Michael Caine

Perhaps the best and most reassuring comment I can make about Deadly Game, the debut novel from legendary actor (and national treasure) Michael Caine, is that you soon forget it's by legendary actor (and national treasure) Michael Caine. I'm not really a fan of thrillers in general, considering them to a literary diet what a microwaveable hamburger is to a regular diet, and on the initial press release of Deadly Game I feared the worst. A 'pulsating' thriller. 'Globetrotting'. A Met show more detective who plays by his own rules – and he's an 'ex-SAS soldier' at that… It all sounded so cliché.

And, well, it is. But what is a relief – given my admiration for Michael Caine – is that it's not bad. It can't be scoffed at as a vanity project, at least not without being a tad churlish. It's tidy, it's honest, the pages turn easily, and the characters aren't irritating. There's no stodginess in the writing, though the plot itself does lose steam as it becomes more removed from reality. By the end, it tries to do too much and ends up providing little satisfaction on some pretty key questions the reader will be having.

Caine's name no doubt draws a lot more eyes to it than its objective value deserves, but reading Deadly Game quickly ceased to be a novelty and it can be recognised as a pretty decent, if unremarkable, thriller. It was probably too much to expect him to blow the bloody doors off, but Michael Caine's provided a perfectly respectable drop into a saturated market. show less

Actors' biographies or memoirs don't usually interest me, but Caine's memoir is unpretentious, self-effacing and light-hearted throughout, a pleasure to read. There is no resting on laurels or blowing his horn, he recognizes exactly what he is, a cockney lad who was lucky enough to find his passion. Now in his 85th year, he looks back on his life and shares the lessons he learned. Wise and funny at the same time, his voice is evident on every page.

The title comes from a bit of acting advice show more for stage actors on a film set. On stage they need to be big and loud, but screen actors must be more restrained: "Don't blow up the whole car. You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off." show less

Given Michael Caine's status as a national treasure and his well-earned reputation as a raconteur, it is no surprise that his autobiography is so amiable and entertaining to read. There are no grotty, salacious revelations in the style of the modern celebrity 'tell-all' gossip biography; that would only cheapen Caine's remarkable story. What we get is something more wholesome (but yet willing to address alcoholism and perceptions of 'womanizing' from the Sixties, amongst other things); we're show more spending time in the company of a man who you become very interested in.

Much of the book, of course, covers his film career and it is therefore a great relief that this is actually interesting. Caine mingled with a lot of the stars of Hollywood in a time when that still meant something. It seems like every other day he was meeting new and interesting people, whether in Swinging London, New York or Los Angeles. As he notes on page 255, "I seemed to spend a lot of time in Hollywood standing open-mouthed as I was introduced to someone astonishing", and that is the tone and content of a large portion of this book. But it's not a blitz of name-dropping; Caine is great at telling anecdotes and framing them as only a natural storyteller can. It somewhat inevitably becomes less interesting towards the end of the 1970s as Caine's leading-man status in films waned, but there's still plenty to hold one's attention from then on. Mercifully for such a long book with so much content, Caine writes well and the pages breeze by.

In contrast to many autobiographies, in Caine's case it is the years before fame that are the most riveting. As much as I enjoyed the celebrity hobnobbing of the later chapters, the enjoyment of those chapters is heightened by sharing in Caine's experiences and trials before his fame. From evacuation to the countryside in World War Two and growing up in poverty in working-class London, to struggling in both Britain's rigid class structure and the unsympathetic world of show-business until his big break at the age of 30, Caine is for all 557 pages of this book funny, warm and modest, and it's heartening to know that despite some titanic struggles such a person can indeed 'make it'. And for a man who comes across as such a decent and likeable person, with just enough rascal about him to keep him interesting, you don't begrudge him a single minute of it. show less

Unexpectedly delightful. Warm, moving, funny, sentimental, innocent but not naive. Comes across as a likeable, sociable bloke with a steely core that he doesn't need to flaunt. Could be accused of name-dropping, especially of a previous generation of Hollywood honchos, but he clearly enjoys their company and is generous to those who've helped him. Story of his falling in love (which I heard him tell before) is wonderful. Story of discovery of his disabled half-brother brought tears to my show more eyes. He's well aware of the media and jealous rivals snapping at his heels but seems to have little trouble from them; perhaps his mix of charm and toughness keeps them at bay. Simple but graceful style which we are led to believe is his own. show less