The long and distinguished career of Michael Caine

Michael Caine, at right, with Sylvester Stallone in the movie "Escape to Victory" in 1981.

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083284/mediaviewer/rm392435456/

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It was “The Longest Yard” meets “Hogan’s Heroes”, a Second World War story about a bunch of Allied prisoners of war playing their German guards in a soccer match that was set up as a sham.

Leading the prisoners was a calm but determined English POW, calculating to use the game to pull off a massive escape.

Whenever I think of Michael Caine, I think of that movie, “Escape to Victory” where he captained that team.

When I heard last week Michael Caine announced he was retiring from acting, I had two reactions. I was glad I was not writing a tribute because he had died and, more importantly, I thought about how his worked spanned decades and generations, including some great movies in 1980s.

The years before
My interest in spies led me to Michael Caine and his role as British spy Harry Palmer in three movies – “The Ipcress File” in 1965; “Funeral in Berlin” in 1966; and “Billion Dollar Brain” in 1967.

I never saw a complete Harry Palmer movie. I started watching them several times, most notably “The Ipcress File”, but they were on late on Channel 13, and I ended up falling asleep. I even bought the novel of “The Ipcress File”, but never got around to reading that either.

Caine would appear in “Sleuth” in 1972. Again, I never saw him in the movie, but I did see a stage play of “Sleuth” in the summer of 1987 at the University of Lethbridge.

He made a lot of movies in the 1970s, and ones I recognize include “The Eagle Has Landed” in 1976; “A Bridge Too Far” in 1977; “California Suite” in 1978; and “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure” in 1978.

As the 1980s dawned, Michael Caine was already a renowned actor worldwide. He would again take on a wide variety of roles as he continued to be prolific.

Escape to Victory
Perhaps my favourite Michael Caine movie of the 1980s was “Eascape to Victory” in 1981. I read about it in “Marquee” magazine but it took years before I was finally able to see it.

The movie is set in a German prisoner of war camp. Michael Caine is one of the leaders of the prisoners. The Germans hatch this great idea to stage a soccer match between the prisoners and the guards in occupied Paris, as a propaganda stunt. Initially resistant, the prisoners decided to turn the tables and turn it into the biggest prison escape in history.

The movie also starred Sylvester Stallone as an American who winds playing goal, and the actual soccer legend Pelé.

It was worth the wait, because when I finally saw it, I really enjoyed it.

Great work
Although he made a lot of great movies in the decade, I have to admit I only heard about most of them, mainly on “Entertainment Tonight”, but never saw many them.

There was “Educating Rita” in 1982, where he plays a university tutor to a working-class hair dresser played by Julie Walters. Caine was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role and won a Golden Globe and British Academy Film Award.

There was “Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life” in 1983, where Caine plays a soldier, in another one of the musical sketch comedies by the Monty Python troupe.

In 1984, Caine starred in “Blame it on Rio” where he plays an older man, whose wife leaves him, and he takes up with a younger woman.

Caine appeared in “The Holcroft Covenant” in 1985, playing the title character Noel Holcroft who battles old Nazis and a shadowy organization. It was based on a Robert Ludlum novel of the same name.

He appeared in three movies in 1986. In “Hannah and Her Sisters” he plays the husband of the title character Hannah, in a movie telling the stories of three sisters. Caine won an Oscar for the role for Best Supporting Actor, and received nominations for a Golden Globe and British Academy Film Award.

In “Sweet Liberty” he plays an egotistical actor set to star in motion picture based on a historical novel written by a college history professor played by Alan Alda.

In “Mona Lisa”, Bob Hoskins pays an ex-con who gets involved with a high-price call girl. Caine plays the ex-con’s former boss who gives him a job as a driver and bodyguard for the prostitute.

Michael Caine also appeared in “Jaws: The Revenge”, the fourth installment in the series about killer sharks.

He closed out the decade with two movies in 1988. In “Without a Clue”, the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are reversed. Watson is the detective, while Caine plays the Sherlock Holmes who is an actor hired to play Holmes to protect Watson’s reputation as a physician.

In “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, Caine plays opposite Steve Martin as two con men competing to swindle an heiress out of $50,000.

The years after
Michael Caine kept right on acting until his aforementioned recent retirement. He would appear as Ebenezer Scrooge in “The Muppet Christmas Carol”. I only recently saw that movie last Christmas with my spouse. It is one of her favourite movies, and I have to say I loved it too.

Other movies included “The Cider House Rules” in 1999, where he won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; “Get Carter” in 2000, a remake of a movie Caine appeared in in 1971 as the title character; “Miss Congeniality” also in 2000; “Austin Powers in Goldmember” in 2001, where he plays Austin Powers’ father; “Batman Begins” in 2005, “The Dark Knight” in 2008, and “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012, as man servant Alfred; “Inception” in 2010; “Interstellar” in 2014; “Kingsman: The Secret Service” in 2015; “Going in Style” and “Dunkirk” in 2017; and much more.

His last role was in “The Great Escaper” earlier this year.

Parting thoughts
Michael Caine was an actor who really did it all. I find it interesting that I know more about his work than I have seen. There were a lot of good movies in the 1980s, but I saw barely any of them.

Yet, I always liked him and, as the years went on, saw him in a lot of good movies. He was excellent as Alfred in the “Batman” trilogy, hilarious as Austin Powers’ father, and funny and charming as one of three seniors robbing a bank in “Going in Style”.

This all just makes me want to see those great movies from the ‘80s.

It will make me appreciate more the long and distinguished career of Michael Caine.