SIR MICHAEL CAINE AT 90

And to celebrate Sir Michael’s 90^th birthday – a very subjective ‘Top Ten’ of his best automotive moments on the silver screen:

Blind Spot – 1958

Or, a typical 1950s British B-film, made with an apparent budget of 2/6d. MC is the caddish villain who tries to evade the Wolseley 6/80 of Justice in a Victor F-Type, only for it to magically transform into a 1934 Hudson Eight post-explosion. N.B. Michael Caine could not actually drive at this time and would not pass his test until well into middle-age.

The Day The Earth Caught Fire – 1961

The police constable who flags down Edward Judd’s Morris Minor MM has an unmistakeable South London accent.

Edgar Wallace: Solo for Sparrow – 1962

Another gripping black and white second feature, one that concludes with a malfunctioning Vanden Plas 3-Litre Princess, a police Wolseley 6/99, and a chicken. Michael Caine’s attempts at an Irish accent have to be heard to be believed.

The Ipcress File – 1965

“Listen to me…only to me”. The picture that consolidated his screen stardom post-Zulu, with Ford GB providing Harry Palmer’s Zodiac Mk. III, with a special laminated windscreen for the assassination sequence.

Alfie – 1966

As a chauffeur, Alfie Elkins has to take the wheel of a Humber Super Snipe Series III and a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. It is also a testament to Michael’s considerable talents that the Vauxhall Velox E-series driving protagonist is even remotely sympathetic.

Funeral in Berlin – 1966

The second of the ‘Harry Palmer’ films and essential viewing for anyone with a passion for Eastern European cars, from the DDR Police EMW 340 to Colonel Stok’s Sachsenring P240. In addition, the West Berlin scenes are worth viewing in their own right, from the Opel Kapitan taxis to the Ford Taunus 17Ms.

Billion Dollar Brain – 1967

This writer’s favourite of the Harry Palmer series, not least for Maurice Binder’s title sequence and our hero saving the world with the aid of a Ford Cortina De Luxe Mk. II. Dagenham also built a stretched Zodiac Mk. IV limousine for Colonel Ross’s staff car in ‘Finland’ – in reality RAF Duxford. The airfield was strewn with salt to replicate a frozen lake and the Zodiac retuned to Ford in a very tired condition.

The Italian Job – 1969

Favourite moment – Caine and John Clive ad-libbing just before Charlie Crocker’s Aston Martin DB4 is towed from the underground car park. That car is alive and well today – the ‘DB4’ destroyed by the Mafia is a heavily disguised Lancia Flaminia 3C Cabriolet.

Get Carter – 1971

Jack Carter’s late-model Ford Cortina 1600 Deluxe Mk.IIs – the film uses two – appear to have automatic transmission, presumably if Caine had to actually drive them. The most notorious automotive sequences have to be the death of Glenda in the boot of her Sunbeam Alpine Series V and the body of Cliff Brumby landing on a Zephyr 4 Mk. III. We then see the driver and a small girl being rescued from the Ford, both probably dead; Get Carter is one of Michael Caine’s best films as it never glamourises violence.

The Marseilles Contract – 1974

On the negative side, many of the cast look bored and their main artistic impetuses seemed to be paying their mortgage bills. But any film featuring a Rémy Julienne choreographed duel between a Porsche 911S Targa and an Alfa Romeo Montreal cannot be all bad