O Lucky Man

"O' Lucky Man's" greatest strength is its incredible scope: in merely three hours, the film provides a nihilistic and a-humanist answer for the meaning of life... a remarkable accomplishment for a single feature film. As salesman Travis journeys across the United Kingdom and attempts to sell coffee in England and Scotland, he has a series of loosely-connected experiences with a series of individuals, played by eleven actors in multiple roles, who represent fundamental literary archetypes. The situations Travis encounters run the gamut of human experience, from titillating and humorous to wildly surreal to sublime and poetic -- yet all revolve around the picture's central theme: that true success in life depends exclusively on luck and chance, instead of ethics or morality. Sherwin and Anderson handle the story's constant shifts in mood with finesse and ease, and during the picture's three-hour running time, every scene (without exception) packs a huge punch. Thematically, "O' Lucky Man" draws from classic allegories, notably "Candide." Stylistically, it includes strong Brechtian elements (Anderson's cuts-to-black at the end of each scene continually remind us that we're watching a FILM) and incorporates a few striking cinematic allusions, notably an homage to Coppola's final shot in "The Godfather." Thus, one could argue that Anderson's epic qualifies as the definitive modernist film.

The true test of "O' Lucky Man's" excellence, however, is its ability to reveal new layers of meaning with repetition. Even after watching the film ten or twelve times, one can leave refreshed with new wisdom and insight.

British music-hall performer Alan Price wrote the film's incredible score, and makes several guest appearances as himself. Price and his band (seen in occasional cutaways) act as a Greek chorus and serenade Mick Travis during his journey.

Tragically, in the British Film Institute's poll for the top 100 British films of all time, this didn't even make the cut.

Two interesting pieces of trivia about "O' Lucky Man": first, according to the British Board of Film Classification (http://www.bbfc.co.uk), the film was originally rated X upon release (like "If..."), and ran at about 185 minutes (fifteen minutes longer than the American and European video versions). Thus, an X-rated version still exists... somewhere. But unfortunately, the more explicit cut hasn't received any distribution on videocassette and is difficult, perhaps impossible, to obtain. (One might be able to view it through private British collections and archives). Second, the incredible soundtrack by Alan Price resurfaced briefly on compact disc in late 1995, but went out-of-print approximately two years later. For anyone who would like to purchase a copy of the album, cd issues **are** available. I would suggest searching for the rerelease in used compact disc shops.


lucky to say the least   May 2, 2004
Benjamin Wiebe (winnipeg, manitoba Canada)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I recently watched O Lucky Man again with a friend who was watching it for the first time, and I became accutely aware of the feelings I had when I first watched it. It was an exhilarating and inspirational experience. I envied my friend for a moment and then I got back to the picture...and I realized how much better this movie gets after repeated viewings. Wow!

But as so many have said here in these reviews, a DVD release (Criterion are YOU listening??) packed with extras is sooooo overdue. I've only ever seen this film on vhs and I'm salivating at the thought of seeing it on DVD...

It'll be like watching it for the first time...


A Brilliant Cosmic Allegory   August 19, 2005
Stewart Hickey (Detroit)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I really love this movie, but only view it every few years, like a fine wine that is savored on special occasions. Every viewing evokes in me a sublime and bittersweet floodgate of angst and nostalgia that only someone who was young in the late 60s and early 70s could understand.

Other reviews have detailed the plot and themes in this sprawling, surrealistic allegory, so I'll just comment on a few themes and symbols not mentioned previously. The apple that is given to Mick seems to symbolize the Biblical "fruit of the tree of knowledge", which is used in the movie to great effect when he arrives at the medical center where gruesome genetic experiments are being conducted. Also, the genetic experiments seem to evoke Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in which a compliant population is genetically engineered to love it's servitude. The shocking scene with a genetic "freak" shows a man's head on a sheep's body. The sheep is symbolic of one who unquestioningly follows authority and conforms to society.

I disagree with the reviewer who interprets the ending scene as Mick being "literally beaten into smiling". I beleive this is a reference to the Zen Buddhist practice in which a Zen master, suddenly and without warning, strikes a student with a rod to shock him out of illusory delusion, and into sudden enlightenment. The scene in which Mick is approaching the military base has him listening to a radio lecture on Zen, which would support this interpretation. The fact that Lindsey Anderson "awakens" Mick by striking him on the face with the very script of the movie itself, adds a cosmic "mobius strip" ending to the movie, and enlightens Mick into understanding that his true self is not to be confused with any of the roles he has played in the story, good or bad! A brilliant allegory about life!


Simply THE BEST   October 8, 2005
Woland99 (Austin, TX USA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

No synopsis can adequately describe this movie. On the surface
it is modern take on Voltaire's Candide but with ten times the
dark humour, bitter social satire and cynicism. I have seen that
movie when I was 16 and no other movie ever had equal effect on
me. It was liberating - like reading "Breakfast of Champions" or
"Slaughterhouse Five" for the first time.


About time ...   September 19, 2007
James M. Shertzer (Winston-Salem NC)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

It's about time. Criterion finally released Lindsay Anderson's "If..." earlier this year and now the other shoe drops with "O Lucky Man!" Details of the extras are skimpy here. We just know its a two-disc set. I, for one, was hoping for the missing footage from the version said to have been shown at the Cannes Festival, where the film reputedly ran 3 hours and 20 minutes. Warners originally released the film in theaters in the US with a reel toward the end (and one of Price's songs) excised but restored the film to its 3-hour running time when it released the VHS edition. What happened to the missing 20 minutes from the Cannes version? Perhaps the mystery will be solved in Malcolm's commentary. By the way, it appears we have Malcolm to thank for pressuring Warners to put the film on DVD (though I would have prefered Criterion had taken it on). Many of the other principles having died, he was approached to do a commentary track for the new DVD and HD-DVD editions of "Clockwork Orange" and said he'd do that if he could do a commentary track on "O Lucky Man!" Thank you, Malcolm!