O Lucky Man!

Mammoth musical from director Lindsay Anderson about the ups-and-downs of a trainee coffee salesman. His circuitous career route takes him from scientific guinea pig to business tycoon and finally, after a stint in prison, to a state of peace and serenity with the world around him thanks to a religious happening., Lindsay Anderson’s unique social satire, forming part of a loose trilogy with If… and Britannia Hospital , stars Malcolm McDowell as an innocent trainee coffee salesman sent out on the road who becomes embroiled in surreal adventures, ranging from medical experiments to lascivious landladies, from prison to life at the top. Described as a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, the film features Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren and is punctuated by Alan Price’s apposite songs., Exploits of a modern Candide., Who better to play the coffee salesman protagonist in Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man than Malcolm McDowell, who himself peddled coffee in his pre-acting years? (In fact, the plot of the film was McDowell’s idea.) This rambling 166-minute effort features McDowell as a slave to the Work Ethic, never allowing himself to be dissuaded from his work despite such distractions as fatal car accidents, crooked cops, physical torture, a stint as a laboratory “guinea pig,” and seductive customers. The hallucinatory quality of O Lucky Man is augmented by having most of its supporting cast (Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Helen Mirren et. al.) “double up” in parts: for example, Rachel Roberts plays McDowell’s boss and two of his customers, one French, one English-and all of them end up in bed with the hero. Watch for director Lindsay Anderson in the closing scene, bringing the events in the story full circle., Malcolm McDowell is wonderful in this cult favorite. An ambitious coffee salesman’s surrealistic experiences find him subjected to medical experiments, tortured by military agents, seduced by a succession of women, and much more., Surreal allegory about a young coffee salesman who pushes his way to the top, only to fall and rise again. His circuitous route takes him from scientific guinea pig to business tycoon and finally, after a religious revelation in prison, to a state of peace and serenity with the world.