O Lucky Man!
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
Written by David Sherwin from an original idea by Malcolm McDowell
1973/UK
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Prison Governor: I’ve sensed the spark of idealism in you and I can move mountains, you know that, hmm. Oh, for a man like you, Travis. Michael, for a boy like you, you’re still young! Everything is possible. The world is your oyster. I can see you stripped, building motorways. You have eyes like Steve McQueen. Did anyone ever tell you that?
Lindsay Anderson produces a truly unique film that will leave me scratching my head until I see it again.
The story follows the life of young Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) from his first job through his being cast as an actor. The story is interspersed with Alan Price and his band playing appropriate songs in front of a neutral background for a kind of “Greek Chorus” effect. The story is told in episodes and the same actors reappear, some many times, in various episodes. The story gets more incredible and fantastical as it proceeds.
The movie is three hours long and I will give only the briefest outline of the plot. Eager, naive young Mick Travis gets his first job as an apprentice coffee salesman. The regional salesman for the Northeast has flown the coop. The training manager (Rachel Roberts) has taken a liking to him and suggests that he be promoted into that job.
Mick proceeds North. He takes up lodgings and is friendly with his next-door neighbor, a tailor (Ralph Richardson). He makes one big sale and suddenly is given the entire territory of Scotland in addition. At parting, the tailor gives him a golden suit and this advice: “Try not to die like a dog.”
En route to Scotland Mick has numerous adventures, many of them life threatening. He hitch-hikes away from the latest in a van where he finds Patricia (Helen Mirren) hiding under a blanket. They immediately fall in love.
Patricia’s father (Ralph Richardson) is a ruthless copper tycoon. Mick decides to see if he can insinuate himself into the company. He is immediately hired as the tycoon’s assistant and gets involved in an unsavory deal to sell a chemical weapon to an African country. The father frames Mick for a crime and he goes to jail.
After being released from prison, Mick feels strangely happy though he has hit rock bottom as far as his financial situation is concerned. He tries to talk a despondent housewife (Rachel Roberts) out of killing herself.
The next morning, he meets a man who is handing out flyers for an open audition for a part in a film. The film director (played by Lindsay Anderson) thinks Mick has something special. He takes several head shots but Mick doesn’t find anything to smile about. The director smacks him in the head with a script. Mick slowly breaks into a smile and finds himself in ecstasy.
This movie is three hours long and the time flew by, so that itself is something. Consider that I left many, many incidents out of the plot summary. The acting is excellent and the production is excellent. The social satire is sharp. I think I need another viewing to really wrap my head around it though. And I just might do it.
I can’t believe black face was still being used in 1973. But maybe that just went with the same actor being used in different parts. It’s only in one segment.
