Film: O Lucky Man! 15 rating Year: 1973
O Lucky Man DVD Cover
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Country: UK Genre: Comedy
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Arthur Lowe, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Alan Price

Please check out our Lindsay Anderson director guide, plus our reviews of if... and This Sporting Life. All Lindsay Anderson's films are available in our Lindsay Anderson UK Store & Lindsay Anderson USA Store.

Stop press - After years of nagging O'Lucky Man! is finally confirmed as being released by Warners in the USA on 23rd October 2007. It is being released as a two disc edition with the long awaited Malcolm McDowell commentary track.

O Lucky Man! can be ordered via our very own Lindsay Anderson Store USA (in association with Amazon.com).

O Lucky Man! Synopsis - How to describe O Lucky Man!? Hmmm. O Lucky Man! follows the journey (and adventures) of Mick Travis, a young and eager to impress Coffee salesman, traversing the country as he tries to make his way in the coffee sales trade. His journeys take more or less surreal, but seemingly linked turns, with regular seductions, chancing upon a gentleman's sex club, being captured and then tortured by the military, and then arriving at a clinic that carries out bizarre medical experiments. All along the way the same faces seem to crop up. After this he escapes and chances upon a traveling rock band hitches a lift. It is then he meets and falls in love with Patricia, a beautiful and well to do arty type. But will things run smoothly when Mick meets her dubious and powerful father?

Review of O Lucky Man! - This rather odd and frankly long film (over 3 hours) is a real masterpiece. There is so much attention to detail, and little bits of things added in that every time you watch it you find new things to like about it. O Lucky Man! is Lindsay Anderson's best film and is a loose continuation from his previous film "If", with Malcolm McDowell reprising his role of Mick. McDowell gives a lighter than usual performance, and the film is more intriguing for that. There is a huge cast of well known faces (Dandy Nicholls, Bill Owen, Brian Glover, James Bolam to name just a small selection) who take bit parts (sometimes multiple bit parts just to add to the surreal quality). Arthur Lowe proves what an excellent character actor he is in one his far too few film roles. Also worth mentioning is the fabulous soundtrack by Alan Price (previously of The Animals) that plays throughout the film, and indeed he appears in many segments of the film playing the soundtrack with his band. The third film in the "Mick Travis" trilogy came with 1982's Britannia Hospital which was a commercial flop again proving what critics know (or don't know).

O Lucky Man! is well worth a look but beware, there is yet to be a UK DVD release and the VHS edition has been deleted for some time, therefore the prices people sell this Video for second hand can be quite high, so shop around on ebay, or if you have patience, wait for one of its very infrequent repeats on TV. Hopefully the UK DVD is in the pipeline (especially since "If" has recently gained a DVD release) - if not buy the superb USA DVD release with lots of lovely extras.
The reasons I recommend O Lucky Man! are: 1. A superb surreal odyssey full of interesting snippets. 2. The cast is a who's who of 70's character actors. 3. A fantastic soundtrack (it is well worth hunting down the Soundtrack CD).