what happens, you've got to keep going till the end.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Just like his screen character,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Michael Caine the actor was transformed in Zulu.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19This was his big break.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Sir! Are you all right?
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Take...command.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31Corporal!
0:10:33 > 0:10:34Tell the professor...
0:10:35 > 0:10:39- Take command.- Lance Corporal!
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Now listen, old boy, you're not dying.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44We need you. Damn you, we need you!
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Zulu launched Michael Caine, but it didn't make him a millionaire.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53He was tall, good looking, and at 31 years of age,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55an actor with a big future.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59James Bond producer Harry Saltzman saw a smart investment.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02I was quite impoverished. I had made Zulu,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06but I got paid £4,000 for Zulu,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09and I was sort of broke at the end of it.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13And so this was this incredible opportunity, and I mean,
0:11:13 > 0:11:18the first year of the contract was £100,000 or something like that,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20you know, which to me was like £12 million.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24The Ipcress File is a highly stylised feature film.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26A Cold War spy story.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Look out!
0:11:33 > 0:11:40Reluctant and irreverent spy Harry Palmer is caught up in a web of double bluff and brainwashing.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Congratulations Palmer, you've just killed an American agent.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55We wanted him to be the antithesis of Bond.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58It obviously wasn't any competition for Bond.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01It wasn't another great suave spy.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05It was more like a real spy, an ordinary guy who you wouldn't look at twice in the street.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07You know, that kind of thing.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Oh. Good morning, sir.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Champignons.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20You're paying ten pence more for a fancy French label.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23If you want button mushrooms, you'll get better value on the next shelf.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27It's not just the label. These do have a better flavour.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Of course. You're quite a gourmet, aren't you, Palmer?
0:12:30 > 0:12:34'When they saw the first rushes, he said "He's wearing glasses.'
0:12:34 > 0:12:38"Is he short-sighted, does he have to wear glasses?" "No, that's part of the character."
0:12:38 > 0:12:44He said, "Well, there's never been a leading man since Harold Lloyd who had glasses, and he was a comedian!"
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Do you always wear your glasses?
0:12:47 > 0:12:48Yes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Except in bed.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56'I saw Sean having a difficulty trying to get away from James Bond and I thought,'
0:12:56 > 0:13:01the minute I take these off, it's not Harry Palmer, which proved correct.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And then they saw the rushes where I cook the meal for the woman.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09And they went, "Everybody will say it's a fag! I mean, cooking.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13"I mean, this is a fag, John Wayne wouldn't cook anything for anybody."
0:13:15 > 0:13:18You're very professional.
0:13:18 > 0:13:19Yes, so are you.
0:13:19 > 0:13:26Harry said to me one day, "I'm putting your name above the title."
0:13:26 > 0:13:29I said, "Do you think I was good in it?" He said, "No, it's just that
0:13:29 > 0:13:32"if I don't think you're a star, who the hell else is going to?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34"I'll put your name up there anyway."
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Have you seen everything?
0:13:44 > 0:13:45Yes.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50I read this review, and I knew that I had a career in movies,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54in leading characters, if not the star role.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57And I knew I had a future, and I was 31,
0:13:57 > 0:14:03and for the first time in my life, I knew I had a future in this business.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06You have forgotten your name.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11In truth, his name is Michael Caine, and no-one will forget his name.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Michael Caine.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16His name was Michael Caine.
0:14:16 > 0:14:22Even before the film was released, the buzz in London's film business said a star was born.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Americans became very interested
0:14:24 > 0:14:26in this sort of working-class British persona,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and it was coming through coming through in music as well.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34It's interesting that Michael Caine came through with his regional accent, his Cockney accent,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38at the same time that The Beatles were the sort of iconic British people the world over,
0:14:38 > 0:14:43with their Scouse accent. You also had Sean Connery with his unapologetic Scottish accent.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49And the timing was perfect to unleash the Cockney accent in Alfie.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Going up in the world, in't I?
0:14:51 > 0:14:56In his world of endless sexual encounters, women are disposable objects.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58She's in lovely condition.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01He is, you know, he's the living image of
0:15:01 > 0:15:04that kind of new, confident man of the '60s,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08a man who's embracing the permissive society,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12is in no way a feminist, you know, not a progressive, not a radical,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16but a man who's enjoying the fruits of that consumer culture,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and women are just another thing that he wants to eat and swallow up.
0:15:20 > 0:15:26I remember seeing Alfie as a younger woman and feeling extremely angry and offended by it,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30finding it very condescending, very unpleasant in the humour,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and the way it regards its female characters,
0:15:33 > 0:15:39but having revisited it recently, I saw a real darkness there and a real complexity to his character
0:15:39 > 0:15:41that I hadn't really caught the first time round.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46- You're a little sex pot, in't you? - Am I?
0:15:46 > 0:15:52His performance in it is interesting, because as well as the obvious laddish charm and sex appeal
0:15:52 > 0:15:57that the film was sold on, there's a real vulnerability there,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01and I think that's a very interesting element of his presence as a star
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and as a sex symbol, is that there's something almost feminised about him.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07There's a weakness always.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Even as simple a fact as wearing glasses as a leading man.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14You see him cooking in The Ipcress File. You see him crying in Alfie.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17These are sort of unusual things for a heroic male lead,
0:16:17 > 0:16:22and I think what you see in Alfie is the sort of breakdown of a certain kind of masculinity.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Don't go in there.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39He leaves a trail of emotional devastation in a story that shows up
0:16:39 > 0:16:42the swinging '60s as being mainly a male creation.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51He begins to realise it's a lifestyle that comes at a cost.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00And nothing stays the same. Even in the movies.
0:17:00 > 0:17:01He's younger than you are.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05You got it?
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Michael Caine's performance in Alfie won him an Oscar nomination.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16It earned him influential friends and a place at the movie world's top table.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22One of the most difficult things for a British actor to do is to get
0:17:22 > 0:17:28a leading part in a Hollywood movie, opposite a major American star.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30And I managed this.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35I say I managed this. The reason I got this was because of the generosity
0:17:35 > 0:17:38of Shirley MacLaine.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42She was doing a film called Gambit,
0:17:42 > 0:17:47and they said, "Who would you like in the movie?"
0:17:47 > 0:17:52And I'd never met her, I'd never been to America, and suddenly I got a call one day and it said,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56"You're in a movie with Shirley MacLaine. We'll send you the script."
0:17:56 > 0:17:59I said, "Don't worry, I don't want to read it, I'll just come."
0:17:59 > 0:18:03If you will read the magazine as I asked, you will see
0:18:03 > 0:18:08that he does not make appointments because he is a recluse.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Well, then why does he want to see us?
0:18:10 > 0:18:12A recluse doesn't see anybody, Harry.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14- A recluse...- That's why.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16That's why.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19- Who was this? His wife? - Was his wife. She's dead.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24You made me look like this dead lady.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Exactly, and when Shahbandar learns about you, we will be invited to meet him.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Hollywood is a very closed shop,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and the fact that Shirley MacLaine wanted Michael Caine
0:18:33 > 0:18:35to come and be with her in Gambit
0:18:35 > 0:18:39was an enormous opening for him. I mean, she could have picked anybody.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42She was a wonderful star at the time.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Don't forget, her brother is Warren Beatty.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49She was really in with the in crowd, and the fact that she had this
0:18:49 > 0:18:56great knowledge and plucked him - I don't want to say from obscurity, but plucked him from the British milieu
0:18:56 > 0:19:00was an enormous feat, I think, an enormous achievement for him.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04And also, let's not forget why people are stars.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10I mean, Michael Caine is iconic because of the way he looks, the way he sounds, the way he acts,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12and Shirley MacLaine can pick a winner.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17The '60s were a prolific time for Michael.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22There were two more Harry Palmer films - Funeral In Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain -
0:19:22 > 0:19:25but one film has unexpectedly become a classic.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31It's a film with a line of dialogue that has become forever attached to Michael Caine.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!
0:19:42 > 0:19:46The Italian Job celebrated London's swagger and style.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53London at the time was, as everyone knows, it was the Swinging Sixties.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It was the time of Carnaby Street, it was the time of King's Road.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01To me, it was just a barrel of laughs. We were going off to Turin.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03At 22, I was going to Turin,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05I was going to be paid per diems.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09And I was going off for weeks to make this film,
0:20:09 > 0:20:15and I only had one line, so I didn't have to stay completely sober.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19I am going in the front, you are going in the back.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21He says he wants to sit up in front with the driver!
0:20:21 > 0:20:26- I always get sick in the back. - Listen, if I go in the back, I get my migraine, I'll be out like a light.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30You are not going to be sick, you're not going to have your migraine,
0:20:30 > 0:20:32and everybody is going to sit in the back of the motor.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38Now I have to go back and look at it through the perspective of a 22-year-old actor.
0:20:38 > 0:20:45His eyes are so wide-open and his jaw is so low in astonishment.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47It was just watching Michael.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I mean, we were lumped together and we all did our job,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53but every day Michael arriving in a Roller on the set, you know,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58and don't forget, he also had his extraordinarily beautiful consort as well.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01He was with Bianca at the time.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03So, you know, and we're all...
0:21:03 > 0:21:05But it just seemed exactly right.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Michael looked, sounded, behaved like a movie star.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13- The plan was that we stay here. - The plan's changed.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15But why, Charlie?
0:21:15 > 0:21:17- Why?- Because you're a liability.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22I don't think there was a buzz about The Italian Job, I think it was just another film,
0:21:22 > 0:21:27and the genius of having Remy Julienne do those stunts with the Minis,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29that was the masterpiece.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32I mean, the film was a lovely film, very charming film,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36but without the three minutes, it would have been just another caper film.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Hang on a minute, lads.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42I've got a great idea.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47He has this really great period in the mid to late '60s and the beginning of the '70s,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52where he gets these parts that really speak to those precise historical moments.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55You know, he gets to embody swinging London.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59He gets to do kind of the colonial hero as well,
0:21:59 > 0:22:05a really important figure in the '60s, you know, those uniforms, Sergeant Pepper.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09People are thinking about empire in that period, and Britain's place in the world.
0:22:09 > 0:22:16And then he gets to do Get Carter, which, if anything, if it's anything,
0:22:16 > 0:22:21is a kiss goodbye to the carefree '60s and a sign that Britain is entering
0:22:21 > 0:22:24a tougher, a more glacial kind of period.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28You know, in that film, he's a sort of spirit of vengeance
0:22:28 > 0:22:31who's sent up to the difficult, cold, grimy, violent North.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Goodbye, Eric!
0:22:33 > 0:22:39This isn't the same country that Alfie takes place in.
0:22:39 > 0:22:40It's an entire world away.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Open that door and go inside.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51What are you going to do?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53I'm going to sit in the car and whistle Rule Britannia.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- You're coming back! - How could I stay away?
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Get Carter closed a chapter in Caine's career.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17The world was changing, and so was the movie business.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29In the '70s, television challenged cinemas for audiences.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34Hollywood's answer was the epic, a film like The Man Who Would Be King,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38a must-see movie event directed by the legendary John Huston.
0:23:40 > 0:23:47Caine really hadn't been in any really, really massive epics in that particular decade,
0:23:47 > 0:23:53and I think that starring as a one-two punch with Sean Connery and a cast literally of thousands
0:23:53 > 0:23:56was an enormous step up for his career,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00because this is the kind of film that Hollywood was making to challenge television.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05You know, "We couldn't put this on in television, you have to come and see it on the big screen."
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Michael Caine was now mixing with Hollywood's royalty
0:24:08 > 0:24:13in roles first envisaged for Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17It was a long dream come true for even John Huston,
0:24:17 > 0:24:22who had wanted to make the film many years ago. But if he'd done it,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26then neither Michael Caine, nor Sean Connery, nor I would have been in it!
0:24:26 > 0:24:27So the timing was right.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32If they're that far back, there are not all these many people right up here, you see.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37First and foremost, to work with Huston, I wanted to work with Huston.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40I've always been a great admirer of his.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Also, of course, the part is marvellous,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45it's a fabulous part to play,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48and it's the type of film I wanted to be in,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52and I think it's the type of film we basically should be making,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55instead of, um...
0:24:55 > 0:24:57kind of competing with Kojak or something,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59which people can see for nothing.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03You know, you've got to make... This is what I call a movie movie.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12- WHISTLE BLOWS - How was it, Eric?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Not very good. How was it for you?
0:25:14 > 0:25:17- Not absolutely perfect all the way through.- Once more, please!
0:25:18 > 0:25:20GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING
0:25:21 > 0:25:27- WHISTLE BLOWS Well, was the shot no good, then?- Ah...
0:25:27 > 0:25:30the mules don't go over the side, that's what we're trying to do.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Nothing happened with the mules.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Not a goddamn thing happens with the mules.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38It just looks strange that if they get in and then they turn around to shoot, we come in, we leave them,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41the camera goes with us and it looks as though we're shooting them.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Well, let's do the same thing as come back up through them again.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47- Yeah.- What's that?
0:25:47 > 0:25:49- Do you want us to come back up through them again?- I think so,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52because we left you at this end, you were the last two.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53You just wait one jiffy!
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Michael said to me, he said, "Saeed, I'm doing a film next year,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02"I think there's a part in it that you'd be absolutely right for."
0:26:02 > 0:26:06And he did mention my name to the producers,
0:26:06 > 0:26:11but we still had to screen-test five other people and so on.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Rifleman Majendra Bahadur Gurung!
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Known to my regiment as Billy Fish.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20And we had this tall gay dresser
0:26:20 > 0:26:26and I... He kept saying, "Billy Fish number one, coming up!
0:26:26 > 0:26:29"Billy Fish number two, coming up!"
0:26:29 > 0:26:34And I prayed to God, I said, "Please, God, give me the prayer
0:26:34 > 0:26:40"so this guy learns to call us by our names and not Billy Fish number one, two and three!"
0:26:40 > 0:26:43And God granted me the prayer, and I got the part.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48SPEAK IN NATIVE LANGUAGE
0:26:48 > 0:26:51He wants to know, are you gods?
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Not gods, Englishmen, which is the next best thing.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02I ofttimes tell Luther about Englishmens,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05how they give names to dogs and take off hats to womans
0:27:05 > 0:27:07and march into battle, "Left, right, left, right,"
0:27:07 > 0:27:09with rifles on their shoulders!
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Bringing enlightenment to the darker regions of the earth.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Michael was wonderful.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18He said, "Saeed, if you play one of the leading roles in a movie,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22"make sure you get to know the whole company by their first name,
0:27:22 > 0:27:28"then the company feels like a family, and the work smiles on that screen."
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Absolutely true.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Sean Connery realises his dream of being as rich as a king,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36but his mortal desire leads to their undoing,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38and they're forced to make a run for it.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42They've twigged it, Danny, you've had it.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47The gig's up!
0:27:47 > 0:27:49- I...- For God's sake!
0:27:51 > 0:27:54As the '70s gave way to the '80s, times continued to change
0:27:54 > 0:27:58for the movie industry and for Michael Caine.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01He even tries on lipstick and lingerie in Dressed To Kill.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03It's a crucial time.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Now approaching 50, he enters a twilight zone
0:28:06 > 0:28:11where starring roles in the Hollywood tradition become harder to find.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15But British cinema offers interesting parts for a more mature man.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Caine says to me an interview once,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20"I was handed a script and automatically I looked for
0:28:20 > 0:28:23"the lover role and realised that it was quite short,"
0:28:23 > 0:28:26then the director informed him, "No, we haven't cast you as the lover,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29"we've cast you as the father figure, but it's a huge role."
0:28:29 > 0:28:32That's when he realised, "OK, I may not get the girl any more in movies,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34"it'll be passed on to a younger generation,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38"but I'm still a really good actor, and I'll still get good roles."
0:28:38 > 0:28:40It says here, "Mrs S White."
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Ah, yes, that's S for Susan.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44That's just my real name.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48But I'm not a Susan anymore. I've changed my name to Rita.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50- You know, after Rita Mae Brown?- No.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55Rita Mae Brown, who wrote Rubyfruit Jungle.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57- No.- Haven't you read it?
0:28:57 > 0:28:59- No.- It's a fantastic book, you know. Do you want to lend it?
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Er... Yes, yes.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04- Well, thank you very much.- It's OK.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08And what do they call you around here?
0:29:08 > 0:29:10Sir.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15- But you may call me Frank. - OK...Frank.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19I was in Los Angeles. They said, "What are you going to do?"
0:29:19 > 0:29:22I said, "I'm going to do something called Educating Rita,"
0:29:22 > 0:29:24and they said, "Well, who else is in it?" I said,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28"A girl called Julie Walters. "They said, "Who the hell is Julie Walters?"
0:29:28 > 0:29:30I said, "She's very good, she's in the play,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33"she's going to do the movie, and I'm going to do it with her."
0:29:33 > 0:29:38He said, "Well, Educating Rita, that must be about Rita.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40"What do you play in it?" "I play a guy called Frank."
0:29:40 > 0:29:44He said, "Well, you should be doing a picture called Educating Frank
0:29:44 > 0:29:46"if you're going to be a star in this."
0:29:46 > 0:29:49- Background action!- Background action.
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Action.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Right...
0:29:54 > 0:29:58I've got your address in France, so I'll write to you every day.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02So have a good holiday and don't drink too much, will you?
0:30:02 > 0:30:09Educating Rita reunited Caine with the man who directed Alfie 16 years earlier, Lewis Gilbert.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Originally, I was doing this picture for an American company.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15They wanted me to make it in America
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and use somebody like Dolly Parton and make the thing American.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25And I said, "Well, this is ridiculous, because it's just so English, that's its charm."
0:30:25 > 0:30:28You wouldn't think of making Pygmalion or My Fair Lady in Brooklyn.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Did you actually manage to get any work done?
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Work? We never stopped, lashing us with it, they were.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Another essay, lash, do it again, smack!
0:30:37 > 0:30:38Another lecture, lash!
0:30:38 > 0:30:40It was fantastic.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Frank, I could have stayed forever.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45'Michael, you know, was a big film star to me.'
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Now, of course, I know different.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50No, you know, and so, yes, that did help the whole thing.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52He's been great, he's been a real help
0:30:52 > 0:30:55altogether, you know, off-screen as well been a great help.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59LAUGHTER
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Er...assonance!
0:31:06 > 0:31:10Do you know... Do you know what assonance means? Eh?
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It means getting the rhyme wrong!
0:31:12 > 0:31:15LAUGHTER
0:31:15 > 0:31:18It's terrible, isn't it?
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Michael's acting in Educating Rita won a BAFTA.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26His first major screen award had taken more than 25 years.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29His approach has always been that film acting is more than an art.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32It's a craft that can be learnt.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Take this speech, let me sit there, yeah?
0:31:38 > 0:31:44I want to see someone who's... a slightly pitiful character.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49He's not really in control of everything.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56And he's trying to keep his head straight, which wants to go...
0:31:56 > 0:32:02But he's got to keep... Because the last thing he's going to do is show this woman that he's drunk.
0:32:03 > 0:32:09And it's a rather...pitiful character listening to her.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11And drunks don't react fast.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15If a normal man sat down in the armchair, he'd sit like this,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18"Hello, how are you?" You've got a difference...
0:32:18 > 0:32:21But a drunk, it's very small.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27There is more poetry in the...telephone directory.
0:32:27 > 0:32:33However...this has one advantage over the telephone directory.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35It is easier to rip.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Why don't you just go away?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45I don't think I can bear it any longer.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Can't bear what, Frank?
0:32:50 > 0:32:51You, Rita...
0:32:51 > 0:32:53You.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59But after 20 years as a big-screen icon, he was, perhaps surprisingly,
0:32:59 > 0:33:05tempted back to television for a dramatisation of the story of Jack the Ripper.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Caine plays Inspector Frederick Abberline.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12- Was he a surgeon, like yourself? - Surgeons save lives, Inspector, not destroy them.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17He's investigating the horrific murder and mutilation of London prostitutes.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Well, well, well!
0:33:21 > 0:33:23It's loosely based on the true story of Jack the Ripper,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27but in this version Caine unmasks the serial-killer...
0:33:27 > 0:33:29You're going to introduce us! Now!
0:33:30 > 0:33:31Fred! You'll hang!
0:33:31 > 0:33:35..only to see his identity protected.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41It had a good effect on his career, because people remembered how good he was.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46They weren't going to some of his movies around that time, but they were seeing him on TV,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50remembering how good he was and then casting him again for later movies. So it was important.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54As any actor will tell you, and I'm sure he'll tell you as well, you have to keep working.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58I think it's a characteristic of an actor who comes from a working-class background,
0:33:58 > 0:34:00who regarded acting as a job, as a trade,
0:34:00 > 0:34:06and who, on that basis, maybe never felt secure enough to say, "That part's not good enough for me."
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I think he does now, I think now he can pick and choose
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and do films that really speak to him and mean something to him,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17but in the sort of middle part of his career, stardom isn't automatically conferred,
0:34:17 > 0:34:22and even if it seems to be, it doesn't just last, you have to keep working, working, working.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25And I think he was always conscious of not dropping out of view
0:34:25 > 0:34:28and always conscious of keeping the money coming in.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32He's fortunate, not that he doesn't deserve it, but he's been fortunate
0:34:32 > 0:34:36to enjoy the experience of going in and out of fashion,
0:34:36 > 0:34:43of being lost and reclaimed, of having a late period and an early period and a middle period.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Not a lot of actors get to do that.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52As the 20th century draws to a close, the Harry Palmer character
0:34:52 > 0:34:59from The Ipcress File is brought out of retirement for Bullet To Beijing and Midnight In St Petersburg.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04Michael Caine himself qualifies for a free bus pass just at the time
0:35:04 > 0:35:08he spots a unique opportunity in a low-budget British film.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14He probably never expected to be offered a romantic lead role at age 65.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18When I heard Michael Caine was going to be playing opposite me,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21I was a bit apprehensive, you know, because up until that...
0:35:21 > 0:35:27He was the biggest name I'd ever worked with, and not only that, it was kind of a physical role,
0:35:27 > 0:35:32I had to pounce on him and kiss him, so I was a bit nervous of working with him.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Here he is, Mr Ray Say!
0:35:37 > 0:35:43Sting Ray, Ray Gun, my very own Ronnie Ray Gun!
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Oh, I'm just into him so!
0:35:46 > 0:35:51Caine's character, Ray Say, is a small-time impresario who discovers
0:35:51 > 0:35:55his new girlfriend's daughter has a fabulous singing talent.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00He throws all his money and what's left of his reputation into making her a star.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02The one, the only,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Little Voice, ladies and gentlemen!
0:36:04 > 0:36:06Little Voice!
0:36:08 > 0:36:11APPLAUSE AND FEEDBACK
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Go on!
0:36:18 > 0:36:21I thought he might have wanted the whole focus of attention...
0:36:21 > 0:36:26um, being such a big star, but he wasn't like that at all.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32He was...interested in making the scene work, the same as I was, the same as everybody was.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36- Oh!- Bingo. Let there be light.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39But you want to get this lot seen to, you know. It could bring the house down.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I was actually in the play of Little Voice, which was called
0:36:42 > 0:36:44The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47so Jane and I were the only two folk who moved
0:36:47 > 0:36:49from the play into the film, and...
0:36:49 > 0:36:56I actually skipped around my living room when I heard it was Michael Caine who was going to be Ray Say.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59# Burn, baby, burn
0:36:59 > 0:37:00# Burn it!
0:37:00 > 0:37:03# To my surprise... #
0:37:07 > 0:37:08DOORBELL
0:37:08 > 0:37:11To be honest, I liked all my scenes with him,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14because they just felt totally organic.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18There's a scene at the nightclub when she first meets him
0:37:18 > 0:37:22when Mr Boo introduces them, and they're sort of
0:37:22 > 0:37:25smooching on the floor to the slow music.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29It just kind of fitted, it just...
0:37:29 > 0:37:34There was... It was totally into the characters, and it really worked.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37She's not what you'd call a performer, I'll grant you that,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39but I can take care of that.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42She just needs a big band or something to boost her confidence.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45I love it when you talk swanky.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49When I could see what Michael Caine was doing, I thought,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53"This is so unlike anything I've seen him do,"
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and he was quite brilliant.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Michael was very...
0:38:06 > 0:38:11He's a very...concentrated and self-possessed man
0:38:11 > 0:38:16but had absolute enthusiasm for the film and the story
0:38:16 > 0:38:18and the other actors.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I had something... ladies and gentlemen.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I had something really special.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32When he sings that song at the end of Little Voice, I thought it was absolutely heartbreaking.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34At first, he was quite reluctant.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38When they told him he's got to sing a song, I don't think he was that keen.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40He kept saying, "No, no, no, I'm not a singer."
0:38:40 > 0:38:45They said, "No, but we want you to put your own spin on it, Ray Say's spin on it."
0:38:45 > 0:38:50# It breaks your heart in two... #
0:38:50 > 0:38:53He wasn't very confident about it, but then, when it came to doing it,
0:38:53 > 0:38:58he just did it, and it blew everybody away, it was heartbreaking.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01# It's over! #
0:39:07 > 0:39:12He hadn't been allowed or invited, or the opportunity hadn't come along
0:39:12 > 0:39:15for him to play that pain previously,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18and I think...
0:39:19 > 0:39:24..that was radical for him and wonderful for us as an audience.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28The adorable Mr Ray Say, ladies and gentlemen, with a little song
0:39:28 > 0:39:32about his showbusiness career, called It's Over.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38Little Voice won Michael Caine a Golden Globe.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Many thought he should have had an Oscar.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Surprisingly, in such a long career, he has won just two -
0:39:43 > 0:39:46best supporting actor in The Cider House Rules
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and best supporting actor for the comedy Hannah And Her Sisters.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52It was interesting, because it was a Woody Allen movie,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and you don't always associate Michael Caine with Woody Allen,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58who always makes these New York stories with New Yorkers, generally.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Caine comes along, and he was terrifically cast.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06He played Mia Farrow's husband, but he was having an affair with Mia Farrow's sister,
0:40:06 > 0:40:07played by Barbara Hershey.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11JAZZ PLAYS
0:40:12 > 0:40:15You can take pictures? Sure, when we get to the country.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18- OK.- Yeah, OK!
0:40:20 > 0:40:23He's holding his own against Woody Allen's normal ensemble troupe.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27He has the people he's used to working with, actors who he knows a lot about,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and there was Caine, who was very much the outsider when he started.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34But he dominates the movie. Even when he's not in the scenes, you're aware of Michael Caine.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38- What are you not telling me? - What kind of interrogation...?
0:40:38 > 0:40:43- Supposing I said yes, I am disenchanted, I am in love with someone else.- Are you?
0:40:43 > 0:40:44No!
0:40:44 > 0:40:49And Caine understood straightaway, he knew this man, he knew he was hurting the Mia Farrow character,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53but he was absolutely drawn to the Barbara Hershey character, and couldn't help it.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57He was a man in torment, so had all these mixed emotions in the movie,
0:40:57 > 0:41:02and because of that, I think it was well deserved that Caine won the Oscar for that movie.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07Sadly, he wasn't there to collect it, because he was in the Bahamas shooting Jaws: The Revenge,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09for his ten days for his one million pay cheque.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13When an actor isn't awarded an Oscar for what he should have been awarded for,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17they'll give it to him for something else, and this is the history.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21John Wayne got it for this when he should have got it for this, it happens over and over again.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24And I think that Michael Caine really
0:41:24 > 0:41:27was awarded those two Oscars for his body of work,
0:41:27 > 0:41:32for his iconic appearances in films that they couldn't have given him an Oscar for.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35"A dog, which had lain concealed till now,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38"ran backwards and forwards on the parapet
0:41:38 > 0:41:42"with a dismal howl, and collecting himself for a spring,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45"jumped on the dead man's shoulders.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50"Missing his aim, he fell into a ditch, turning completely over as he went
0:41:50 > 0:41:53"and, striking his head against a stone,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"dashed out his brains."
0:41:58 > 0:41:59That is the end of the chapter.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Oscar is very political, so you can watch The Cider House Rules if you want to,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16and you can watch Hannah And Her Sisters,
0:42:16 > 0:42:21but really we all know the Michael Caine movies we want to watch and should watch,
0:42:21 > 0:42:22and it's not those two.
0:42:22 > 0:42:29He doesn't tend to do that kind of hair-tearing, weighty acting that the Academy, for instance, likes best,
0:42:29 > 0:42:35so maybe that's why it wasn't the best-actor roles that he got nominated for,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38and I know that he's been a little bit cross about that.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42He has been nominated for an Oscar in every decade from the '60s to now,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and he's the only person apart from Jack Nicholson who that applies to,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49which is pretty astonishing. Never mind if it's supporting, who cares?
0:42:52 > 0:42:54But who cares indeed?
0:42:54 > 0:42:59He bagged the biggest award of his career, becoming Sir Michael Caine, at a Millennium ceremony.
0:43:01 > 0:43:08Rejuvenated, he launched himself into a new century with quirky roles in big Hollywood films,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11among them Miss Congeniality, Austin Powers and Batman.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15The charm of his role in Batman is that he's kind of going, "What on earth is going on?"
0:43:15 > 0:43:21And in Inception as well, he's the sort of person who is outside of the magic, commenting on it,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24which is a great thing for an older actor to embody.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29But also, these kind of slightly more aggressive, powerful older men,
0:43:29 > 0:43:35like the one that he played in Harry Brown, where he's bringing a sort of heroism to it -
0:43:35 > 0:43:37well, a debatable heroism in that case.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42But maybe an older man who is not passive, who is not going gently into the good night,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45but who is retaining a bit of fire and spark.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49People talk a lot about women's roles drying up as they get older,
0:43:49 > 0:43:54and the sexuality leaving and only getting to play mothers and people with Alzheimer's,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57and the thing is that that applies to men as well.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02It's difficult to find really juicy roles as an ageing actor.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08What's great about Michael Caine is that he has such across-the-board affection and respect
0:44:08 > 0:44:14that he is in a position to blaze a trail for the older actor, not going into obvious directions.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17So there's a real range in the work that he's been doing lately.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20I think that's very interesting and inspiring for other actors as well,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23that it doesn't have to stop once you stop getting the girl.
0:44:26 > 0:44:32But if anyone thought Michael Caine was coasting into retirement with comfortable cameo roles,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36two low-budget British movies cast him in a new and different light.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41He is being rediscovered by a young generation of film-makers.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44In Harry Brown, it's as if Caine has come full circle,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46back to his home territory in east London
0:44:46 > 0:44:49as an old man who has seen military service.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51I was very excited about the fact
0:44:51 > 0:44:53that the person I thought would be best for the part
0:44:53 > 0:44:56was interested in playing the part, and I was going to meet
0:44:56 > 0:44:59one of my heroes, if you like. And he really is.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03I mean, ever since I was a kid, I've grown up watching his films
0:45:03 > 0:45:07that we all love, you know, Zulu, Alfie, The Italian Job and so on.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14He is, in my opinion, one of the world's great actors
0:45:14 > 0:45:18and someone who's worked with some of the world's greatest directors,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21as he kept reminding me as we were making the film! All the time!
0:45:21 > 0:45:25So we had some interesting discussions.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29You know, at the end of the day, as he said to me when I first met him,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33"I'll have a lot of ideas, but you'll pick the good ones out,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37"and at the end of the day I'll do exactly what you say because you're the director, the boss."
0:45:40 > 0:45:43I'm scared, Harry.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45I'm... I'm scared all the time.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52God in heaven.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54What are you doing with that?
0:45:56 > 0:45:58You should talk to the police.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01I'll tell you what, we'll go together.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07I've already been to the police.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14It's about an old man who lives on a council estate in London,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17or somewhere in England, but it's kind of London,
0:46:17 > 0:46:22in the Elephant and Castle, which is actually very close to where he actually grew up as a boy.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26And, you know, like a lot of pensioners, they serve their country
0:46:26 > 0:46:32at one point or another during the war, and he has...very few friends.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36And one of his friends get killed, unfortunately, gets murdered.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38HE SOBS
0:46:38 > 0:46:41The murder of his best friend is the last straw for Harry Brown.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46He looks around his world and sees a place and people he doesn't recognise.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50It's not the world he fought for. The police are ineffective.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52So old Harry, a man with nothing to lose,
0:46:52 > 0:46:57decides to take matters into his own hands.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01What was brilliant, for me, about him was that he was so very interested
0:47:01 > 0:47:05in becoming the part and not being Michael Caine,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08and that's very refreshing for a star, you know,
0:47:08 > 0:47:14to actually want to become something else and also to be able to become someone else.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19It's not as easy as it sounds, you know, to define yourself
0:47:19 > 0:47:26as a pensioner, as someone who has nothing, as opposed to the man we all know him to be,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29which is a very wealthy and fabulous person, a star, you know.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34It's a film about one man's beliefs and struggle
0:47:34 > 0:47:39and what he's prepared to do about it. In truth, there's a lot of examples in the newspapers every day,
0:47:39 > 0:47:44where normal people feel that they stand up and want to do something about what's going on around them,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48whether it's the kids on their street that throw stones at their windows
0:47:48 > 0:47:51or jump on their cars, whatever it happens to be.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55More and more of us are willing to stand up and go, "No, actually, we don't think that's right."
0:48:00 > 0:48:04He goes to, um... to see a couple of guys,
0:48:04 > 0:48:06and...he tries to get hold of a gun,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09and he gets embroiled in this whole situation.
0:48:09 > 0:48:15I was very interested in really building up the tension and helping us to understand what it would feel
0:48:15 > 0:48:18if a normal person ended up in a place like this, with those kind of people.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20KNOCK ON DOOR
0:48:24 > 0:48:28If you look at the choices he has made in the lower-budget films
0:48:28 > 0:48:31he's been involved with, not Batman and stuff like that,
0:48:31 > 0:48:35like Little Voice, Educating Rita, lower-budget films, if you like,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37he makes good choices.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42You have failed to maintain your weapon, son.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48I think what Michael Caine has right now is a glorious late period.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53I think that actually this is one of the most enjoyable periods
0:48:53 > 0:48:56in the life of any actor who's lucky enough to have one.
0:48:56 > 0:49:02You know, we now see Michael Caine in a slightly kind of ruinous condition.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07You know, he's like a national monument that's slightly encrusted with moss.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11We all remember him being young and beautiful in the '60s,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14with those piercing, brilliant blue eyes,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18and now he's like this... you know, this great beast,
0:49:18 > 0:49:20slightly kind of tumbledown,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23but incredibly impressive still.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26And he has a frightening kind of power.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28This is temporary.
0:49:28 > 0:49:34For a completely different take on growing old, another British film, Is There Anybody There?
0:49:34 > 0:49:37This is only...temporary.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39OK.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42The story goes that Shakira, his wife, read it first,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45handed him the script and said, "You're doing this one."
0:49:45 > 0:49:47And he read it and cried and said yes.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52I met him two weeks later, and that was it, it was a very quickly done...done deal.
0:49:52 > 0:49:58"On Christmas Day, Arnold Doughty, 90, went blue and died.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02"So far, there has been no communication from him."
0:50:02 > 0:50:05LAUGHTER
0:50:05 > 0:50:11Well, I played Edward, who was a young boy who was quite morbid
0:50:11 > 0:50:16and interested in ghosts and the afterlife and...
0:50:16 > 0:50:20It was basically a story about this young boy meeting Clarence,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24who was an old, retired magician played by Michael Caine.
0:50:24 > 0:50:30And it's a relationship of... the boy teaching the...the, er...
0:50:30 > 0:50:36the old man, Clarence, to sort of let go and...
0:50:37 > 0:50:40..realise that it's almost the end of his life,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44and almost Clarence teaching the boy about life
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and how to enjoy it, how to make friends.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51HORN BLARES
0:50:53 > 0:50:57What do you think you're playing at?!
0:50:57 > 0:50:58I could have killed you!
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Oi! Come here!
0:51:02 > 0:51:04It was an amazing time, really.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09I hadn't really done much before that, so I wasn't very...experienced
0:51:09 > 0:51:14and I didn't really know much about the whole filming process.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17And I think working with Michael Caine was, one, a privilege
0:51:17 > 0:51:21and, two, a very educational time, I learnt a lot from him.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24I used to have a room with Paddington Bear wallpaper.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Yeah? Well, I used to have a beautiful wife and all my own teeth!
0:51:28 > 0:51:32Your life changes, buster. And not always for the better.
0:51:33 > 0:51:38You accumulate regrets, and they stick to you like old bruises.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42It's a black comedy in the truest sense, you know, which is to say that
0:51:42 > 0:51:48you're laughing at things which are rather uncomfortable, to do with notions of ageing and dying.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52And that's not really the stuff
0:51:52 > 0:51:57that you expect to see a film icon involved in,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00especially one who was as handsome as he was.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11You don't expect to see Alfie in a retirement home, and in a way
0:52:11 > 0:52:15that was part of what was amazing about what Michael loaned to the film, actually,
0:52:15 > 0:52:18is his iconography.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Hello, Bridget.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31He's a supreme craftsman,
0:52:31 > 0:52:37and he doesn't wax lyrical about the process or about it as an art.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40For him, he's like a great craftsman.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43BLOWS RASPBERRY
0:52:46 > 0:52:50GIRL SCREAMS Aaargh!
0:52:50 > 0:52:53He made you feel very comfortable,
0:52:53 > 0:52:58and the fact that he sort of almost trusted you and, you know, believed in you was quite nice,
0:52:58 > 0:53:02the fact that he didn't feel he needed to really teach me.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I picked up things on my own, and...
0:53:05 > 0:53:07I guess he had quite a lot of trust,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11and it was nice to work like that, because it made you comfortable
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and you could sort of believe in your role and things more.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Let me tell you a secret.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Being a person is a pain in the arse.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22No, it's not!
0:53:22 > 0:53:23Yes, it is!
0:53:30 > 0:53:32- Clarence?- What?
0:53:33 > 0:53:36If you die, will you come back and see me?
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Jesus wept!
0:53:38 > 0:53:42He's an extremely pleasant man on set,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46but he was...nervous and prickly in a way that suggested
0:53:46 > 0:53:51he was building up to something emotional, shall we say.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54And, um...we rehearsed it,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58but you can't really rehearse a scene like that, and he's a smart enough actor
0:53:58 > 0:54:03to know that you don't spend your emotion in a rehearsal, you need to save it.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06It was a freezing cold day and, you know,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10there was going to be a limit to the amount of times he could do it.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13And he did it in two takes, and it was early in our relationship,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17and I knew on the second take he had absolutely nailed it, I thought it was wonderful.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20You don't come back, son!
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Once they've gone, you can't talk to them!
0:54:25 > 0:54:30If I could just say to her, "I'm sorry," if I could tell her I was bloody sorry,
0:54:30 > 0:54:32what a difference that would make.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35I pushed it and said, "Come on, let's go for one more,"
0:54:35 > 0:54:38and he valiantly looked at me and nodded and went, "OK,"
0:54:38 > 0:54:41and gave it his best shot, but it wasn't as good.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44He knew in that second take that he had nailed it emotionally, and that
0:54:44 > 0:54:46the first take was, for once, for him,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50like getting a foothold in the scene emotionally, and the second take,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54he cracked it wide open, and we used all of that take in the film.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56- She divorced me.- Who?
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Annie.
0:54:58 > 0:55:03I-I wouldn't settle down, I couldn't keep it in me trousers, know what I mean? I was...
0:55:03 > 0:55:05I was a good-looking fella.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Then one day, I-I came back home and she'd...
0:55:15 > 0:55:19Quite surprising to see an actor like Michael,
0:55:19 > 0:55:24who is also famous for his minimalism and for his containment as an actor,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28being that raw and being that vulnerable
0:55:28 > 0:55:32and being able to do it in a way that still doesn't look like acting.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37He's... He's always Michael Caine somewhere in the middle of the role,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40which is one of the strengths of him as a film star.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43You could say that it's the strength of most film stars, there's always
0:55:43 > 0:55:46one bit of themselves, they never fully lose themself in the role.
0:55:48 > 0:55:49Ta-ta for now.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52It could almost have been Caine's career epitaph
0:55:52 > 0:55:55and made for uncomfortable viewing at the first screening.
0:55:57 > 0:56:03I think the thing that hit him very hard was how upset his wife, Shakira, was,
0:56:03 > 0:56:07because she was sitting next to him and it was a small screening room.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11It was seven months since he had finished shooting the film,
0:56:11 > 0:56:17and you sort of forget, you move on, and I think he was not quite ready for himself,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21for what he had given us in the film emotionally.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25And I think it really upset him that...
0:56:26 > 0:56:30..that his wife was upset because she saw him dying in the film
0:56:30 > 0:56:34and that she had never seen him die in a film in that way.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37And he said, "Oh, I've been in loads of films where I've been shot."
0:56:37 > 0:56:41She said, "No, this is different, here you age and die visibly in front of me,"
0:56:41 > 0:56:43and I think that was quite shocking to him.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58He's this immovable object at the heart of cinema.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01He's much more important, in a way, than any of the films that he made.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04- What the hell do you think you're playing at?!- The amazing thing about
0:57:04 > 0:57:09Michael Caine is that he can reach out to a large audience.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11BLOWS RASPBERRY
0:57:11 > 0:57:12GIRL SCREAMS
0:57:12 > 0:57:13Aaaargh!
0:57:13 > 0:57:18Any director that works with him will be very lucky, really, and I'd love to work with him again,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21and I've told him that, and he's said he's happy to do that,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24um...as long as I can get some dosh for him.
0:57:25 > 0:57:26Blimey!
0:57:26 > 0:57:28No, he's not really money-led.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34He's been on our screens for five decades.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37He's been Oscar-nominated for each of those decades.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40He is an iconic figure in the movies.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44First and foremost, he's a terrific actor. That's what makes Michael Caine a star.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49I think, when Michael did Little Voice, he again gave us something new,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52and so his career took off again.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54I'm just into him so!
0:57:55 > 0:57:57And it's still going.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59Good night, Bertha.
0:57:59 > 0:58:00Good night, George.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02Well, chin-chin!
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Do carry on with your mud pie.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:28 > 0:58:31E-mail subtiting@bbc.co.uk