Malcolm McDowell = Fantastic Films

Today, June 13th, is the birthday of actor Malcolm McDowell.  I've been a huge fan of his for years.  I first saw him in Time After Time, a film which wonderfully mixed sci-fi, humor and adventure.  McDowell played science fiction novelist H. G. Wells, whose time machine was stolen by Jack the Ripper (David Warner) in an attempt to avoid the authorities by escaping to the future.  Jack finds himself in an environment he happily calls home, while Wells in depressed by humanity's lack of progress.  Even a trip to McDonald's failed to lift the time traveller's spirits!

Malcolm McDowell also happens to star in my favorite film, O Lucky Man! which combines dark satire and whimsy in a plot about a coffee bean salesman inspired by McDowell's own youthful experience.  Alan Price, of Animals fame, provides a fantastically memorable soundtrack.  The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson.  Anderson was the director who brought McDowell to fame with the starring role of Michael Travis in the film if.....  McDowell returned to play the character twice more for Anderson in O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital.

The role which probably casts the greatest shadow across McDowell's career is that of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.  His appearence of a single false black eye lash and bowler hat accenting his tight white garb is iconic in the annals of cinema.  Director Stanley Kubrick's film offered abundant violence and nudity, but allowed Alex's unsavory actions an amount of appeal thanks to stylized scenes and McDowell's charisma.  It's shocked audiences and critics upon its release and still manages to do so.

Diverse is the best descripion applied to McDowell's work of the past 35 years.  He's portrayed villains with copious zeal in sci-fi pics like Star Trek Generations and Tank Girl.  He's been the lead in historic films with a tendacy toward drama like the World War I story of pilots - Aces High, as well as romps like director Richard Lester's Royal Flash.  Cat People presented McDowell as an odd indivdiual, desperate and cursed by a bizarre pedigree in an erotic reworking of the classic B&W horror film.  Along with other established actors like Peter O'Toole and Helen Mirren, he took a chance to appear in the sexually graphic Caligula.  Whether in the past or future, as hero or villain, McDowell is always fascinating to watch.

Most recently McDowell has starred on the TNT series Franklin and Bash as the eccentric head of the law firm which employs the title characters.

I've been fortunate to see Malcolm McDowell in person at several conventions.   His Q&A's concerning his career are always entertaining.           

Malcolm McDowell & David Bowie - 2 Greats!

Reality forges links in mysterious ways.

As a teenager I became a huge fan of Malcolm McDowell, first for his work in Time After Time.  McDowell played the great science fiction writer H. G. Wells, but in the film Wells did more then write science fiction - he lived it.  Wells created a time machine, but bad luck had a friend (played by David Warner) turn out to be the infamous Jack the Ripper and the killer escaped into time via the machine.

Time After Time led me to seek out other McDowell films.  I was repeatedly transfixed by his performances in such productions as A Clockwork Orange, if.., and O Lucky Man!.  The later is my favorite film, a heady mix of first rate acting and  music provided by Alan Price of The Animals.  The film has a surreal flair as it follows coffee salesman Mick Travis (McDowell) on a series of adventures throughout England of the late 60's early 70's era.  Travis encounters everything from nefarious businessmen to mad scientists but always looks for tomorrow's oppurtunities.  Interestingly, McDowell himself worked as a coffee bean salesman.  His character in this film, Mick Travis, was the central character in if.., and would return in Britannia Hospital.

Malcolm McDowell managed to introduce me to two musical greats.  It was McDowell's role as offscreen narrator that led me to view The Compleat Beatles.  His voice added a lot to the story of The Beatles start, growth and eventual breakup.  The film is well researched with ample facts and happily does not delve too deeply into gossip or unfounded scandals. 

Malcolm McDowell introduced me to David Bowie's work with Cat People.  The 1982 film was a remake of a black and white Val Lewton film from forty years earlier.  The remake had more blood and a stronger interpetation of the story's central theme of sexuality.  And it had a killer tune by Bowie. 

Cat People (putting out fire) has mysterious and passionate lyrics that somehow maintain an immortal flaire.  Bowie's voice seems to me at it fullest here, able to utilize its deep richness to convey listeners to an eerie plane of existance where the supernatural rules. I found myself recognizing that voice elsewhere, a TV movie called The Annhilator used Ashes to Ashes.  And I couldn't help myself from seeking out his work in albums and film.
 

  
    Myself and Malcolm McDowell at Horrorfind Convention in September of 2012. (Above)

It was a great pleasure to get to meet Malcolm McDowell at serval local conventions.  And recently its been a great pleasure to write for davidbowienews.com - go there to find more of my musings concerning the great David Bowie.