Michael Caine top 10 film lists

Got another deadline to deal with this morning, so here's the last ever extract from my book about the films of Michael Caine. This got dropped from the published tome, so it's never seen print before. What follows was written in 2003, so it excludes the films Caine has made since then, such as Children of Men, Batman Begins and - shudder - Bewitched.

THE BEST AND WORST OF CAINE

Just for fun, here are several Top 10 lists featuring selections from Caine’s many movies. They showcase some of the best, worst, most underrated and hardest to find of his films. The selections are entirely subjective and listed in chronological order of release. A few of the pictures on the hard to find list also appear on the other lists, but that is a fair reflection of how unobtainable they are. With 80 Caine films to chose from, these lists offer guidance of suggested viewing and movies to be avoided like the plague.

CAINE’S TEN BEST FILMS
Zulu (1964)
The Ipcress File (1965)
Alfie (1966)
The Italian Job (1969)
Get Carter (1971)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
The Quiet American (2002)

CAINE’S TEN WORST FILMS
Deadfall (1968)
The Magus (1968)
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975)
Peeper (1975)
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)
Ashanti (1979)
The Island (1980)
Bullseye! (1990)
Midnight in St Petersburg (1997)
Shadow Run (1998)

CAINE’S TEN MOST UNDERRATED FILMS
Gambit (1966)
Play Dirty (1968)
The Last Valley (1970)
Pulp (1972)
The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
A Shock to the System (1990)
Blood and Wine (1997)
Little Voice (1998)
Last Orders (2001)

CAINE’S TEN HARDEST TO FIND FILMS
Hurry Sundown (1967)
Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
The Magus (1968)
Kidnapped (1971)
Zee and Co. (1972)
Pulp (1972)
Peeper (1975)
Noises Off (1992)
The Debtors (1999)
Quicksand (2002)

July 2007 update: Billion Dollar Brain has been released on DVD, but without a short sequence featuring A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles. The Magus and Kidnapped have now made it to DVD, though Kidnapped has already been deleted, re-released on DVD and deleted again. Pulp, Peeper, Noises Off and Quicksand can now be found on DVD. Hurry Sundown, Zee and Co and The Debtors remain missing in action. It's unlikely The Debots will ever get released, thanks to legal issues, but the other two might yet make it to DVD.