O Lucky Man (1973)

O Lucky Man (1973)
Written by David Sherwin
Directed by Lindsay Anderson

It is time for you to be ashamed.

Time for you to go home to your mother and cry on the couch, not because Janey wouldn't let you kiss her goodnight. But because all this time you thought you knew movies and we're an idiot savant of all art.

However sadly... and unforgivably you did not know O Lucky Man (unofficial, official sequel to 1969's If...) existed. Hopefully I change that.

Malcolm Mcdowell heads the excellent cast as Mick Travis, a traveling coffee salesman, who encounters life in a roller coaster ride of success, chance meetings, horrible confrontations and cutting edge satire that is rarely seen anymore. Hell, I think the last time someone tried to out do it was 'Whoops Apocalypse' , oh, I'm sorry, you haven't heard of that one either. Well, as simple as the premise of O Lucky Man is, essentially its just a guy traveling, but its so much more. Think Forrest Gump without all that running, and instead of a soundtrack that tries to immerse you an era, how about a soundtrack that is the era, sung and performed by Animals keyboardist Alan Price.

The soundtrack alone is one for any british moniker, however this cult film is so gloriously underrated that when you do pick it and watch it, and scenes like the hideous goat boy shock the shit out of you, you can't believe you found something so wonderful.

Helen Mirren plays multiple characters and looks excellent, granted she still does to this day of the review. Its all Malcolm though, this movie along with If.., Clockwork Orange and even Caligula, show what kind of rarity he is to the film role. Its too bad Rob Zombie's Halloween's almost unspool that image.

O Lucky Man borders on three hours, is broken up by musical interludes, and is zany, original, often funny, arty and no less than Lindsay Anderson's masterpiece. Put side by side with his film If.. you got yourself a double feature you are quite frankly never going to forget. But even on its own, O Lucky Man remains to be the unseen classic of the seventies.

Its not worth seeking out, its mandatory!