Scene Analysis: ALFIE opening scene

Alfie was made by Paramount, who made a large majority of the 'Swinging Britain' Films. Michael Caine, who had a deal with Paramount, starred in many of these, and Michael Caine and Paramount represented the both the fascination with swinging Britain and the rise of working class Britons.
The film itself starts with long shots of London, where the film is set. London was chosen as the location for many of these films, as it was a city that many Americans would know of. The soundtrack also reflects the times - jazz was experiencing a revival at the time.
The Dog then appears- The Dog is used as a visual metaphor for Alfie. These films still dipped into the technique of the New Wave films of the fifties, but watered down for American audiences.
The Main Character of the film, Alfie, is immediately introduced as having a poor attitude to women. The film has quite a casual approach to sex, and even ten years previously a film like this would not have been able to be made due to attitudes and the Hayes Code. Alfie lives in the 'typical' swinging sixties lifestyle, that many people wanted to emulate, but this film shows how self-desturctive and harmful to others it can be. In this scene, Alfie states he doesn't want to see anyone unhappy. This could be taken two ways - that he genuinely doesn't want to upset anyone, or, more likely, that he doesn't want to see it - literally. He spends much of the film dismissing the concerns from his partners, turning violent or leaving when it gets to much for him. He also enforces double standards -he sleeps with many different women, some at the same time - at the start of the film, we see him with Siddie, but almost immediately after he visits her, he goes to see Gilda. He is angered by the thought of Annie or Gilda seeing another man, but at the same time, he is seeing other women. He presumes that he is the only man in these women's lives, something that backfires dangerously when he presumes that Ruby will want to settle down with him.
There was a tradition at the time of having an 'angry young man' antihero'.