Start watching better movies

Michael Caine has been a lot of things to a lot of people. To the ladies of “Alfie” (1966), he’s the conflicted bad boy they’ve both dreamed of and dreaded, the working-class womanizer who broke all the rules (including kicking down the 4th wall to talk directly to the audience). He’s a British super agent in “The Ipcress File” (1965), and the scientists he saves are glad to have a “thinking man’s James Bond” on the scene. He’s been an alcoholic English professor (1983’s “Educating Rita”) and a stout British soldier standing up to wave after wave of Zulu warriors (1964’s “Zulu”). He’s one of the most universally beloved actors of his generation, a charismatic talent that steals nearly every scene he’s in.