O Lucky Man!

O Lucky Man! is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film, intended as an allegory on life in a capitalist society. Directed by Lindsay Anderson, it stars Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderson's film if.... (1968). The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

Cast
Michael A. 'Mick' Travis/Plantation Thief: Malcolm McDowell

Monty/Sir James Burgess: Ralph Richardson

Gloria Rowe/Madame Paillard/Mrs. Richards: Rachel Roberts

Mr. Duff/Charlie Johnson/Dr. Munda: Arthur Lowe

Patricia Burgess/Casting Secretary: Helen Mirren

Prof. Stewart/Prof. Millar/Meths Drinker: Graham Crowden

Factory Chairman/Prison Governor: Peter Jeffrey

Tea Lady/Tenement Neighbor: Dandy Nichols

Sister Hallet/Tenement Neighbor/Court Usher: Mona Washbourne

Interrogator/Jenkins/Salvation Army Major: Philip Stone

Mary Ball/Vicar's Wife/Salvationist: Mary MacLeod

Interrogator/William/Released Prisoner/Assistant Director: Michael Bangerter

John Stone/Colonel Steiger/Warder/Film Executive/Meths Drinker: Wallas Eaton

M.C. at Nightspot/Male Nurse/Warner: Warren Clarke

Superintendent Barlow/Inspector Carding: Bill Owen

MacIntyre/Dr. Hyder/RAF Officer: Ben Aris

Oswald: Edward Judd

Factory Girl/Mavis: Christine Noonan

Mrs. Naidu: Pearl Nunez

Basil Keyes/Examination Doctor: Geoffrey Palmer

Army Captain/Power Station Technician/Duke of Belminster: Michael Medwin

Soup Kitchen Lady: Vivian Pickles

Vicar/Bishop: Geoffrey Chater

General/Judge: Anthony Nicholls Plantation Foreman/Power Station Guard: Brian Glover

Young Man (Sports Car)/Pig Boy/Sandwich-Board Man: Jeremy Bulloch

Hotel Receptionist: Patricia Healey

Bill: John Barrett

Mr. Spalding/Doctor/Pickpocket/Meths Drinker: Glenn Williams

Coffee Salesman/Pickpocket: Hugh Thomas

Biles:Brian Pettifer

Policeman (Accident + Tenement)/Customer/Munda's Manservant: David Baker

Policeman (Accident + Court): Edward Peel

Plantation Judge/Nightspot Client/Meths Drinker: Paul Dawkins

Attenborough/Examination Doctor: James Bolam

Tax Inspector/Club Waiter: Peter Schofield

Elizabeth Valerie Stewart/Tenement Neighbor: Adele Strong

Mrs. Naidu: Kymoke Debayo

Clinic Receptionist/Miss Hunter: Patricia Lawrence

Lady Burgess: Constance Chapman

Coffee Picker: Margot Bennett

Alan (Vocals/Keyboards): Alan Price

Colin (Guitar): Colin Greene

Streaky (Roadie): Ian Leake

Tolly (Drums): Clive Thacker

Dave (Bass):Dave Markee

Director:Lindsay Anderson

BBC Moscow Correspondent (on radio): Daniel Counihan

With: Bart Alison, Sue Bond, Peter Childs, Frank Cousins, Brian Croucher, Allen Cullen, Anna Dawson, Michael Elphick, Eleanor Fazan, Pat Healey, Geoff Hinsliff, Jo Jeggo, Stephanie Lawrence, Brian Lawson, Terence Maidment, Rachelle Miller, Tuesday Miller, Ken Oxtoby, Stuart Perry, Bill Pilkington, Cyril Renison, Irene Richmond, Roy Scammell, Frank Singuineau, Patsy Smart, David Stern, Betty Turner + Catherine Willmer.

Directed by Lindsay Anderson Written by David Sherwin, Based on an idea by Malcolm McDowell and Candide by Voltaire Produced by Michael Medwin & Lindsay Anderson

Filming Began March 20, 1972 Filming wrapped June 16, 1972

Official Summary
When you're lucky, it also pays to be wise.

Mick Travis is a lucky man. He's also an ordinary man who wants what we all want - success. It's just not going to come his way in quite the way he expects. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Time After Time) stars as salesman Travis in O Lucky Man!, director Lindsay Anderson's hilariously satiric masterpiece. McDowell, who played Mick Travis the schoolboy rebel in if... and Mick Travis the hustling opportunist in Britannia Hospital (both directed by Anderson), here gives us Mick the wide-eyed innocent. Armed with ambition and a bedrock work ethic, Mick sets out on the road to success and finds that desire alone can't bring wealth and status.

Director Anderson (This Sporting Life, The Whales of August) spins fate's wheel masterfully, landing hapless but never hopeless Travis in one uproariously improbable event after another. The optimistic Everyman rubs elbows with rich and poor alike... and learns firsthand the cruelty that comes from scamming an extra million or lifting a wallet. Ralph Richardson, Helen Mirren, Mona Washbourne and 10 more stars in multiple roles help knit the picaresque adventures together. And commenting with incisive wit and irony on the goings-on is musician Alan Price, the former Animals rocker who provides the film's incredible score.

Watch closely as a smile forms on Mick's cherubic face during the finale. It could be the smile of enlightenment. Or the smile of a man who understands he'd rather be lucky than good.

Full Summary
The story starts out as a silent black and white Russian style film that is only 1/4 the normal size. It is set on an unknown South American coffee plantation where workers are picking coffee beans under the eyes of the foreman guard. A pretty girl is shown picking beans and then a man is shown stealing beans by putting them into a pouch around his neck. The foreman sees this, catching him in the act. 'Unlucky!' the title card reads.

He is taken before the judge and is sentenced. He is found 'Guilty' - the title card repeats again and again. His punishment is to have his hands chopped off. The last shot shows his hands about to be chopped off by the guard as he screams. The story then switches to normal color and full screen. As the credits roll, Alan Price and his band are shown rehearsing the song "O Lucky Man!" as Lindsay Anderson sits and listens. Other crew members are also there and at one point Lindsay gets up to check a lyric.

Now to present day. Mick Travis is a salesman trainee for the Imperial Coffee company in England. He is inside their coffee factory taking the tour given by foreman John Stone. There are also another five men in training and all are wearing long white coats and hats. Mr. Stone leads the trainees down to the shop floor where many women are working packing coffee beans in boxes to ship them off to Nigeria. Mick breaks away from the group and slips under a conveyer belt to flirt with one of the girls. He doesn't get very far when Mr. Stone notices he is gone and calls out to him. He is demonstrating their latest packing machine and asks a question of Mr. Biles who gets it wrong. Mick jumps in with the correct and answer and Mr. Duff, the works manager, comes over to take the group to a lecture hall.

The hall is where the trainees learn the tricks of the selling trade. Mr. Duff speaks his propaganda and all Mick wants to know is how much a salesman can make. Mr. Duff tells him and soon turns the floor over to Gloria Rowe, the Public Relations Director. She is to teach them the psychology of selling. She invites Mr. McIntyre up to the front of the class and wants him to smile and shake her hand. He fails miserably. He is too nervous and can't even smile. She calls Mick down and he grabs her hand and smiles warmly. She is very impressed and says that she would buy what Mr. Travis is selling. She then wants Mick to show the others how to do it right. Mr. Duff suddenly gets a call from the chairman and he and Gloria both have to quickly exit.

The chairman is not a happy man. Oswald, their number one salesman in charge of their biggest region, the North-East, has disappeared. No one knows where he is and they need an immediate replacement. They insist the trainees need another two weeks, but the chairman can't wait. He tells Gloria to pick one. Miss Rowe looks down a window at the shop floor and sees Travis and tells him that is his man. Mick is brought up to the chairman's office and tells him what an opportunity he has. In one day he has climbed the ladder to the top sales spot. He tells him what he needs to do and sends him off with an apple.

Mick goes back with Miss Rowe to her office. She has three pots of coffee brewing and wants to give him a taste test to see if he can identify them. She pours the first one and he gets it right. For the second cup she drinks it herself and passes it from her mouth to his. The two begin to kiss and disappear behind the brewing pots.

The shot cuts back to Alan Price in the studio singing "Poor People", which then cuts to the song playing over the radio in Mick's car.

He can't afford a car stereo, so he has a small transistor radio hanging from the rearview mirror. A man in a sports car passes Mick and looks over at him when he does. He speeds off into the foggy weather and shortly after there is a crashing sound. Mick can't see what happened until he gets close. The man in the sports car crashed into a food delivery truck, spilling all kinds of groceries onto the road. The man in the car has smashed into the windshield and is bleeding from the head. Mick stops and goes over to check on the bleeding man and puts his coat around him. He is still alive, but dies after giving him a message. Mick checks on the truck driver, but he is dead as well. Shortly after two policemen arrive. Mick is ready to give a statement, but the police aren't interested. He wants to help, but they tell him that if he doesn't take off he might be charged with a crime. The police could say it was his fault. Mick goes to leave and one cop picks up a bag of cheese and gives it to Mick. He drives off and the two policemen starting filling their truck with the spilled food.

It is nighttime when Mick pulls up to the Southerland House Hotel which will be his home base from now on. Mary Ball runs the place and welcomes him at the door. Bill takes his luggage and leads him up to his room, which until yesterday was Oswald's room. Mary has put all of Oswald's things in a drawer because she didn't want to throw them out.

Mick goes through Oswald's things when Monty comes in the other door. He is his neighbor and questions Mick about what he is doing and asks if he knew Oswald. Mick tells him he didn't and find some booze and porno magazines and checks them out. Monty wonders if Mick has what it takes to handle the job. Soon after Mary calls up to Mick that dinner is ready.

Once again we cut back to Alan Price in the studio signing "Sell, Sell, Sell". The music keeps playing as we see Mick doing his job. He goes from store to store, makes deliveries, drives, sells, makes notes and keeps going and going. He goes from town to town with his note cards about the people and what they want. Mick pulls up to a large steel works that seems abandoned. He finds out they are closing the place down.

He sits in his car and adds up his totals for the day which aren't even 6 pounds, not a good start. He then heads to the Wakedale Hotel which is very upscale and asks for the catering manager, Mr. Faulkner, at the front desk. He is told to sit and wait while they look for him. After a short time a man comes up to him, not the catering manager, but the hotel manager. He is also the mayor of the town. He tells Mick they can do business together and makes cryptic statements about Oswald. He then tells Mick he has arrived at the perfect time for a party as they have one every Tuesday. He leads him out the back of the hotel to a place in the back called the Nightspot.

Upon entering the secret location Mick learns it isn't what he thought as all the women working there are scantily clad. Linda, the door girl, takes Mick's briefcase and gives the mayor a smoking jacket and they head off to the main room. There is a very crowded barroom and the people are packed at the tables watching a stag film. Mick and the mayor make their way to a nearby table. The films sows a woman waiting on her bed as Santa comes down the chimney, undresses her and prepares to have sex with her.

The lights come up and everyone applauds. The mayor introduces Mick to everyone at the table including a girl named Mavis sitting on the lap of the man next to him. An MC in a silver jacket comes up and asks the crowd what they'd like to see first. Choices are yelled out like 'Roman Candles' and 'Tutti Frutti'. One man yells 'Chocolate Sandwich' and soon the whole crowd, including Mick, starts chanting 'Chocolate Sandwich' over and over. The MC knows they have made their choice and calls out to two white woman and a black man in the crowd. On the stage a fold out bed appears and the two girls in negligee sit on it and start to strip as a black man joins them. During this a woman named Rebecca puts the moves on Mick and sits on his lap. They all watch the activity on the stage as Rebecca pours drinks for them.

Mick returns back to the hotel late that night with a complimentary case of whisky. He staggers into his room and is about to collapse when he finds Mary naked in his bed waiting for him. She motions to him and he starts to undress and join her.

It is the next morning and the phone is ringing. Bill comes upstairs and tells Mick the phone is for him. He leaves Mary's sleeping arms and hurriedly dresses and goes down to answer it. It is Gloria and she is telling him he now has to take over Scotland as well as the North-East. Mick can't believe his ears as he has just gotten started and has to travel north another 200 miles and has no clothes for the cold weather, but he has little choice.

He gets off the phone and heads back upstairs and Monty is waiting for him. He has made a gold suit for Mick and wants to give it to him. Mick doesn't know what to do, but is in little position to turn it down and Monty assures him it will keep him warm.

Mick, now in the gold suit, grabs his things from his room and tells Mary he'll be back. She knows what he doesn't - that he will never be back. Mick goes into his car and drives off as she watches from the window with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Mick drives down a long dirt road and must be lost as the road ends at a gate to a government base. The radio is playing and a man is talking about the meaning of Zen. Mick pulls out his map and takes a look to no avail. He then pulls out a pair of binoculars and climbs on the roof of the car for a better look. He has now brought unwanted attention to himself and very quickly two trucks full of soldiers pull up to him. They have him at gunpoint and the captain orders him down. He is taken into the back of the truck and a black bag is put over his head as they drive off.

The guards lead him into a small room in the giant Atomic Research plant where he is left at a table and the men leave, locking the door behind him. He sits and nothing happens. He tries to open the door and it is locked. He goes to a door on the other side of the room and tries it as well. Surprisingly it is open and he heads out. He goes down a corridor and looks down at some kind of bizarre experiment going on below. It doesn't take long for the guards to catch up to him and take him to a new room with a sort of electric chair they sit him in. Two men are now questioning him and want to know why he is there and where is pass is. He doesn't have a pass and tells him he is looking for Mr. Woolley, his catering contact. They don't believe his is a coffee salesman and think he is a spy. A woman comes in with a beverage cart and sells tea to the two inspectors. They want him to sign a confession and when he refuses a guard ties him down and they zap him. They ask him a battery of questions and cut open his coffee samples looking for evidence. Mick isn't happy about that as he has to pay for them now. Soon after he is willing to sign anything to get out of there. Suddenly an alarm goes off which startles the men and they get up and leave. No one unties Mick and he is stuck there until the tea lady comes back to clean up. She isn't the least bit interested in the alarm, only in cleaning up the mess. She sees Mick still there and unties him. He makes a mad dash for the exit and people are running everywhere on the compound. He leaves through the front and there is thick black smoke pouring from a lab and the staff fleeing everywhere. Soldiers and heavy equipment are rolling in the compound and Mick is able to go right out the front gate with a crowd unchecked. He runs through a wooded area as the sirens continue to wail, hoping to reach his car. Before he gets there a tremendous explosion is heard and debris rain down starting fires all around him. He slides down a sandy slope to his car, but it is on fire. He tries in vain to rescue his radio and his other things, but the gas tank blows up.

He heads away from the facility and is soon in open green country space. He follows a road to a church where a service is in session. He sits in the back unnoticed and soon passes out.

When he wakes up the church is empty. There are food offerings all over the altar and he heads up there to get something to eat. Before he can the Vicar's Wife spots him and tells him he can't have any because it is god's food. She then says he is only a boy and cradles him in his lap and pulls out her breast for him to suck on and he does.

Afterwards she leads him out and tells him the path to take to get back on the main road and has her children lead him. They cross a giant valley that is thick with grass and sheep and arrive at a gate. There he says goodbye to the kids and heads toward the road.

He stands by the edge of the road trying to hitch a ride to London. A black car stops and a male nurse gets out. He asks Mick if he would like to pick up some cash. Mick asks what he has to do. The nurse tells him he has to be a part of medical research and will get 100 quid. Mick tells him 150 and he has a deal. The nurse says he can't authorize that, but he can talk it over at the facility. Mick agrees and gets in the back with an old lady who has also agreed to go. The car pulls up to a building called The Millar Clinic. They are taken inside and Mick and the woman are given ID tags and put in wheelchairs. Soon after Professor Miller, the project leader, arrives and inspects the new arrivals. He checks Mick out and seems pleased. He gives instruction to take him to room nine and wants a complete analysis on him.

The porters wheel them into the elevator and when they reach their floor they split up. Mick is taken to the Analysis Room. We next see him stripped down to only surgical underwear and he is sitting on a reclining hospital table with a large amount of wires strapped to his head. Two doctors and a nurse ask him general questions about his health until Professor Miller enters. He is very happy with the results so far.

In the next stage Mick is tied to a spinning contraption and the professor has to keep moving around to talk to him. He goes through more tests and then is taken back to his room.

Mick is sitting up in bed and the professor explains to him what he hopes to accomplish. Basically he wants to genetically engineer humans to the point of perfection. He needs Micks' help and will pay him 100 pounds for the week if he signs. Mick haggles with him until he gets a better deal. The professor gives him a shot to put him to sleep and leaves.

He doesn't go to sleep though and overhears how they are going to perform surgery and sterilize him. When the coast is clear he makes his escape. He puts on his suit and tiptoes down the hall. He hears approaching voices of the nurse and ducks into another room. He hears the sound of a man whimpering and turns on the light to comfort him. When the man won't stop he pulls back the sheet and screams in horror. The man's head has been grafted onto the body of a giant pig. Mick tears out of the room, slams into a nurse and dives head first out of a window. He doesn't die as the next shot shows him furiously peddling a bike out the main gate. A white van is coming up the road and nearly collides with him. Mick swerves hard to avoid it and winds up crashing into the bushes. He is mad and wet from the fall and his bike is ruined. The roadie driver gets out to see if he is OK and then Alan Price gets out and asks who is suing who. Mick asks him if he is going to London and he says he was. He asks him for a ride and he agrees.

Inside the van it is pretty cramped. Alan is in the back with another man watching two other band mates who are playing chess and two men are up in the front. He tells Mick to sit in the back and be quiet. After a little bit something moves next to him. It is a girl, Patricia. She instantly comes on to him and has him remove his wet clothes so she can warm him up. Mick asks who they are and what they do. Alan tells them they are musicians. Mick removes most of his clothes and curls up with Patricia in a rug. One thing leads to another and they soon have sex. Alan has gone up front and after Mick finishes he joins him. It is nearly dawn and they are getting close to London.

The next morning Mick wakes up in Patricia's bed, but she is nowhere to be found. He pulls a sweater out of a closet and puts his gold suit on over it. He hears Alan singing and heads in that direction. The band is rehearsing in the main room and Mick asks her where Patricia is. He tells him she is upstairs. The crew points the way and Mick climbs a ladder that leads to the roof. She is wearing a long flowing dress that is see through and painting on a chimney, it is like an open air apartment up there. She greets him and gets some champagne out of a refrigerator that is up there. He talks about making it and the opportunity of London. She tells him if he really wants it to just take it. He asks where all the stuff she has comes from. She tells him from home and that her father never misses it. Mick wonders about the cost of a nearby large skyscraper and Patricia tells him. When he asks how she knows she explains it is because her father owns it. He is very intrigued. She gets in the mood and starts kissing him, but he is more interested in her father. Alan then calls up from the street if she is coming with him and she leaves Mick alone.

He goes back down to find a good suit as his gold one is worn all over. During the scene we can hear "Poor People" playing in the background. Mick finds new clothes and Patricia's address book. He calls over to her father, Sir James, and cons his way into a meeting with him by saying that his daughter is in trouble. He arrives at the building, takes the elevator up and enters the lobby and is instructed to wait for Sir James. Professor Stewart is in Sir James office and is loudly arguing. His not happy and is getting belligerent. James wants him out and soon his assistant William and the professor grab each other and start pushing out into the lobby. They wind up knocking Mick out of his chair and the professor breaks down crying and the secretary gets some liquor to come him down. William invites Mick into Sir James' office reminding him how important Sir James is. Mick sits down and explains that Patricia is in trouble and how he can help her. No matter what he says though, Sir James doesn't seem interested. There is a ruckus as the professor comes back in the office all crazy. Since he can't get his way he is going to jump out the window of the high rise office. William rushes over to stop him, but the professor has the window open by now. William grabs him and starts to scuffle, but the men lose their balance and both go tumbling out the window to their deaths.

Sir James calls all the executives in for a quick memorial, tells his secretary to get him Vancouver and then gives Mick the job of his personal assistant and heads out with him. In Sir James Rolls Royce a phone rings. Mick answers and it is the call Sir James is expecting. He talks of severance pay as the car pulls up to a mansion.

The mansion belongs to Dr, Munda, a wealthy black leader. Introductions are made to Munda's people. Munda has brought everyone together to make a proposal to Sir James. One of the men is introduced as Oswald and we know know where the ex-coffee salesman has ended up.

They get a film ready and dim the lights. The presentation is about Zingara, an island nation of which Dr. Munda is president. There is only one small hotel and Munda's proposal is a giant 500 room hotel complex to capitalize on tourism. Sir James asks questions and Munda answers. When he can't answer he defers the questions to one of his experts who comes up to speak. This continues until Sir James gets to the question of the threats of civil war. Munda gives Colonel Steiger the floor who is in charge of putting down the insurrection. He shows them a war reel and explains that Sir James can get a partnership in the entire deal not by investing money, but by securing an adequate supply of honey for him to finish the job of squashing the revolt. Honey is a nickname for napalm.

Sir James is interested, but hides his emotions. He wants to work over the details with Basil. Madam Paillard, Munda's French companion, offers Mick a drink and Oswald congratulates him. Sir James offers to send Mick to finalize the details and Munda tells a story about how Sir James used to drink with his brother. He then reveals he has had him arrested, but hasn't hung him yet.

The next day Mick is chauffeured to the National Political Club. He exits the car in an expensive suit and bowler hat. Basil meets him there and both men have magazine they place on the table. Basil orders them drinks and each picks up the others magazine. They pocket the envelopes with the instructions within each magazine.

Shots of Sir James Rolls going along are shown. The scene breaks to Alan singing "Look Over Your Shoulder", then back to the car. Mick is in the back. He lights a cigarette, pours himself a drink and checks himself out. The car soon pulls up to a RAF base. Mick meets with the Group Captain who is supervising the loading of honey into a massive transport plane. Mick gives him the papers and signs for the 12,000 gallons of the honey and the deal is done.

That night there is a dinner celebration at Sir James' house and Dr. Munda and his guests are in attendance. There is a bit of small talk and Sir James sends Mick into his study with a combination to his safe and tells him to bring back the briefcase inside.

Mick goes down the hall and into the study and finds the wall safe and opens it, takes the briefcase out and hears voices on the other side of the room behind a screen. He goes over and is quite surprised to find Patricia there, completely dressed up and made up with diamond jewelry as well. She is lying on a sofa and a man is on his knees proposing. Mick startles the man and he runs off. He wants to know what she is doing there and who that was. She tells him she lives there and that he is a duke who wants to marry her. Mick is not happy about that, but she admits she hasn't decided yet. He tells her he is going to marry her and shows him what a success he has become by revealing the gold bars in the briefcase. They kiss and he tells her to wait there and he'll come for her after he is done. Mick places the case on the table. Sir James brings out the papers and they sign them with Mick signing as a witness. Suddenly the phone rings. The Fraud Squad is at the door and on their way up. Sir James gives Mick the briefcase and the papers. The inspector checks him out and everyone denies signing the papers except for Mick and he is arrested. Sir James says he'll take care of the briefcase and the inspector takes Mick away. Sir James sits and things resume as before. Before they even get Mick into the car the police take turns beating him up. Cut to Alan singing "Justice" at his piano. The song fades out and the scene changes to a court room.

Mick is standing trial for trying to smuggle 10 million pounds of gold from his employer. It doesn't matter what he says, he is found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail. During a break the judge goes in the back and takes off his robe. He is only wearing read briefs and lays on a table. The bailiff takes out a whip and whips him across the back.

Mick is shown in his cell on his last day of sentence. Each day has been counted off on the wall in chalk. He is a changed man, no longer consumed with greed. He is spending the last time with a pet dove before he sets it loose through the bars. The guard is impressed with him and leads him to the warden's office. The warden also likes him and talks a bit about his future and reads him an inspirational passage from a book his grandmother gave him. After he finishes he then gives the book to Mick. He is released with two other men. Both of them have rides waiting for them and are quickly out of sight. One later comes back for Mick, but he declines. He says his final goodbye to the warder and departs.

Mick is walking down the road and comes across a Salvation army gathering. A major is speaking, women are singing and there is a band playing. One woman comes up to him for donations and he gladly gives two pounds. The woman is so impressed by his generosity since he has just gotten out of prison and has almost nothing. She makes a point of telling the major. He halts the band and proudly announces what Mick has done. Everything is going well until the major asks him to come up and bear witness for his sins. Mick tells him he doesn't believe in sin which doesn't make the major happy. Mick tells him he used to think that way, but now he knows that people are good if you give them a chance. Two bums eye Mick and take advantage of his naivety and pick pocket everything he has including his money. When Mick goes to get his book the Warden gave him he can't find it. One of the bums quickly sticks it in a different pocket so he won't suspect anything. He reads from the book and only upsets the major more who replies and then gets the band started up again to drown Mick out.

Mick heads off again and some men run by and bump into him, knocking the book from his hands. The men pick up a ladder and are trying to get up to a second story window. There are people all over the alley and women shouting from the upper stairwell. The men with the ladder come up short and are mocked. Mick asks what is going on and is told a woman, Mrs. Richards, is going to kill herself. Mick is deeply troubled by this and sets out to stop her. The door to her apartment is locked and he can't get in so he climbs out on a ledge and over to the window which he is able to open a crack. He can't get in, but can see the woman with her two children and talk to her. She is cleaning the floor and he asks why. She says she doesn't want to be accused of leaving a mess behind. He tries to comfort her with passages from the book the warden gave him. It doesn't work, she is fed up and has made up her mind. They go back and forth a bit and then she goes into the next room to finish the job. He scrambles to climb across to the next ledge to stay with her and grabs onto a drain pipe. Right away the pipe starts to come loose and he falls into the garbage below, knocking himself out.

Cut to Alan at his piano singing "My Home Town". When Mick awakes it is nighttime and a policeman finds him. Mick has no ID or anything on him and the policeman is not happy to see him. He then finds out he hadn't been able to stop Mrs. Richards. The policeman finds Mick's bag and harshly sends him on his way.

He wanders down the street and soon finds a women in a vacant lot who has set up an impromptu soup kitchen out of the back of her truck. She is feeding some old bums when Mick comes up to her. She gives him something and he asks her if she does this every night. She tells him she does it when she can. He asks her if she gets paid for and and she tells him no. Mick then happily asks if he can help and she is pleased. She gives him a big soup tureen and cups and instructs him to feed her regular derelicts around a nearby bonfire and then leaves him there. He isn't sure what to do, she tells him to be herself and she'll be back around five. He hands out cups to a dirty women and some others and gives them soup. Then he suddenly recognizes with horror that the filthy woman is Patricia. He asks what happen to the duke? She tells him the sickly man on her lap is the duke. Just then one of the meths drinkers goes into the bonfire and Mick drops everything to try and help him from burning to death. Instead of pleasing the bums, this angers them as the man was trying to commit suicide. Mick can't understand their anger and tries to comfort them. He preaches about how they are all brothers and how great the world is. They start attacking him and he runs. The mob catches up to him and start pelting him with rocks. He loses his footing and falls into a pit. They then roll a fifty-five gallon drum at him to crush him.

The screen goes black and then once again we see Alan in his rehearsal room. Now he is singing "Changes."

We then cut to Mick walking on busy street corner looking for food and money. He picks up a cigarette butt and stops a man asking for change. He then comes upon a young man wearing his old gold suit with a large sandwich board which reads "Want to be a star?". He hands Mick a flyer telling him to try his luck.

Mick enters the cattle call audition hall. Tons of hopeful men are there and a woman that looks like Patricia, but doesn't acknowledge him. She takes his info and he takes a seat. Lindsay Anderson is on stage casting his film if.... and a few men have their pictures taken. Lindsay notices Mick in the crowd and instructs his casting agent to go get him.

They put him in front of a screen and take his picture holding books and then a gun. Lindsay tells him to be aggressive, then he tells him to smile. Mick has lost his smile and tells him he can't smile without a reason. Lindsay tells him to just do it, but he can't and argues about it until Lindsay smacks him across the face. Suddenly, he starts to smile.

There is a blackout and then Alan is in a tuxedo up on stage in the audition hall singing "O Lucky Man."

Mick is then in the middle of the crowd in his gold suit and Lindsay comes over to congratulate him. Then other actors from the film come up to him. The music is still playing and all the actors wearing in costume are dancing together for the wrap party. Then balloons drop from the ceiling and people are reaching for them Mick jumps up and hits one and the scenes fades on him reaching for the balloons. The End

Filming Locations
Dropmore Hall (Lord Kemsley's house) - Mad scientist's hospital The Reform Club, London Stansted Airport - 'Honey' drums House in Gerrard's Cross, London for Danda's conference. Cafe Royal exterior, London Alan Price's band was recorded at Olympic Studios, near Barnes. Willesden Town Hall Nuclear research center - cement works at Ivinghoe Aftermath of nuclear explosion - Caesar's Camp, Bracknell Mick's arrest - Dorking Man with sandwich board - Leicester Square Rolls Royce country shots - Black Common, near Pinewood Driving shots - The M1 motorway at Chesterfield Euston Tower, London. Bellamine prison, Glasgow

Almost everything else was filmed at Colet Court, then an abandoned private school which Lindsay's team converted into a film studio. This is where Jocelyn built the sets for the Majestic nightclub; Mick's bedroom at Mrs. Balls; the court room; St James's office, etc.

Foreign Titles
Cuba - Un Hombe con Suerte

France - Le Meilleur des Mondes Possibles (The Best of all Possible Worlds)

Poland - Szczelsiwy Czloweik

Soundtrack
1. O Lucky Man! (2:19)

2. Poor People (2:11)

3. Sell Sell (4:02)

4. Pastoral (2:12)

5. Arrival (3:03)

6. Look Over Your Shoulder (2:22)

7. Justice (1:48)

8. My Home Town (2:40)

9. Changes (2:02)

10. O Lucky Man! (2:26)