An unnecessary followup to the Michael Caine hit of 1966 has the feeling of something you'd find in a mid 1970's time capsule. It's a film as full of itself as the title character, played here by Alan Price, is. One of those nice bits is that for a rogue, he's remarkably charming and even often sweet, but this is soft-core porn with or without the nudity. Price all of a sudden starts speaking to the camera, perhaps a nod to the original, but happening half an hour into the film, is jarringly out of place.

While seemingly bedding every woman he meets, it's the distant Jill Townsend who floats his boat simply because she spurns him from the moment he ogles her from his big rig. She doesn't annihilate him as he would be today, but it's amusing to see his overly assured nature taken down a peg by her no-nonsense career girl. Today, his behavior would have him a registered sex offender, but that sort of behavior was expected, and as this insinuates, often rewarded if you are a stud muffin like Price's version of this character.

Then still sexy Joan Collins adds whatever class there is, in a rut in her career, needing a hit, and preparing for sexy bitch dramas that scream deliberate camp. She's hysterical talking on the phone with her husband while Price is having his way (literally) with her. I'm keeping this film in my collection mainly for her, as well as the brief appearances by Annie Ross ("Hair") and Sheila White ("Oliver!", "I Claudius"). Certainly not the leading man's commentary or salacious nature.

In this in-name-only sequel to Michael Caine's Alfie (1966),musician Alan Price (of The Animals) takes over the title role in Oh, Alfie! (alternate title to Alfie Darling) He's not bad and neither is Jill Townsend as Abby Summers, a magazine editor who has trouble taking time off for dating Alfie but somehow does. Not that the bloke has completely changed his ways, certainly not with Joan Collins playing one of his conquests. Alfie's encounters with her jealous husband is one of the highlights here. Having read of some topless scenes from the last comment, when I saw this on the Flick by Flick blog, I was very disappointed they were all cut out! What was left was some pretty bawdy scenes near the end that upped the entertainment a little. In closing, while Oh, Alfie! wasn't any great shakes, it's certainly a nice distraction for about 90 minutes.

Alfie Darling, the sequel to the classic ALFIE, is a pleasant old fashioned romp, that keeps you interested, but is not in the class of the original. The very handsome lead looks like a young Joe Dallesandro (cult underground actor for Andy Warhol) and is quite adequate in making you believe he's a big 'ladies man'. He also shows a bit of sweetness to go with those boyish good looks.

I'm not condemning this film for being sexist, its more titillating, and typical of the type of films they were showing as the second feature at Drive-Ins at the time. Its also great to see Joan Collins, a few years before she did Dynasty, showing a lot more than expected, actually totally topless. She plays a sort of well to do lady who likes to be wined and dined with all the charms and graces, but is also very kinky in the sack. Her scenes are quite camp actually, and worth seeing this film for, if you liked her in The Stud and The Bitch. Joan Collins is a sweetheart in real life, whom I met once at a book signing, and is a living treasure to this day. Robert. Australia.