redstar65

I First Saw This Film In Autumn 1981 (bbc2 British Film Season)
Soon As I Saw The Opening Scene I Was Hooked For Nearly 3 Hours Of Pure Brilliance From Actors Like Malcom Mcdowell,helen Mirren,rachel Roberts,ralf Richardson And The Geezer From Dads Army.alan Price Provides The Sountrack,please Let Me Know Your Fave Bit Of The Film.

billy bentley

First saw it the week it came out and as a young lad was suprised that Captain Mannering (Arthur Lowe) would ever be involved in anything risque as the "chocolate sandwich" sequence then it got me thinking......

redstar65

not forgetting father christmas (i think it was the coach driver from the italian job)

homeguard

What was in David Sherwin's head? Brilliant film, but not something the exponents of animal/human embryos would want on tele!
Regards,
HG

billy bentley

Thinking about it, I would have to say that "O Lucky Man' was one of the first works/acts of art that made me recosnsider the status quo as presented at the time. I already knew some people were hypocrites, but Anderson made me realise they were everywhere !

Colonel Blimp

One of the first films to 'stay with me', I saw it at a (probably TOO) young age and I still love it.

I think the most famous moment has to be the utterly horrifying 'pig' scene. I was truly shocked at the time ...

One of my favourite moments has to be seeing Arthur Lowe blacked up as an African dictator ... no way would that be permitted today ...

Great music too ...

Unfortunately the long-overdue DVD release stupidly spreads the film across two discs, when it would easily fit onto one disc. Just another example of why it's often better to stick with a good quality TV recording than a retail DVD. (I recorded it from Sky last year in 16:9 but foolishly gave it away when I heard it was coming out officially ... )

Juniors Farm

One of my favourite films,i saw it on tv about 20 years ago and it jammed in my mind as a weird and powerful movie.
I always thought that the lady who breastfed Malcolm Macdowell in the church and also played a couple of other roles in the movie was Vivien Merchant but in actual fact it was a Canadian actress, Mary Macleod.
Also the scene where Mick Travis samples coffee by drinking it from Rachel Roberts mouth has to be one of the most erotic in cinema (or is it just me)

AdrianTurner

Col Blimp, sir, I beg to differ, oh yes. Spreading it over two discs improves the picture quality, and I think the break comes where the intermission came in the general release version. Also, this DVD version is far, far preferable to any TV showing since it is uncut, having the sequences with Rachel Roberts in the council flat.

Overall, the movie works very well today - much of it struck me as audacious and its view of Britain still very apposite. Unfortunately, I found the commentary by Malcolm McDowell and David Sherwin rather uninteresting, missing out on a lot of detail. For McDowell, it was a let down after his commentary on Clockwork Orange.

Colonel Blimp

The thing is, the second disc contains the second half of the film, plus a documentary which is pretty much the same length as the first half of the film ... so why not put all the film on one disc and the documentary on disc two?

I'm sure the recent Sky broadcast was uncut ... but I'd have to check!

ON EDIT: at least it's out there ... at last!

rskershaw

This film nearly killed off Anderson's career, yet he wouldn't be put off, making the same sort of vitriolic film when he managed to srape enough money together to make Brittania Hospital .

Always thought it odd, and very ironic, that such a left wing and "subversive" director was John Ford's biggest fan.

And what's all this about me having me leg off?

billy bentley

rskershaw, You've seen "The Searchers" and find it odd and very ironic, that Anderson was a big John Ford fan ? How odd and ironic !

mfustes

Most definitely one of my faourite films and Alan Price's soundtrack is also one my favourites too.

GRAEME

And The Grapes of Wrath????


Don't confuse John Ford with John Wayne.

All men leak.

cally

Lindsay Anderson was an anarchist and didn't believe in ANY form of authority, hence 'Britannia Hospital''s attack on the Monarchy, the Trades Unions and big business.

He was however an unrepentant romantic and that was I think, the appeal of Ford for him however contradictory it might at first appear. Ford himself stood up to Ronald Reagan during the Communist witchhunt era while Reagan was himself head of the actors union, although Ford like Reagan was a Republican at heart.

AdrianTurner

Lindsay was quite famous for liking everything John Ford did - except The Searchers! He said in his book that he couldn't understand it. As far as O Lucky Man! is concerned, the entire sequence of Mick finding the church, being suckled on the altar in the midst of nature's bounty, and striding off across the countryside is pure John Ford myth-making. It's a fantastic sequence, I think, that gets you in the old ticker without quite knowing why. And immediately after that Mick gets thrown into the Millar clinic and the horror, the horror.