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Critics Club II: 18 - Malcolm McDowell

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    Critics Club II: 18 - Malcolm McDowell

    Malcolm McDowell





    We've reached the first entry in this run where a simple slight trim of a filmography won't cut it. McDowell has led a long career but, as can often be the case, hasn't been shy about picking up a cheap naff movie option for a nice paycheck either. The result is a ballooned list which is how these things become unworkable, needing 4-5 threads to cover one actors history of output no-one will be familiar with. So above is a heavily cut down list which represents a kind of best of run to choose from, if you have an un-listed movie you want as your pick give it a shout out and it will still count.

    Vote for the movie you feel is their best whilst also discussing their other work, your reasons for voting and thoughts on what is their weakest.
    6
    Caligula
    0%
    1
    A Clockwork Orange
    0%
    4
    Star Trek: Generations
    0%
    0
    Easy A
    0%
    0
    Halloween
    0%
    0
    Halloween II
    0%
    0
    The Book of Eli
    0%
    0
    Bolt
    0%
    0
    Doomsday
    0%
    0
    The Artist
    0%
    0
    In Good Company
    0%
    0
    If...
    0%
    1
    Just Visiting
    0%
    0
    Cat People
    0%
    0
    Tank Girl
    0%
    0
    Blue Thunder
    0%
    0
    The Company
    0%
    0
    O' Luck Man
    0%
    0
    Time After Time
    0%
    0
    Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius
    0%
    0
    Gangster No.1
    0%
    0
    Britannia Hospital
    0%
    0
    Voyage of the Damned
    0%
    0
    My Life So Far
    0%
    0
    I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
    0%
    0
    Milk Money
    0%
    0
    Barry Munday
    0%
    0
    Exicision
    0%
    0
    Moon 44
    0%
    0
    Aces High
    0%
    0

    #2
    I struggle with this one as I do find he stands out in anything I've seen in him but at the same time he's another who's pretty much the same in each film. I'm probably most familiar with him being in Generations but once seen Caligula never goes out of your mind...

    I know which film I expect to win, but it's not one I like.

    Comment


      #3
      Generations is an absolute stinker of a film. But he is brilliant in it. But I agree he has a thing and feels familiar in each role. I'm currently struggling to pick a favourite.

      Comment


        #4
        Got to be Caligula. I got a version of it on Blu-Ray after hearing about its somewhat mythical status and it's... Interesting. It's weird to see a movie with those production values, where when there would normally be a "cut-away to the curtains flowing through the window" sex scene, instead, there's just a sex scene. Like a porn levels of explicit sex scene.

        Comment


          #5
          I almost did a double take when I found out Helen Mirren is buried in some of those scenes

          Comment


            #6
            Yeah, its a really odd film and McDowell plays his part well. Shocking is another way to describe it but we knew what to expect when we got to see it to a point.

            Got to be A Clockwork Orange for me, although I have seen Star Trek: Generations more than I can care to remember .
            I just can't think of any other playing that role.

            Comment


              #7
              He's been in some bonkers stuff.

              "If..." and "Clockwork Orange" spring to mind.

              I bloody love Blue Thunder, though. Has that excellent 80s action movie vibe I love.

              Voted Orange. It's not a perfect film, but is interesting on so many levels.

              Comment


                #8
                O Lucky Man! and A Clockwork Orange.


                Lightning struck twice with his career, he can go to the grave smiling.

                Comment


                  #9
                  A Clockwork Orange for me, but I must mention his marvelous portrayal of Admiral Tolwyn, sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance, in Wing Commander III:

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I love this story about how not reading the script properly at an audition ultimately got him onto A Clockwork Orange:

                    ‘I was Lindsay Anderson’s kind of actor. I don’t know why, but I was. I know he thought that I was a Brechtian (whatever that means) but I don’t think I am. I think what he meant was that I play in a style that is not realistic, but which is still real. I met him at the audition for If . . . in 1967. We got on very well, but it was the second audition that was magical because it involved me getting a slap from this girl I was playing opposite. She slapped me into getting the part – and subsequently into doing Clockwork Orange, because Kubrick saw If … five times and cast me from that.


                    ‘The slap was part of a scene we were doing that I had not really prepared, but which she knew rather better than I did. When I read the script, it said: “Mick grabs hold of girl and kisses her passionately.” But I did not read the following line, which said: “The girl slaps Mick like a son of a bitch.” Which was exactly what she did – although in reality it was more of a punch. And I wasn’t expecting it. That hit changed the whole dynamic of the audition.


                    ‘Afterwards, when I was working on the original script for what became O Lucky Man!, I didn’t know how to end the film, and I was also still obsessed with this slap. Lindsay just said, “Good, well we’ll use it. You became a film star, so that’s how you end it, with that slap.” So, at the end of O Lucky Man!, as my character does an audition, just like the one for If … , the director, played by Lindsay, hits me with the script. Later, I found a whole bit in his diary about that slap scene, in which Lindsay says of his own performance: “Am I good? I think so. Malcolm wore too much makeup.”

                    Comment

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