If... - 1968

I've wanted to watch this well known Malcolm McDowell film for a long time, and I found it free on Amazon. So, I finally got around to it.

This is the film role which got Malcolm McDowell noticed by Stanley Kubrick and ended up getting McDowell into A Clockwork Orange. This film is also well known for being revolutionary in being rated X when it came out, for bringing on controversy with the British Ratings Board, and for being called everything from vile, to disgusting, to completely godsend. Such a film likely can and will be divisive, and I went in without knowing the first thing about it.

About 35 or 45 minutes into If, I paused it and exited the Amazon player. I said aloud "Does this movie have a plot?" From IMDb: "In this allegorical story, a revolution led by pupil Mick Travis takes place at an old established private school in England." And yes, in the end, that is what this film is about. If you sit through about 90 minutes, that does happen in the last 20 minutes.

The first thing I noticed about this is the bizarre, nonsensical randomness that happens. It's a halucinatory, visual film, stuffed full of bizarre artistic shots such as odd women, slightly offbeat surreality, and cryptic imagery. Although that sounds cool, you might only get one of these every 20-30 minutes, so don't get too excited. For the most part, the majority of the time, you're watching British kids wandering around, saying stuff to each other, going to school and absolutely nothing happening. Yes, this movie is VERY slow.

I didn't like If for most of the time I was watching it. I found it to be ponderous, self indulgent, and if it was supposed to be justified that the end took the angle that it did, that certainly was never explored. If leans heavily on Malcolm McDowell, which you can tell was the right move, and he fucking kills it as Mick Travis. No Malcolm, no movie in this case.

I don't know. I didn't like it when I watched it, and now the flow of it is sitting with me days later and I'm liking it more. I do wish it was at least 25 minutes shorter. You don't even meet Mick Travis until like minute 15 or so, and you don't need ANY of the stuff before he comes along.

I'll give it 3.5 stars.