Single, unattached, unfettered, unmarried, eligible, footloose and fancy-free – whatever you want to call him, we just love our male bachelor on the big screen and what they’ll do to wriggle out of that lifelong commitment. In honour of ‘the species’ and Walt Disney’s new film Old Dogs, out 19th March, starring John Travolta and Robin Williams as two of the aforementioned dogs, (who are left to look after 7-year-old twins in an old-school comedy setup), here is a brief look back at some of our favourite screen bachelors: Long may they live!

He’s the stylish London-born charmer, the cockney womaniser who eventually learns the error of his ways. Michael Caine played him back in 1966 and then Jude law reprised the role in 2004 as the charismatic, bed-hopping, Vespa-riding Cockney living in Manhattan. Meet Alfie, the king of one-night stands and culprit of a trail of broken hearts. But ladies just love a bad guy...

In 1981 we got the infectious giggles from an unlikely, petit bachelor with a penchant for booze and bad jokes. Who can forget the loveable, happy drunk Arthur, played by Dudley Moore, heir to a vast fortune, if only he’d marry suitable Susan? But it’s penniless, streetwise Linda Marolla (Liza Minnelli) who eventually steals Arthur’s heart and imagination and is someone he can finally be himself with. Dudley Moore got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but it was John Gielgud as Hobson, his snooty, acidic-tongued butler who won Best Supporting Actor in 1982.

Try three bachelors for the price of one in 1987’s 3 Men and a Baby - architect Peter, artist Michael, and actor Jack – who find their fancy-free lifestyle in trendy Manhattan turned upside down with the arrival of a little bundle of screaming joy, complete with a box of powder stuff (no, not talc). Tom Selleck (Peter), Steve Guttenberg (Michael) and Ted Danson (Jack) finally find the female of their dreams and the kind of commitment they never thought possible, melting women’s hearts worldwide in the process as they tried to work out how to put a nappy on. 
 
When asking for directions on Sunset Boulevard in 1990, this wealthy Beverley Hills catch, portrayed by a handsome, suited-and-booted Richard Gere, got more than he bargained for - all 44 inches of leggy loveliness and his Pretty Woman, Vivian, played by Julia Roberts. Virtually every relationship Edward Lewis (Gere) has had, he’s paid for, dearly. But it’s down-to-earth escort Viv who convinces him that he needs rescuing.

Remember Marcus, the cocksure advertising executive who goes through women like a bag of party-sized sweets, until one honey in charge does the dirty on him? Robin Givens as Jacqueline teaches this boardroom lothario, depicted by the ever cheeky-grinning Eddie Murphy in 1992’s Boomerag, exactly who’s boss. Who’s having the last laugh now?

When the distress signal turns on in the night sky, he is the Batman, the rubber-suited one with an array of expensive toys at his disposable and an attractive lady always in waiting – usually kept entertained by his ever faithful aide, Alfred Pennyworth. Billionaire Bruce Wayne, depicted on the big screen since 1966 by the likes of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Kevin Conroy and Christian Bale, is the superhero bachelor who is more committed to fighting the forces of evil, namely the Joker, than domestic bliss, even though he has got close the latter many a time. 

And then we come to the category of ‘life imitating art, imitating life’ film bachelor, with another three prized candidates that have thrilled us in many a film about the commitment-phobe: Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey and the ultimate bachelor of all time, Jack Nicholson.

Grant who dated long-term partner Liz Hurley in real life, but refused to make an honest woman of her, was always the bungling best man/guest and never the groom in Richard Curtis’s 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral, until an American stranger captured his heart and got him all soggy in the rain. One year later as Samuel in Nine Months he still freezes at the word ‘commitment’ when his girlfriend announces she’s having a baby. But it is in the Noughties as immature Will in About a Boy, The PM in Love Actually, and dashing Daniel Cleaver who steals our dear Bridget’s heart – twice – in the Bridget Jones saga that makes us pleased to crown him ‘King of the Brit Commitment-phobes’.  

Think McConaughey and tanned pecs instantly spring to mind. Now a real-life daddy and official, loved-up member of the couples’ club with stunning partner Camila Alves, Matthew David McConaughey has been driving eligible woman wild on screen (and off) in a string of bachelorhood-worshipping films and outdoor activities for years. The curly-haired protagonist of rom coms can be found enjoying his single status in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Two for the Money, Failure to Launch and 2009’s Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

The daddy of all bachelors, Jack Nicholson, a man who literally revels in the label, has publicly broken The Addams Family actress Anjelica Huston’s heart in the past, and had his fair share of young lovelies on tap, including Twin Peaks’ Lara Flynn Boyle. From his care-free biking days in 1969’s Easy Rider, to his most recent appearance in 2007’s The Bucket List as the caustic and bitter, dying billionaire Edward Cole, this is a man who has embraced the unfettered life. In 1983’s Terms of Endearment as retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove, he was the exciting bachelor-next-door to a lonely Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine). In 1987, long after fans were introduced to Jack Torrance in The Shining, we experienced his satanic playboy side as the mysterious and flamboyant Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick. Grumpy, OCD-plagued bachelor Melvin Udall earned him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1998 in the 1997 hit As Good as It Gets, but what he actually gets is blown away by his feelings for local waitress, Carol Connelly, played by co-winner Helen Hunt. But as bachelors never wanting to grow up, Nicholson will always be remembered as (im)mature music exec and swinger Harry Sanborn who eventually discovers beauty in age and the joy of sharing a bed for a whole night with writer Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) in 2003’s Something's Gotta Give. Jack, we salute you and your entertaining fear of being attached.   

These are just some of the many, many great bachelor moments in film, with many more to come, including Old Dogs, in cinemas on 19th March. But one thing’s for sure; bachelors are here to stay.