''The Mick Travis Trilogy'' is the story of

Mick Travis Michael Arnold "Mick" Travis is a fictional character played by Malcolm McDowell in the Mick Travis Trilogy, three films directed by British film director Lindsay Anderson and written by David Sherwin. Travis features not so much as a single cha ...

, a fictional character played by

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

in a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

of British films directed by English film director

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered fo ...

and written by

David Sherwin David Sherwin-White (24 February 1942 – 8 January 2018) was a British screenwriter best known for his collaborations with director Lindsay Anderson and actor Malcolm McDowell on the films '' if....'' (1968) (for which Sherwin was nominated fo ...

Trilogy

''if....''

'' if....'' (1968), is Mick Travis first appearance, and Malcom McDowell's film debut, Travis appears as a disaffected English youth that is the leader of a gang of rebellious students in a strict British boarding school. Travis

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

attitude and experiences ultimately lead to an armed insurrection at the school. ''if....'' was filmed at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

, Lindsay Anderson's old school, and many of the scenes drew heavily on his experience in the

Officers Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

at Cheltenham, which he had joined in May 1937. It also draws heavily upon

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

, where the two screenwriters both went, and several characters, including the abusive chaplain, are based on real people who taught at Tonbridge.

''O Lucky Man!''

O Lucky Man! ''O Lucky Man!'' is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderso ...

'' (1973), cowritten by Sherwin and McDowell, is a satirical drama that starts with Travis' first job as a mobile coffee salesman after many adventures involving arms-sale scandals, experiments in human-animal genetics by the mad scientist Doctor Millar (played by

Graham Crowden Clement Graham Crowden (30 November 1922 – 19 October 2010) was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his many appearances in television comedy dramas and films, often playing eccentric scientist, teacher and doctor characters. Early life C ...

). After a sojourn with musician

Alan Price Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician who first found prominence as the original keyboardist of the English rock band the Animals. He left the band in 1965 to form the Alan Price Set; his hit singles with and without the group ...

, ''O Lucky Man'' ends in Mick's rebirth as a film star, thanks to a slap by a film director played in a cameo by Lindsay Anderson, the scene a depiction of McDowell's first audition for ''if...'', in which McDowell was slapped by his eventual costar

Christine Noonan Christine Noonan (born Christine Elizabeth Wright; 8 March 1945 – 6 August 2003) was a British actress. She is best remembered for her role as the anarchist love interest of Malcolm McDowell's character in the film '' if....'' (1968). In one s ...

''Britannia Hospital''

Britannia Hospital ''Britannia Hospital'' is a 1982 British black comedy film, directed by Lindsay Anderson, which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society. It was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and Fantasporto. ''Britannia ...

'' (1982), written by Sherwin, Travis is a reporter attempting to make an investigative documentary about a hospital where Doctor Millar is continuing his unspeakable experiments as a

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

ous strike goes on outside. While spying on an experiment to create a new human being from assembled body parts, Travis is captured by the hospital staff. A power failure renders the experiment's human head unusable, so Millar kills Travis and attaches his head to the creature. On being given life, the creature (played by McDowell) attacks Millar, forcing Millar to stab and dismember it.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mick Travis Trilogy Film series introduced in 1968 British film series American film series