Since establishing himself as a star in the 1960s, Michael Caine has appeared in a string of excellent movies in a variety of genres. Caine’s first starring roles often had him playing the part of a charming rogue, which added to his public image at the forefront of British ’60s style. He used his trademark Cockney accent to portray working-class heroes, and his icy persona served him well as an antihero in several crime capers and morally gray thriller. However, Caine’s career passed through several different phases, and he soon pushed beyond his boundaries.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Caine reinvented himself as a powerful dramatic actor, able to hold his own alongside legendary talents like Sean Connery, Laurence Olivier, Sidney Poitier, and many more. He still retained a deadpan sense of humor, and this would come to the fore during his 21st Century career renaissance, during which he became an outstanding character actor, working in both comedy and drama. Now that Michael Caine has retired from acting, his remarkable filmography can be appreciated in its entirety, and his best movies are still ripe for rewatching.
10 The Ipcress File (1965)
Harry Palmer
The Ipcress File was a more grounded antidote to the swagger of the early James Bond movies. Harry Palmer doesn’t have an Aston Martin and a signature cocktail order, because The Ipcress File is concerned entirely with constructing a gripping plot. That isn’t to say that Michael Caine doesn’t exude charm as the stoic spy Harry Palmer – he absolutely does – but the world of The Ipcress File is more dangerous, more oblique, and more bureaucratic than Bond. Here is a spy thriller about a working-class man doing his job, rather than a wealthy playboy galavanting around exotic locales.
9 The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)
Ebenezer Scrooge
Michael Caine is a consummate professional, and he brings his A-game to any performance, no matter if he is acting alongside Laurence Olivier or Miss Piggy. The Muppets Christmas Carol only works through Caine’s stone-faced seriousness, playing Ebenezer Scrooge as if he is seeking Charles Dickens’ approval. Caine understands how to be funny without being funny, and he sits at the eye of the storm as Muppets sing and dance and twirl around him. His inherent gravitas does a lot of the work for him, but he still sells the emotional ending to perfection.
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8 Zulu (1964)
Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead
British war movies tend to focus on tales of heroism from either World War. Zulu instead explores the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Anglo-Zulu war, which is now seen by many as an act of Imperial overreach. However, Zulu makes no attempt to glorify the Empire. Lieutenant Bromhead and his companions are each shown as young men fighting and dying over a scrap of land thousands of miles from home, for reasons that are never explained. The focus is on their desperate emotional journey, and the brutal battle which robs them of any individuality and compassion.
7 The Italian Job (1969)
Charlie Croker
If Going in Style, Now You See Me, and King of Thieves are anything to go by, then it can be reasonably deduced that Michael Caine loves heist movies. His most famous crime caper is The Italian Job, which follows a group of British renegades stealing a truckload of gold in Turin. It’s steeped in style, from the gorgeous orchestral ballad in the opening credits right up until The Italian Job‘s unforgettable cliffhanger ending. The thieves don’t fit their classy surroundings. They’re a group of brash louts who share more in common with soccer hooligans than suave, Danny Ocean-types.
6 Educating Rita (1983)
Dr. Frank Bryant
Educating Rita was an important signpost on Michael Caine’s journey from lovable mod to well-respected dramatic actor. Both Caine and his costar Julie Walters received Academy Award nominations for Educating Rita, and their delightful repartee is key to the film’s success. Caine plays an alcoholic professor who’s tired of the stuffed shirts in academia, until he meets a young hairdresser with a passion for education. Both actors balance the comedic tones with more heartfelt moments expertly, making Educating Rita something of a forgotten gem of British cinema, even if it was lauded at the time.
5 Get Carter (1971)
Jack Carter
Get Carter is a bona fide gangster movie classic, with Michael Caine as Jack Carter on a bloody one-man crusade to avenge his brother’s death. Carter’s unflinching demeanor barely conceals a violent wrath, in the same way that his stylish suits cover up a gauche gangland brute. Caine’s idiosyncratic intonation makes Carter an extremely quotable character, even in his most mundane interactions. The chilling reality is that Carter barely shifts gears, as if his acts of retributive violence are as natural to him as having a drink in a pub.
4 The Dark Knight (2008)
Alfred
Michael Caine produces some of his best performances when he is supporting other stars, and this is something Christopher Nolan has used to full effect in The Prestige, Interstellar and others. In The Dark Knight, Caine plays Bruce Wayne’s long-serving butler, Alfred. He is a father figure and a moral guide, but he is also a friend. The Dark Knight trilogy still holds up after 15 years of endless Superhero blockbusters as a defining masterpiece within the genre. Christopher Nolan’s expert blend of hard-hitting action and deep characterization remains unrivaled.
3 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Lawrence Jamieson
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels pairs Michael Caine with Steve Martin as a pair of rival con artists who compete to see who can swindle $50,000 out of a young heiress. It’s one of Steve Martin’s best movies as well as Caine’s, and the duo strike up a wonderful comedic dynamic together. Caine has played an upper-class reprobate many times, and Martin’s brilliantly silly presence is the perfect foil to his brand of restrained menace. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has a lot of fun with its twisty narrative, which is apt for its charming world full of hoodwinking rogues.
2 Gambit (1966)
Harry
The Italian Job may be Michael Caine’s most famous heist caper, but Gambit is the superior film. Caine stars as a dapper con artist who ropes Shirley MacLaine into a job because she bears an uncanny resemblance to a wealthy man’s late wife. Gambit uses a brilliant split narrative, first showing Harry’s effortless plan, and then the hilariously difficult reality. MacLaine plays her part as Harry’s mouthy working-class accomplice to perfection. Gambit packs an intricately plotted caper with a lot of laughs, and it belongs in the debate of the best heist movies ever.
1 The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Peachy Carnehan
Sean Connery makes a terrific partner to Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King, a ripping yarn about two former British soldiers who decide to take matters of Empire into their own hands and become rulers of some forgotten land in modern-day Afghanistan. It’s an action adventure on a grand scale, but there are elements of good humor to John Huston’s portrayal of two entitled fools succeeding via sheer, dumb luck. Ultimately, the men’s quest for power corrupts them both in different ways, and an ambitious caper descends into a lonely nightmare.
