{"id":164538,"date":"2025-09-27T20:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T20:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164538\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T20:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T20:49:08","slug":"michael-caine-ranks-his-13-greatest-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164538\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Caine ranks his 13 greatest movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Sat 27 September 2025 18:45, UK <\/p>\n

Some actors refuse to watch their own work, but not Michael Caine.<\/a> Having chipped away at his career for years before eventually landing a prominent role in 1964\u2019s Zulu, Caine isn\u2019t afraid to discuss his achievements. <\/p>\n

The young Caine never thought he\u2019d become an Oscar-winning star, but a mixture of luck and talent allowed him to emerge triumphant during the era of \u2018angry young men\u2019<\/a> in British cinema, which prioritised the visibility of working-class actors and social realism. With his distinctive Cockney accent, the actor was keen to represent a side of Britain that was rarely depicted until this point, leading him to some of the country\u2019s most iconic cinematic output. <\/p>\n

In his book, The Elephant to Hollywood, Caine outlined the movies of his that he considers the greatest, and alongside Zulu \u2013 \u201cmy first big break\u201d \u2013 he highlighted another one of his earlier roles which helped to catapult him to fame. The Ipcress File, released in 1965, \u201cwas the first movie in which my name was \u2018above the title,\u2019\u201d Caine wrote. <\/p>\n

The movie was the making of Caine\u2019s star status, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, he would be experiencing the dazzling lights of Hollywood following an Academy Award nomination for another one of his self-confessed greatest films, Alfie. \u201cThe biggest movie of my career to this point and the first movie of mine that was not only a success in the UK but also got a US release,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

As Caine\u2019s career continued, he took on parts that he found more challenging, like Sleuth, which he called \u201cthe hardest and the best work I had done up until then.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIt was a two-handed show and the other hand was Lord Olivier, the greatest actor in the world. I was the greatest actor from the Elephant and Castle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>(Credits: Far Out \/ Fred Ohert \/ Hufvudstadsbladet)<\/p>\n

Amazing opportunities just kept on rolling in, like being directed by John Huston<\/a> in The Man Who Would Be King, \u201cIn which I played the part intended for Humphrey Bogart, my great and longtime inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Italian Job, a British classic, was another favourite of Caine\u2019s because it allowed him to live the high life; he couldn\u2019t believe this was actually what he could call work. It was \u201cwritten for me by my friend Troy Kennedy Martin, shot in Italy, co-starring No\u00ebl Coward \u2013 enough said\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Caine really likes the movies in which he gets to play characters that he finds to be completely far-removed from himself, accepting the challenge of morphing into someone otherwise unfamiliar to him. One of these is The Quiet American from 2002, in which he played a journalist. \u201cI really feel that this is among my best work. The character I played is the least like me of any characters I have played \u2013 but you\u2019d never know,\u201d Caine admitted. <\/p>\n

The same goes for Educating Rita, in which he gave an incredible turn as an alcoholic professor opposite Julie Walters. Difficult but also endearing, it\u2019s one of Caine\u2019s finest works. Here, he admits he \u201cwas playing another character I had little in common with.\u201d <\/p>\n

Caine has played a diverse array of characters over the years, which has seen him collaborate with some of the biggest names in the business. Who would\u2019ve thought that the South Londoner would\u2019ve risen from his humble beginnings in a local theatre with no formal acting training to become a two-time Oscar winner? Yet, the actor has a terrific filmography to show for his career, anchored by his ability to slip into the shoes of any character as though he\u2019d met them a thousand times before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Caine\u2019s 13 greatest movies:Zulu (Cy Endfield, 1964)The Ipcress File (Sidney J Furie, 1965)Alfie (Lewis Gilbert, 1966)The Italian Job (Peter Collinson, 1969)Sleuth (Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1972) Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971)The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983)Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz, 1988)The Cider House Rules (Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m, 1999)The Quiet American (Phillip Noyce, 2002)Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009) <\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

The Far Out Michael Caine Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest stories about Michael Caine from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Sat 27 September 2025 18:45, UK Some actors refuse to watch their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[30276,96,38042,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-164538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-british-cinema","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-michael-caine","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}