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If.... Details

1968 Certificate 15
  • 70
  • from 5510 members

Rebellious students at an English private school plan a violent revolt against their repressive environment in director Lindsay Anderson's highly acclaimed but extremely controversial drama. Centering on a small group of non-conformists led by Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), the film paints a distinctly negative picture of the .. Read more

Starring Malcolm McDowell, Arthur Lowe, David Wood, Richard Warwick
Director Lindsay Anderson
Genres Drama

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Rebellious students at an English private school plan a violent revolt against their repressive environment in director Lindsay Anderson's highly acclaimed but extremely controversial drama. Centering on a small group of non-conformists led by Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), the film paints a distinctly negative picture of the British school system and, by extension, English society. Seeing the powers-that-be as humorless, bureaucratic, and needlessly restrictive, Mick and his cohorts indulge in small acts of rebellion, including sneaking into town to romance a local waitress. Their actions are discovered and punished with harsh beatings, leading the students to plot revenge. This effort culminates in the film's most famous sequence, a surrealistic depiction of a bloody uprising by the students against the adult world. Daring and unpredictable in content and form, If... mixes color and black-and-white cinematography as easily as it mingles satire with dark fantasy. The film's ambiguous attitude toward violence caused controversy at the time, as many commentators saw the film as a potential incitement to violence. It became a great success among younger, counter-culture audiences who appreciated the audacious shock tactics and embraced the satirical, anti-establishment message. Often compared to Jean Vigo's French classic Zéro de conduite, which also featured surrealistic boarding-school rebellion, If... has become a high point in the cinema of youth rebellion. Anderson and McDowell later collaborated on O Lucky Man! (1973), Look Back in Anger (1980), and Britannia Hospital (1982).~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Starring Malcolm McDowell, Arthur Lowe, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Robert Swann, Peter Jeffrey, Christina Noonan, Mona Washbourne, Geoffrey Chater, Graham Crowden, Anthony Nicholls
Director Lindsay Anderson
Studio PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 47 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Hearing-impaired English
Released Production year: 1968

To Rent:
DVD: 23 Jul 2007

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644
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1,145
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962
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94
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125
  • 10
53

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      Rebellious students at an English private school plan a violent revolt against their repressive environment in director Lindsay Anderson's highly acclaimed but extremely controversial drama. Centering on a small group of non-conformists led by Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell), the film paints a ...

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