if.... (1969)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I was in a sort of daze for hours after seeing If...for the first time in 2017. A work of art? Certainly but also a poetic historical document. After all the film dates back to 1968. 1968! when things were really changing and youth was taking a step forward, reminding the older generation that we'll be suffering the consequences of your thoughtlessness. So move over or else. I remember my father despising this film, he call it, propaganda. Propaganda?Maybe that's why I never saw it, until now. I was really moved by the film. Malcolm McDowell is the perfect man to incarnate the revolution that was about to come. It also made me look for all of Lindsay Anderson films - Just half a dozen feature films but my God! What an extraordinary director.

If is one of those movies where the story doesn't matter, its the characters. Before clockwork orange, this is Micheal McDowell's film debut that skyrocketed his career. This movie has without a doubt, THE BEST actors for a movie with no story. Even the child actors are great. they are like young adults. If has a great settings, great music, (though there's little background) and amazing picture quality of its time. for a film that's made in 1968, it looks like it was made in 1985! Hell, maybe in the early 1990s if the hairstyles weren't dated. as this movie has great moments, there's two things i didn't like. One is the random naked lady that walked around a hallway. it was unnecessary and didn't need to be put. Another part was the black and white moments. there's scenes were the movies turns into a black and white film to set the mood. its cool in some scenes, but in other scenes like where the students are talking to each other, it appears again, and it was unnecessary. those are my only problems. If is definitely not made for everybody, buts its worth a watch if you like movies based on school

Complex psychological drama from director Lindsay Anderson, who would later complete his bizarre trilogy with O LUCKY MAN! and BRITANNIA HOSPITAL. Layered with subtext and impossible to fathom with just one viewing, this is the classic "rebellion" story, this time set in a posh private boy's school rife with hatred, class warfare, and struggles for power and leadership. Although the physical aspects of the storyline have dated somewhat in the turbulent years since this film first came out - with films like CLASS OF 1984 and others putting the violence in this one significantly into the shade - the artistry, visual style, complex characters, and detailed performances put it above the rest. The film always remains grounded in realism with no flights of fancy and the action is subtle and thus more true-to-life than many other movies using the school setting as a battleground.Physical aspects of the film are highly accomplished, from the photography to the music, even right down to the settings and costumes. Even the haircuts in this film are important as a symbol of rebellion and uprising. Due to budget constraints, many scenes are shot in black and white, giving the movie something of a pretentious tone but these were more of a result of Anderson running out of money than anything else. The film marks the debut of actor Malcolm McDowell, perfectly cast in the leading role of Mick Travis, a student who has had enough, and any fan of McDowell from later in his career will find him contributing his usual powerful performance at this early stage. Many strong actors fill out the supporting roles, with plenty of familiar faces from respected British actors willing to take part. Anderson achieves many powerful moments in his movie, especially the caning in the gym which stands out in my mind as one of the most shocking I've seen despite the lack of on-screen violence. IF.... is in many ways a brave and original movie and deserves to be seen at least once by those with an interest in British cinema.

Feature films set in English public schools are strangely timeless: their look, their feel, their atmosphere (and if they were in Odo-rama, probably their smell) are all very similar and, of course not forgetting the hazing, caning, abuse, humiliation, hierarchy, class structure and repression of all sexual orientations - all aimed at transmitting social strictures and structures to the next generation. Lindsay Anderson's "If... " doesn't depart from that template but the difference is that all those strictures are the film's main subject rather than its background to another story (as in, for instance "Another Country"). Malcolm McDowell's character resistance is existential rather than political and there was something marvellously 1960s about the movie, with its trippy escape into town ("out of bounds!"), street theatre and a joyride on a stolen motorbike, the hook up with the cafeteria girl and the dreams of free love. The ending is a little disappointing due to the cop-out into violence - the Sixties' hedonist culture did at the time reverberate through even the stodgiest of social institutions, for a while at least. The film switches back and forth between colour and black & white film stock, which gives it an alienating and interesting feel. (Prosaically, this was due to budget restrictions forcing some scenes to be filmed in black and white for technical reasons). Marvellous sound track with Sanctus from Missa Luba.