O Lucky Man! (1973)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Lindsay Anderson

Writer:

David Sherwin (writer)

Release Date:

20 June 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Music

Tagline:

Smile while you're makin' it. Laugh while you're takin' it. Even though you're fakin' it. Nobody's gonna know...

Plot:

This sprawling, surrealist musical serves as an allegory for the pitfalls of capitalism, as it follows...

Plot Keywords:

Coffee | Allegory | Dancing | Sex Show | Masochist

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Malcolm McDowell	...	Michael Arnold Travis / Plantation thief
Ralph Richardson	...	Sir James Burgess / Monty
Rachel Roberts	...	Gloria Rowe / Madame Paillard / Mrs. Richards
Arthur Lowe	...	Mr. Duff / Charlie Johnson / Dr. Munda
Helen Mirren	...	Patricia
Graham Crowden	...	Stewart / Prof. Millar / Meths Drinker
Peter Jeffrey	...	Factory chairman / Prison governor
Dandy Nichols	...	Tea Lady / Neighbour
Mona Washbourne	...	Neighbour / Usher / Sister Hallett
Philip Stone	...	Jenkins / Interrogator / Salvation Army major
Mary MacLeod	...	Mrs. Ball / Salvationist / Vicar'w Wife
Michael Bangerter	...	William / Interrogator / Assistant / Released prisoner
Wallas Eaton	...	John Stone (Coffee factory) / Col. Steiger / Prison warder / Meths drinker / Film executive
Warren Clarke	...	Master of Ceremonies (Nightspot) / Warner / Male nurse
Bill Owen	...	Supt. Barlow / Insp. Carding

Also Known As:

Coffee Man (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

183 min | Sweden:168 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:X (theatrical release) | UK:15 | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Memorial Enterprises

Trivia:

After the success of If.... (1968), Malcolm McDowell suggested to Lindsay Anderson that they should work again. Anderson replied that good scripts don't grow on trees and that McDowell should consider writing his own if he wanted to give himself a good part. Although the actor was only 30 at the time, he based the film around the concept of his own life story and then brought it to writer David Sherwin who then crafted the screenplay.

Goofs:

Continuity: The roof of the car is dented by Travis standing on it outside the Government Facility, yet when he returns it is in the process of being destroyed, yet the dent is gone.

Quotes:

Alan Price: [Title song] If you've found the reason to live on,/and not to die,/you are a lucky man.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Seinfeld: The Bris (#5.5)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Justice

An overlooked, strangely upbeat satirical masterpiece.

This remarkable, often overlooked film deserves a higher critical reputation than it has largely received. It represents a blossoming of the themes introduced in "if..." (the previous film in Anderson's trilogy) and a playful, even strangely upbeat reworking of those ideas. "if..." was an explosion of the subconscious, repression fermenting into fantasized revolution; in "O Lucky Man!" the repression has matured into deep, abiding social, political, and economic corruption-- but the fantasies have matured as well. Mick Travis's journey through early '70s England features calamity after calamity, atrocity piled onto atrocity, but it feels lighter than air. It rises like a joke-filled balloon. That vantage point gives the viewer the two advantages unavailable to Travis: wisdom and perspective, and the film's humor comes from the distance between us and the characters scurrying below. (But the film is not, I think, cynical; the road to enlightenment may be hard one but the film makes it clear that it's not unreachable.) Surrounding Malcolm McDowell's indefatigable Candide of a hero, the supporting cast flows in and out of their multiple roles like a comic repertory company, in which the same actors show up in scene after scene shuffled into a new assortment of scoundrels, con-artists, victims and sages, climaxing (don't worry, I'm not going to spoil it) in a beautiful, subtle joke which has to be seen to be understood. From the silent-movie pastiches through Price's terrific songs (the music is used admirably) through wild, spontaneous moments of parody, uninhibited symbolic flourishes, and a few small scenes of genuine poignance, "O Lucky Man!" deserves to be recognized as one of the great films of the 1970s, and perhaps of all time. It's certainly one of my personal favorites. Movies, I think, though bigger than ever, have become smaller and smaller at heart; more films should have the ambitions this film does and deliver on so many of them.