It reunited him with Anderson, who has a cameo in the finale as (what else) a film director. McDowell is also credited with the surreal story, which is a loose adaptation of the Voltaire novel "Candide".

O Lucky Man! is a long, strange trip indeed. McDonald plays Michael Travis, the same name as his character in If..., but he is now an ambitious capitalist. His rise as a coffee salesman is checked by an unwise visit to a military research center.

From there, the film goes everywhere and nowhere. Poor Travis is tortured, hit by a van, imprisoned, robbed, beaten up by homeless people, and nearly turned into one of Dr. Moreau's half-animal beasts. But good things happen to him as well, mostly in the form of sexual adventures that are ripe for the taking.

The curious storylines and their abrupt turns have a whimsical detachment about them. The entire film, of course, is a satire of both ambition and enlightenment. Travis can't become a powerful businessman because he is too naive and trusting. He can't 'save' anybody else, because his own fervor is too exaggerated to be convincing. Travis might be a 'lucky man,' but there's no guarantee that things will stay that way.

Proof that the director is interested more in satire than storytelling comes in two forms: frequent musical interruptions by Alan Price and his band, and the constant return of cast members in new roles. If the movie is a series of skits, then, like "Saturday Night Live," Alan Price is the musical guest. He even joins the 'plot' at times.

His songs are laced with irony and sarcasm about ambition and the permanent gulf between rich and poor. Yet the poor aren't heroes: they rob and beat Travis when he most wants to help them. Director Anderson isn't making a pro-socialist statement, but is instead the voice of experience. The die is cast, and nothing can really change.

Alan Price was a member of The Animals, a British blues-rock group once known as Alan Price's Combo but later led by Eric Burdon. It was Price's keyboards that helped take "House of the Rising Sun" to the top of the American charts. O Lucky Man! proves that he's not the singer that Burdon was, but his songwriting is good and he's formed a capable band.

Anderson and McDowell eventually made a third film together, Britannia Hospital, with McDowell again as Mick Travis. Anderson died in 1994, so a fourth film is not in the works.

O Lucky Man! won two British Academy Awards, one for Alan Price's score, and another for Arthur Lowe's supporting role as a mad scientist. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes.