O Lucky Man

I still think of it as an amazing bit of work, and was lucky enough to attend a seminar on it in Los Angeles, hosted by Lindsay Anderson and Malcom McDowell, in which we learned among other things that the song "My Home Town" had a sequence of someone attempting suicide, which Travis tries to stop by climbing a rain gutter and effect a rescue, only to have it tear away from the building at the last moment. Anderson discovered that even the original negative of the scene had been destroyed by Warners, who felt that film was too long, and ordered the cut. Anderson joked about the impact of a 3 minute scene on a movie that was already running at a "leisurely pace" and found a first generation print of the scene under his bed. That night was to be the first time the film was to be screened as it was intended. This was not to be, and although he hand carried a print of the scene to be spliced into the film for the night, somehow, it still never happened! Which led to a very funny, and pissed off director howling at Hollywood for it's classic ineptitude. I'm waiting for my VHS copy to arrive to see if the video release has the footage restored. I'm recalling this from memory, about 15 years ago.. so I hope I haven't made too serious a mistake here.

The music however is another matter. The integration of the Alan Price and his band into the film, the strength of the songwriting, made it one of my favorite albums. I've been searching for the Soundtrack on CD since the format was made public, but never found it. Till now! I was searching for something related to Alan Price, and there it was, a lovely reissue of the soundtrack on CD. Sound wise, this is an open and clean sounding reissue. The album always seemed to be mixed a bit on the low side, and this reissue allows the soundstage to emerge a bit more defined. Of course, since my LP has been played to death.. This is really a wonderful discovery.

Price is a funny musician, he has released albums that made him a bit of the darling of the upper class in the UK, and also lovely concept albums like "Between Today and Yesterday," and a great live album "Performing Price," none of which I've found on CD.

In contrast to former bandmate Eric Burdon, who followed a completely different career path, Price cut wonderful covers of songs like Randy Newman's "Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear" a far cry from his R&B roots.

I really love this album, and I agree with David Kinney in that this work stands on it's own even without the film. A side note is the updated liner notes by Malcolm McDowell, in which he says that he was amazed that this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award ... my thoughts exactly.

A trivia note, of which I only remember a bit.. was that there was a well known movie in the 80s, in which the main character, a woman (I keep thinking Lily Tomlin) has prominently displayed in her apartment, a copy of O Lucky Man. Maybe someone can remind us of the movie.. nice to know that other folks were listening to the album! Go ahead, buy this CD.. it's gonna stick to your ribs.


O Lucky Viewers   April 18, 2004
Brian Tepper (PA)
12 out of 16 found this review helpful

Everytime I see pictures of the flemish painter Heironymous Bosch and then see Lindsey Anderson in this movie I think, gee he looks just like Bosch; kinda makes movies like Bosch paints as well. His loosely connected Mick Travis trilogy: if.., O' Lucky Man and Britannia Hospital often look like the typical Bosch tryptich, in which the left panel shows man's expulsion from a distorted forboding man's view of "heaven"; in if..'s case a British authoritarian boarding school, while the right side of Bosch's tryptichs show the twisted tortuous hell that man merits from his sins on earth; in Britannia Hospital's case, an insane asylum diguised as a government run hospital where death is certain from the most disgustingly violent experiments and sponsered by bureaucratic sadists. In the middle of these moralty paintings is the incendiary display of sins man commits. And it is here that we often find the most engaging bits of Bosch's work where so much happens in an instant as viewing a painting, which, actually takes years to see it all. O' Lucky Man is very much designed in this fashion even if it wasn't intentional. We get elements from this movie that may never be fully realized again in film; a dismal prospect indeed. Innovations actually abound with this revolutionary film. We have it's soundrack and score composer not only effectively weigh commentary on the movie's long suffering but affably earnest protagonist Travis (played with astonishing exuberence and charm by Malcolm McDowell), but that the singer (Alan Price, formerly of the Animals) even interacts with him in the film. As innovative and amusing as that technique was, the soundrack can still stand on it's own as one of the greatest and most relevant to a film plot ever written. Tell anyone who goes on a job interview or for that matter, hates their job to listen to the world weary idiosyncratic bliss in the song Poor People, a song that sticks forever in the souls of those who loved this movie like honey melting on hot toast crumpets. All in all, a very touching ode to smiling down disaster.
Many may twitch at the seemingly overindulgent symbolism going on and the lengthy running time and disjointed feel of this epic. They may also get confused by the hilarious running gag of the actors playing repeated roles. I found it fun beyond a roll in the hay to catch when each player shows up again and again several times over then bust out in laughter when Travis actually recognizes the lusciously charming Helen Mirren groupie character Patricia who showed up in episodes before his stint in jail, then looking at her talent agency clerk character with puzzling bewilderment a few moments later as if he had no clue. As Mick, Malcolm McDowell can come off as enthusiastic and gullible then believably struggle with frustration, cynicism, and finally dogged determination to be "good" then giving up only to be thwacked back into his trademark grin. The writing is all over his vastly expressive face and makes this one of his most unforgettable portrayals, completly abscent is the casual sadism that has garnered him praise but unfortunate typecasting down the road. This is a must see movie for fans of his villian work who want to see his range; simply brilliant work.
It is also a film that is astonishingly relevant to how capitalist societies still function. We're often amazed at how we haven't changed much from our need to divest in our homeland to rape another for the needs of the selfish. Granted the film is long and bitingly sardonic and perhaps that idealism causes a slower decay then Anderson might have imagined. Still, many of the films relevant lines about dying like dogs, radio commentary on Zen and revolution being the opium of the intellectuals ring strong in the hearts of anyone who questions their own existence and worth in the world. This seems to be the one true everyman type of film as surreal as it may be. There is just something so satisfying in just hearing the characters walking, which sounds strikingly like marching. And it happens almost everytime before our poor boy Travis gets a beating. It is a movie that has to be seen and heard repeatedly. Defintely buy this film. For anyone who cares, if you managed to tape the uncut British version of the film when it ran on some obscure cable stations back in the early 90s, you may have gold in your hands; the deleted 'My Home Town' suicide sequence is there. Yes, like a Boscsh picture, there is so much to see in this gem and we are all the luckier for having it in our lives.


A great and largely unknown classic from the 70's   August 7, 2007
calvinnme (Fredericksburg, Va)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This is simply one of my favorite films. It is unique, and yet to watch it is to see something that was very typical of films in the early 1970's - film trying to reflect in some way upon the world as it exists or is heading. Then came CGI and the cartoonish escapist fantasies that comprise the vast number of films we have today. This film really requires multiple viewings to get it, and that is why I am so glad it is finally coming out on DVD. It basically follows the moral journey of an initially smiling coffee salesman (Malcolm McDowell) as he has his ideals smashed one by one. McDowell was himself a coffee salesman as a young man, and the whole film is from an original idea and script of his very own. I think it does a perfect job of describing the 1970's, which was basically a bridge decade between the idealistic 1960's and the "If it doesn't contribute to the bottom line then it's expendable" mode of thinking that began in the 1980's and just gets more entrenched as time passes. This film isn't for everyone, and although the two movies have completely different storylines, I'd say if you liked "Harold and Maude" you'll like this one too. The following are the extra features on the film as described by a press release from Warner Home Video.

Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
English Mono
English and French subtitles
Commentary by Malcolm McDowell, Alan Price and Screenwriter David Sherwin
New Feature-Length Career Profile "O Lucky Malcolm!" Produced/Directed by Jan Harlan, Edited by Katia de Vidas
Vintage Featurette "O Lucky Man! Innovations in Entertainment"
Theatrical Trailer


One of the best ever...   August 16, 2000
Scott D. Cudmore (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is the film that made me love film. It is unbelievable in so many ways, that I could not even begin to recount them all in this space. It is something that just has to be watched and experienced. From Lindsay Anderson's Brechtian direction, to Malcolm McDowell's incredible performance, to Alan Price's brilliant commentating score, this film never fails.

'O Lucky Man!' is the 2nd film is a semi-trilogy from director Lindsay Anderson, actor McDowell, and writer David Sherwin. The trilogy begins with 'if....' and ends with 'Britannia Hospital'. These also are wonderful, insightful, powerful films.

From where I'm standing, Lindsay Anderson was never given the credit and attention that his cinema deserved, and Malcolm McDowell continues to be one of the most underappreciated actors around, turning up mostly in bad b-movies. Luckily, lately he has had some better luck with such works as 'My Life So Far', and the very recent 'Gangster No. 1'.