If ... (1968 - Lindsay Anderson)

Title: If ... Year: 1968 Director: Lindsay Anderson Writer: David Sherwin Actors: Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick | Runtime: 1h. 51m. Released: 1968 Plot: Lindsay Anderson’s “If…” (1968) is not only one of the most underrated British films but also one of the most controversial at the time of its release, derided by Lord Brabourne as ‘the most evil and perverted script I’ve ever read. It must never see the light of day’. Created in a decade strewn with revolution, change and turmoil the film is a microcosm of the social upheaval happening around the globe. Now the film is considered a classic and was recently described in the Observer Newspaper as one of the ‘most powerful and daringly inventive British films’. Set in the great English institution that is a public school, the film follows a band of rebellious students led by the charming yet sinister Mick Travis, played by Malcolm McDowell in his debut role. Travis is at an impasse with the strict, dra