O Lucky Man! DVD 1973 / Directed by Lindsay Anderson / Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson ,Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren / Two-Disc Special Edition

UPC 7321902200316

REGION 2 PAL DVD

MADE IN THE UK

AUDIO: English 1.0, English HOH

SUBTITLES: English

Total Runtime: 171 minutes

English Summary:

O Lucky Man! is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film, intended as an allegory on life in a capitalist society. Directed by Lindsay Anderson, it stars Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderson's film if.... (1968). The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

The film opens with a short fragment outside the plot. Grainy, black-and-white, and silent, a title "Once Upon a Time" leads to Latino labourers picking coffee beans while armed foremen push rudely between them. One worker (McDowell with black hair and moustache) pockets a few beans ("Coffee for the Breakfast Table") but is seen by a foreman. He is next seen before a fat Caucasian magistrate who slobbers as he removes his cigar only to say "Guilty." The foreman draws his machete and lays it across the unfortunate laborer's wrists, bound to a wooden block, revealing that he is to lose his hands for the theft of a few beans. The machete rises, falls, and we see McDowell draw back in a silent scream. The scene blacks out, the word NOW appears onscreen and expands quickly to fill it.

During his journey, Travis learns the lesson, reinforced by numerous songs in the soundtrack by Alan Price, that he must abandon his principles in order to succeed, but unlike the other characters he meets he must retain a detached idealism that will allow him to distance himself from the evils of the world. Travis progresses from coffee salesman (working for Imperial Coffee in the North East of England and Scotland) to a victim of torture in a government installation and a medical research subject, under the supervision of Dr Millar.

In parallel with Travis' experiences, the film shows 1960s Britain retreating from its imperial past, but managing to retain some influence in the world by means of corrupt dealings with foreign dictators. After finding out his girlfriend is the daughter of Sir James Burgess, an evil industrialist, he is appointed Burgess' personal assistant. With Dr Munda, the dictator of Zingara, a brutal police state which nevertheless manages to be a playground for wealthy people from the developed world, Burgess sells the regime a chemical called PL45 'Honey' for spraying on rebel areas (the effects resemble those of napalm). Burgess connives at having Travis found guilty of fraud, and he is imprisoned for five years.

Cast:

Many of the actors play several roles.

• Malcolm McDowell as Michael Arnold "Mick" Travis / Plantation thief
• Ralph Richardson as Monty / Sir James Burgess
• Rachel Roberts as Gloria Rowe / Madame Paillard / Mrs. Richards
• Arthur Lowe as Mr. Duff / Charlie Johnson / Dr. Munda
• Helen Mirren as Patricia / casting call receptionist
• Graham Crowden as Dr. Millar / Professor Stewart / Meth drinker
• Dandy Nichols as Tea lady in military installation
• Peter Jeffrey as Factory chairman / Prison governor
• Mona Washbourne as Neighbour / Usher / Sister Hallett
• Philip Stone as Jenkins / Interrogator / Salvation Army major
• Mary MacLeod as Mrs. Ball / Salvationist / Vicar's wife
• Wallas Eaton as John Stone (Coffee Factory) / Col. Steiger / Prison warder / Meths drinker / Film executive
• Warren Clarke as MC at Wakefield Club / Warner / Male nurse
• Bill Owen as Superintendent Barlow / Inspector Carding
• Michael Medwin as Army captain / Power station technician / Duke of Belminster
• Vivian Pickles as Good lady
• Geoffrey Palmer as Examination doctor / Basil Keyes
• Christine Noonan as Imperial Coffee assembly line worker / Mavis at Wakefield Club
• Geoffrey Chater as Bishop / Vicar
• Anthony Nicholls as General / Judge
• James Bolam as Attenborough / Examination Doctor
• Brian Glover as Plantation foreman / Bassett (Power Station Guard)
• Brian Pettifer as Biles
• Edward Judd as Oswald
• Alan Price as himself
• Jeremy Bulloch as Crash victim / Experimental patient / Sign guy
• Ben Aris as Mr. MacIntyre / Dr. Hyder / Flight Lt. Wallace
• Margot Bennett as Coffee picker
• Anna Dawson as Becky
• Lindsay Anderson (uncredited) as Film director