Selfish, self-centered hedonist Alfie (Michael Caine) seduces virtually every "bird" he meets (including a nurse in the sanatorium where he's being treated for tuberculosis), because he can (and because the pre-feminist women are stupid enough to put up with his narcissistic, misogynistic ways; he even refers to the female being as "it").
One of his married conquests, Lily (Vivien Merchant), gets pregnant, and Alfie (who has already refused to marry the mother of the product of an earlier affair) arranges for her to have a (literal) kitchen-table abortion. Seeing the dead fetus sobers Alfie up in a hurry, and he decides to settle down and marry rich widow Ruby (Shelley Winters) — but when he goes to see her, finds she's replaced him with a new, younger lover. Past his prime and abandoned by all the women he's bedded, Alfie is forced to reevaluate his life.
Followed by:
Alfie Darling (1976) We need a spoiler!
Remade as:
Alfie (2004)
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