Overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film emerged from the "revolutionary 1970s" as an example of unplanned obsolescence. Everything the director dislikes is set up as a strawman for denunciation; some sex is thrown in now and then to keep the proles watching and nodding to every malformed political thesis between boob shots. Its politics have been overtaken by events; the socialism it espouses by default revealed to be even more mindless, amoral and homicidal than the worst it can say about capitalism.Basically, you have to have a raging crush on one or more of the actors in this film to like it, or to value technique over substance. While Helen Mirren IS hot, she's not hot enough to redeem this crock.Guys, if you hate modern civilization that much, there are places you can still get away from it in. Go move there. That way, you won't have to bore us with adoring reviews of self-indulgent film school projects like this.

I really do rather love this film - it's my version of chocolate, or a bottle of wine - when I've had a day so bad that I want to bury myself, I stick O Lucky Man on.Whether it's the hippy groupie Helen Mirren, who comforts us (I mean Michael, the 'Lucky' Malcolm MacDowell) but then returns as a posh daughter of an exploiting tycoon but is then on the streets in another twist of fate, or the lovely and great parade of every English character actor of the period, again not just dressing up as one person, but appearing as another, later.Or maybe it's the rubbing shoulders of the rather bizarre with the comforting normality and homely - MacDowell driving round the country in an old rep-mobile, a Ford Anglia, should be boring and not work, but it does. Arthur Lowe 'blacking up', after being his usual uppity businessman just couldn't happen today.Or is it Alan Price, providing (& seen playing the songs) that add a likable continuity throughout, bridging the classes? He and his band are Mirren's idols, as their old Dormabile (is that how it's spelt?) as their tour van almost run our hero down, in the middle of the night.Many topics that pop up in 'A Clockwork Orange', in which MacDowell starred, of course, are found here - youthful aberration, retribution and Society's responsibilities toward those and how far must a government go in the fight for a happy, homogenised population. But, O Lucky Man is an all round sweeter and more palatable fare than the acerbic and often nasty A Clockwork...Many don't get this sprawling epic, that spans both discs of the DVD here - and that's fine. Just take the occasional Pythonesque gags with the societal paranoia, throw in those odd but so-familiar character actors, the naffness of the period - clothes, hair, cars - and you do have a Cult (in my opinion) minor classic. O! Do Enjoy!!

The central idea of Lindsay Anderson's bizarre and sometimes frustrating political satire seems to be that ideals inevitably come to grief when they fall into contact with humans and human society, which are invariably corrupt, petty, stupid, selfish and cruel. This is a pretty dark message for a comedy, even one as black as this, but it helps that the main character manages to cling to his ideals for as long as he does. The story comes from McDowell's own experiences selling coffee in the 'territories' (ie. the parts of England that aren't London), but the plot runs fairly close to that of Waugh's Decline and Fall, as we follow the fortunes of a naif through the blood thirsty world of capitalism and eventually into prison and beyond. Along the way we encounter every class and type of Britisher, every UK institution and we watch as idealism crumbles in the face of pragmatism and the failings of human character. Ex-Animals keyboardist Alan Price provides often clever, sometimes intrusive or annoying sung commentary on the action and on England herself, which makes for a somewhat uneasy mix, but then the whole film is like that. Anderson pulled out all of the stops and dares the audience to put up with the results. Hollywood won't do this now, but directors in the early 70s and especially those working outside the big studios could get away with it. At almost three hours length, and with a picaresque story that is never about just one thing for more than twenty minutes, this movie is a bit of challenge to sit through.Make the effort. Movies like this don't get made anymore and we're oh such lucky men to have this one.

Surreal, often hysterically funny, sometimes surprisingly sad, full of sly political and social satire, and jammed with wildly brave film-making choices, along with one of the great movie song-scores of all time by Alan Price. Its Candide meets 1970s Great Britan as a young man rambles through life in a series of absurd adventures, with the great supporting cast (Ralph Richardson, Helen Mirren, etc.) having the time of their lives playing multiple roles.The three hour running time may sound daunting, but it flies by as we watch our hero Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell, whose real life pre-acting experiences were the jumping off point for the story) slowly become wise to the ways of the world through a series of bizarre encounters, arrests, love affairs, and everything else that can befall a young man on the road. A must see film for anyone who appreciates unique films and British humor.