O Lucky Man!

Who better to play the coffee salesman protagonist in Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man than Malcolm McDowell, who himself peddled coffee in his pre-acting years? (In fact, the plot of the film was McDowell's idea.) This rambling 166-minute effort features McDowell as a slave to the Work Ethic, never allowing himself to be dissuaded from his work despite such distractions as fatal car accidents, crooked cops, physical torture, a stint as a laboratory "guinea pig," and seductive customers. The hallucinatory quality of O Lucky Man is augmented by having most of its supporting cast (Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Helen Mirren et. al.) "double up" in parts: for example, Rachel Roberts plays McDowell's boss and two of his customers, one French, one English-and all of them end up in bed with the hero. Watch for director Lindsay Anderson in the closing scene, bringing the events in the story full circle.