Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 10/23/2007
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 178 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
One man's dreams of success take him on a Byzantine journey through the various stations of the British class system in this politically charged
black comedy from director
Lindsay Anderson.
Mick Travis (
Malcolm McDowell) is an ambitious young man who is looking to get his foot on the first rung of the ladder of success by landing a job as a salesman. After the death of Imperial Coffee's leading drummer in the North,
Travis' charm and enthusiasm so impresses manager
Mr. Duff (
Arthur Lowe) that he's given the job, and after some coaching from
Gloria Rowe (
Rachel Roberts),
Travis sets out to find his fortune in the coffee trade.
Travis' desire for success quickly sets him on a curious odyssey in which he happens upon a secret sex club for businessmen, finds himself the subject of random seductions by lonely women, is captured and tortured by military intelligence agents, submits to medical experiments at a bizarre private clinic, hitches a ride with a traveling
rock band led by former
Animals keyboardist
Alan Price, falls in love with a beautiful young bohemian named
Patricia (
Helen Mirren), goes to work for her father (
Ralph Richardson), who happens to be a singularly corrupt political figure, and eventually lands in prison after he's implicated in a deal to sell chemical weapons to the Third World. As
Mick's strange tale progresses, we periodically visit
Price and his band in the recording studio or rehearsal hall, as they work on songs which serve as both mirror and counterpoint for
Travis' progress.
O Lucky Man! was the second film in which
Malcolm McDowell would portray
Mick Travis for director
Lindsay Anderson, following
If..., and preceding
Britannia Hospital; the film's surreal undercurrent was reinforced by the casting, in which nearly all of the principle actors play two or three roles.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
