"If you have a friend on whom you think you can rely, you are a lucky man!" sings Alan Price at the start of this sequel to 'If....', which reunited director Lindsay Anderson, writer David Sherwin, and actor Malcolm McDowell, reprising his role as 'Mick Travis'. Mick has joined The Imperial Coffee Company where he is training to be a salesman. He catches the eye of Gloria ( Rachel Roberts ), who finds him charming. When Oswald, the firm's man in the North-East, quits, Mick is sent out to replace him. So begins a surreal, satirical odyssey through an exaggerated '70's Britain.
So what happens? Well, Mick witnesses a fatal car crash and is threatened with arrest by the police investigating it, is accused of being a Soviet agent while seeking directions near a power plant ( and almost blown up when it catches fire ), is breastfed in church by a vicar's wife ( Mary MacLeod ), volunteers for scientific experiments at the Millar Institure, run by psychotic Professor Millar ( Graham Crowden ) who is grafting people's heads onto animals' bodies, falls in with a travelling musical group ( led by Alan Price ), sleeps with the lovely Patricia ( Helen Mirren ), is made assistant to ruthless tycoon Sir James ( Ralph Richardson ), arrested by the Fraud Squad, sent to jail for five years, and, on release, becomes devoutly religious, resulting in him being attacked by vagrants who don't like his soup. Finally, after auditioning for a part in a new film called 'O Lucky Man!', he gets it, and is whacked over the head with a copy of the script by none other Lindsay Anderson himself.
'If....' was tightly controlled, whereas 'Man' is painted on a much bigger canvas, with Sherwin, Anderson and McDowall taking pot-shots at various aspects of modern life such as business, medicine, religion, science, the military and the permissive society. As Michael Palin noted in his diary after viewing a rough cut, some scenes work better than others. There is a strong 'Python' feel to the whole enterprise; people fall out of tall buildings, joke captions appear on screen, comical authority figures abound along with loads of bad taste and gratuitous sex. And it is nearly three hours long! Not to everyone's taste certainly. But it is never less than fascinating.
The usual Anderson repertory company ( Peter Jeffrey, Arthur Lowe, Mona Washbourne, Graham Crowden ) is augmented by the likes of Dandy Nichols, Geoffrey Palmer, Bill Owen, Michael Medwin, James Bolam, David Daker, Michael Elphick, Helen Mirren, and Ralph Richardson, many of whom are cast in more than one role. Lowe even appears blacked up in one scene. It is a little uncomfortable now to watch Rachel Roberts playing a suicidal housewife - the actress took her own life in 1981.
Travis is no longer the rebel we saw in 'If....', but more of an innocent abroad, reacting to events rather than helping to shape them.
Alan Price's songs pepper the course of the narrative, serving as a wry commentary on the action.
'If....' caught the mood of the time, but 'O Lucky Man!' works for different reasons. Travis returned in 1982's 'Britannia Hospital'.
So what happens? Well, Mick witnesses a fatal car crash and is threatened with arrest by the police investigating it, is accused of being a Soviet agent while seeking directions near a power plant ( and almost blown up when it catches fire ), is breastfed in church by a vicar's wife ( Mary MacLeod ), volunteers for scientific experiments at the Millar Institure, run by psychotic Professor Millar ( Graham Crowden ) who is grafting people's heads onto animals' bodies, falls in with a travelling musical group ( led by Alan Price ), sleeps with the lovely Patricia ( Helen Mirren ), is made assistant to ruthless tycoon Sir James ( Ralph Richardson ), arrested by the Fraud Squad, sent to jail for five years, and, on release, becomes devoutly religious, resulting in him being attacked by vagrants who don't like his soup. Finally, after auditioning for a part in a new film called 'O Lucky Man!', he gets it, and is whacked over the head with a copy of the script by none other Lindsay Anderson himself.
'If....' was tightly controlled, whereas 'Man' is painted on a much bigger canvas, with Sherwin, Anderson and McDowall taking pot-shots at various aspects of modern life such as business, medicine, religion, science, the military and the permissive society. As Michael Palin noted in his diary after viewing a rough cut, some scenes work better than others. There is a strong 'Python' feel to the whole enterprise; people fall out of tall buildings, joke captions appear on screen, comical authority figures abound along with loads of bad taste and gratuitous sex. And it is nearly three hours long! Not to everyone's taste certainly. But it is never less than fascinating.
The usual Anderson repertory company ( Peter Jeffrey, Arthur Lowe, Mona Washbourne, Graham Crowden ) is augmented by the likes of Dandy Nichols, Geoffrey Palmer, Bill Owen, Michael Medwin, James Bolam, David Daker, Michael Elphick, Helen Mirren, and Ralph Richardson, many of whom are cast in more than one role. Lowe even appears blacked up in one scene. It is a little uncomfortable now to watch Rachel Roberts playing a suicidal housewife - the actress took her own life in 1981.
Travis is no longer the rebel we saw in 'If....', but more of an innocent abroad, reacting to events rather than helping to shape them.
Alan Price's songs pepper the course of the narrative, serving as a wry commentary on the action.
'If....' caught the mood of the time, but 'O Lucky Man!' works for different reasons. Travis returned in 1982's 'Britannia Hospital'.