Malcolm McDowell Movies
Blue-eyed British actor Malcolm McDowell has a history of playing angry, cruel characters that still managed to be charming. Born in working-class Leeds, England, he sold coffee around Yorkshire before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late '60s. By 1967, he had made his big-screen debut in Poor Cow, the first feature-length film from director Ken Loach. Moving to New York, McDowell met director Lindsay Anderson and appeared in his off-Broadway production of Look Back in Anger. (He would reprise his role of angry young man Jimmy Porter in the 1980 film version.) He then played Mick Travis, the rebellious boarding school student in If.... (1968), a role he would continue in Anderson's next two films, O Lucky Man! (which he co-wrote) and Britannia Hospital (1982). Director Stanley Kubrick took notice of his work with Anderson and gave McDowell his international breakthrough with A Clockwork Orange, based upon the novel by Anthony Burgess. His portrayal of the sadistic Alex earned him two Best Actor nominations, but also cemented a dark image that would persist throughout his career. He would occasionally get breaks with characters such as Captain Flashman, the hero in the adventure satire Royal Flash or the naïve fighter in the WWI drama Aces High. But his unscrupulous reputation was reinforced in 1979, when he starred in the title role as the Roman emperor in Bob Guccione's notorious production of Caligula. He made his first American film the same year, playing H.G. Wells in Time After Time alongside young actress Mary Steenburgen (they were married from 1980-1990). McDowell went on to star in the horror remake Cat People, the action-adventure Blue Thunder, and the rock musical-comedy Get Crazy. McDowell made several TV movies toward the late '80s, including Gulag, Arthur the King, and Monte Carlo. After a serious bout with a persistent drug problem, his hair turned white and he started playing regular villains in largely forgettable U.S. releases. He had better casting luck abroad, such as the leading role in the Russian film Assassin of the Tsar. After a cameo in The Player in 1992, the actor started lending his voice talent to cartoons, including Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Superman, Spider-Man, Batman: The Animated Series, Biker Mice From Mars, and the features The Fist of the North Star and Happily Ever After. He also provided the voice of Commodore Geoffrey Tolwyn for the Wing Commander video game series and subsequent cartoon. His villainous roles started to gravitate toward science fiction with Tank Girl, Cyborg 3: The Recycler, and, most notably, Dr. Soran in Star Trek: Generations. On television, he played the evil Benny Barrett on the BBC series Our Friends in the North and the sinister Mr. Roarke on the ABC revival series Fantasy Island. In the late '90s, he appeared in a lot of direct-to-video and made-for-cable movies before making a return to U.K. theatrical features with the family drama My Life So Far in 1999 and Gangster No. 1 in 2000. In 2003, he appeared in the horseracing film Hidalgo, Robert Altman's The Company, and the Russian film Evilenko as serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Director Martin Ritt's bucolic rural environments of Norma Rae, Conrack, and Sounder, are re-visited once again in Cross Creek, based on author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' memoirs of her times on a remote Florida bayou. Mary Steenburgen plays Rawlings, author of The Yearling, who, in 1928, makes the abrupt decision to leave her husband and move to an isolated orange grove to concentrate on her writing. Rawlings buys a run-down house covered with cobwebs that she restores with quick dispatch. In these desolate surroundings, Rawlings pauses in her housecleaning to listen reflectively to the otherworldly noises of the swamp. But suddenly out of this loneliness, people emerge. There is Geechee (Alfre Woodard), Rawlings' devoted servant; Marsh Turner (Rip Torn), a liquor-guzzling swamp rat; Floyd Turner (Cary Guffey), a cute harmonica-playing boy; and Ellie Turner (Dana Hill), a little girl whose fawn becomes the basis of Rawlings' Yearling book. Rawlings becomes involved with Norton Baskin (Peter Coyote), the owner of the local hotel, and, as she settles into life on the bayou and her friendship with Norton and Geechee, she is inspired to begin writing. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, (more)
- 1983
Little Red Riding Hood (Mary Steenburgen ) is en route to Grandma's house when she encounters a hungry stranger in the woods whose carnivorous appetite may lead him in the same direction. Malcolm McDowell is delightfully smarmy as the Big Bad Wolf who races to Grandma's house with plans to gobble her up and then wait in disguise for Red Riding Hood to arrive. ~ Carrie Downes, All Movie Guide
- 1982
In a careful, step-by-step manner, this documentary traces the lives and careers of the Beatles from childhood to breakup. The post-Beatle lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo are gingerly touched upon in the film's closing sequences, with emphasis given the senseless 1980 murder of John Lennon. Through rare family photos, early home movies and TV kinescopes we are shown the matriculation of the Beatles from a bedraggled punk group to a well-tailored, mop-topped foursome under the aegis of Brian Epstein. We are also briefly introduced to might-have-been Beatles Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best. George Martin, the producer who oversaw such late-1960s Beatles projects as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, reveals several intriguing trade secrets and wonderful bits of backstage gossip. By incorporating shots of Beatles merchandising, imitation groups, and the ear-piercing reactions of the Fab Four's fans (as well as several shots of disillusioned young ladies during the team's waning years), the amazing impact of the foursome on the 1960s music industry is forcefully brought home. Malcolm McDowell narrates this priceless pop-culture montage. The Complete Beatles was originally produced for home video by MGM/United Artists, the company which in 1982 held the video rights for the Beatles flicks A Hard Day's Night and Help. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerry Marsden
In this loose adaptation of the 1942 horror classic of the same name, a 2001-style opening montage establishes some sort of sacrificial, mystical union between panthers and an ancient tribe of humans. Flash forward to 1980's New Orleans, where waifish Irina (Natassja Kinski) meets her older brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell), a minister, for the first time since their animal trainer parents died and she was sent to a series of foster homes. Paul's Creole housekeeper, Female (Ruby Dee), helps Irina settle into her brother's home, but Paul himself disappears. Cut to a fleabag motel where a blasé prostitute finds an angry panther instead of a client; after mauling her, the cat is captured by police and a team of zoologists: Oliver (John Heard), Alice (Annette O'Toole), and Joe (Ed Begley Jr.). The next day Irina finds herself in the zoo where these scientists work; drawn to the newly captured panther, she befriends Oliver and takes a job in the gift shop. Shortly after the panther's violence turns deadly, it escapes, and soon Paul turns up spouting an unbelievable story about his family's were-cat heritage and his inevitable sexual union with little Irina. On the run from her dangerous brother, Irina takes refuge in a sexually frustrated romance with Oliver, afraid of what might happen if she consummates their passion. Astute viewers will notice that the zoologist characters refer to the film's panthers as leopards; "panther" is actually a generic term for any large cat, especially a black one, but Cat People's panthers are in fact leopards whose black color comes from a recessive trait known as melanism. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, (more)
This dark comedy charts the chaos that results when the panicked staff of a major English hospital attempts to prepare for a visit by the Queen Mother, only to face every problem imaginable. Britannia Hospital clearly attempts to recapture the anarchic bite of director Lindsay Anderson's previous satires If... and O Lucky Man, but fails to achieve the same combination of intelligent political critique, comic lunacy, and skillful filmmaking. (Indeed, the three films are often considered a loosely linked trilogy, largely due to the presence in all three of lead Malcolm McDowell). The film does make a valiant effort, but its commentary on the poor, labor disputes, and the inhumanity of bureaucratic institutions mixes uneasily with the film's broader elements, like the experiments of a cartoonish mad scientist. The result is often quite entertaining on a scene-by-scene basis, but the film never reaches the level of delirious, farcical energy or satirical sharpness to which it clearly aspires. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Rossiter, Graham Crowden, (more)
- 1980
Malcolm McDowell reprises his stage performance as Jimmy Porter, the quintessential British "angry young man," in this video adaptation of John Osborne's ground-breaking play. The play begins one dreary Sunday morning, as Jimmy rants and raves against the entire world, including his family, British society, politicians, and women, especially his own wife, Alison. About the only person he does get along with is Alison's close friend and near-constant companion Cliff Lewis, a member of the working-class that Jimmy so strongly identifies himself with, despite his education and comfortable upbringing. Given his continually abrasive, hate-filled manner, it is no wonder that Alison is afraid to share an important secret with him: that she has become pregnant. She invites an old friend, Helena Charles, to visit, seeking advice; this only provokes Jimmy further, as he considers Helena a mortal enemy. Tensions soon grow stronger amongst the members of this makeshift household, and after a sudden tragedy, allegiances shift in a rather unexpected fashion. Director Lindsay Anderson, who had previously collaborated with McDowell on if... and Oh Lucky Man!, translated Ted Craig's Roundabout Theatre production to the screen, taping the end result in merely three days. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This 1980 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Malcolm McDowell and features musical guest Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, (more)
It's H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) versus Jack the Ripper (David Warner) in the fanciful Time After Time -- and, per the film's title, the chase extends from the 19th century to the 20th. Wells has built a time machine in his cellar, which the Ripper uses as a means of escape. Both men find themselves in 20th century San Francisco, and, after a period of adjustment, they make themselves at home. The plot takes a dark turn when the Ripper, disappointed that Wells' dreams of a Utopian future have not come to fruition, resumes his murderous activities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, (more)
This lavish big-budget epic was the pinnacle of a uniquely Italian subgenre, the historical hardcore gore/porn extravaganza. The star-studded cast, perhaps lured by the high-profile involvement of producer Bob Guccione and screenwriter Gore Vidal, includes such luminaries as John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren. Director Tinto Brass, whose similar treatment of Nazi Germany in Salon Kitty won him the job, did his best with the mammoth enterprise, but numerous production problems and re-edits took their toll on the finished product. When Caligula works best, it works because of Malcolm McDowell, whose crazed portrayal of the title Emperor is the embodiment of villainous corruption. McDowell raises his performance level to match the gaudy spectacle around him, which led to charges of overacting, but there are moments when he is absolutely riveting. Some of the cast doesn't fare as well, as O'Toole makes a particularly unsubtle Tiberius. The sex is graphic and steamy, particularly a feverish lesbian interlude between Penthouse Pets Lori Wagner and Marjorie Thorsen (using the pseudonym "Anneka di Lorenzo"), and the various carnival freaks used as atmosphere imbue the film with a grotesque, Fellini-like opulence. There are many memorable scenes and a magnificent score by Paul Clemente, but the heady brew of historical epic, hardcore sex, and gory violence proved overwhelming to many viewers. Still, Gore Vidal's script is surprisingly accurate, and manages to be entertainingly vulgar while bringing a rather loathsome slice of human history to vivid life, warts and all. The more explicit scenes were directed by Bob Guccione and Giancarlo Lui, causing both Vidal and Brass to remove their names from the credits. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, (more)
- 1979
- R
Director J. Lee Thompson directed this World War II adventure drama from a script by author Bruce Nicolaysen who adapted the screenplay from his novel The Perilous Passage. Anthony Quinn stars as a brave Basque mountaineer who is hired by the American military to guide Professor Bergsson (James Mason) and his family over the dangerous Pyrenees. Together the two men struggle to ensure the group's survival and elude Von Berkow a crazed Nazi played by Malcolm MacDowell. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, James Mason, (more)
An old-fashioned thriller starring Malcolm McDowell and Eileen Atkins, this British period drama traces the battle of wills between a vacationing English gentleman and a villainous mistress. The year is 1922. Richard Chandos (McDowell) is on a Pyrenees vacation when he crosses paths with the malevolent Vanity Fair (Atkins) and her motley band of crooks. From high atop the turreted Chateau Jezreel, Fair plots to inherit millions by forcing her stepdaughter to marry. Little does Fair realize that the uptight Chandos is equally determined to thwart her plans by rescuing the young girl before the wedding vows are exchanged. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Eileen Atkins, (more)
- 1976
Malcolm McDowell plays a World War I air ace, in charge of an elite squadron. Outwardly a bastion of courage, McDowell dies a little every time one of his boys is killed. To steel his nerves, he takes to drink, which has an adverse effect on his abilities. Christopher Plummer staunchly portrays McDowell's commanding officer. Aces High is a remake of Journey's End (1930), which in turn was based on a play by R.C. Sheriff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer, (more)
Often described as "Ship of Fools with a conscience," Voyage of the Damned is based on a true story. In 1939, the Nazis ostentatiously loaded a luxury liner with hundred of Jewish refugees from all walks of life. The ship then tried to drop anchor in Havana, Cuba-only to have its passengers refused entry by the Cuban government, in keeping with its super-stringent immigration policies. This was exactly what the Nazis expected to happen, and indeed wanted to happen. By having the refugees turned away from Havana, the German government could "prove" that the Jews were indeed the most unwanted race on earth, thereby justifying Hitler's extermination policy. The crosssection of humanity on board the ship includes the requisite big-time stars: Faye Dunaway as a monocle-sporting countess and Oscar Werner as Dunaway's society-doctor husband; professor Luther Adler and his wife Wendy Hiller; poverty-stricken Nehemiah Persoff and Maria Schell, who hope to be reunited with their "fallen" daughter Katherine Ross; disbarred attorney Sam Wanamaker and his family (wife Lee Grant, daughter Lynne Frederick); anti-Nazi captain Max Von Sydow; and so on. Representing the Cuban government are president Fernando Rey and bureaucrat Jose Ferrer; other Havana denizens include businessman Orson Welles and minister James Mason. Despite its morbid overtones, Voyage of the Damned ends on a faintly positive note. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, (more)
- 1975
Listed variously as a 1975 and 1978 release (it was actually produced in 1976), The Collection is a videotaped staging of the play by Harold Pinter. Described by one observer as the theatrical equivalent to a musical chamber work, this production stars Alan Bates, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren and Laurence Olivier. Little is said, but much is implied, in this story of an unorthodox romantic triangle. Running 64 minutes, The Collection was coproduced by Olivier for Britain's Granada Television. It was one of six works selected by the eminent actor for his "Best Plays of the Century" series: others included Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hindle Wakes, Come Back Little Sheba, Daphne Laureola and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Novelist George MacDonald Fraser penned the script for this swashbuckling, picaresque adventure tale. The story is based on one of the books in his "Harry Flashman" series, loose sequels to "Tom Brown's Schooldays" that followed that story's central bully character through his checkered post-graduate military career. Malcolm McDowell plays Captain Harry Flashman, a cowardly, lascivious poseur who desperately seeks entry into high European society. Recognizing an opportunity to advance their own sinister political agendas, scheming Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) and Rudi Von Sternberg (Alan Bates) convince Flashman to masquerade as a Prussian noble and marry a beautiful duchess (Britt Ekland), a flawed plan to which Flashman agrees. Inevitably, the transparent ruse is discovered, and Flashman is forced to try to escape across 19th century Europe, narrowly missing one disaster after another and experiencing first-hand some of history's most momentous events. Director Richard Lester and Fraser used similar baroque settings, tongue-in-cheek characterizations, elaborate stunts and breakneck pacing for The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974) with similar efficacy. Fraser would try again with analogous material three years later with Crossed Swords (1978), a lavish version of The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates, (more)
One man's dreams of success take him on a Byzantine journey through the various stations of the British class system in this politically charged black comedy from director Lindsay Anderson. Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) is an ambitious young man who is looking to get his foot on the first rung of the ladder of success by landing a job as a salesman. After the death of Imperial Coffee's leading drummer in the North, Travis' charm and enthusiasm so impresses manager Mr. Duff (Arthur Lowe) that he's given the job, and after some coaching from Gloria Rowe (Rachel Roberts), Travis sets out to find his fortune in the coffee trade. Travis' desire for success quickly sets him on a curious odyssey in which he happens upon a secret sex club for businessmen, finds himself the subject of random seductions by lonely women, is captured and tortured by military intelligence agents, submits to medical experiments at a bizarre private clinic, hitches a ride with a traveling rock band led by former Animals keyboardist Alan Price, falls in love with a beautiful young bohemian named Patricia (Helen Mirren), goes to work for her father (Ralph Richardson), who happens to be a singularly corrupt political figure, and eventually lands in prison after he's implicated in a deal to sell chemical weapons to the Third World. As Mick's strange tale progresses, we periodically visit Price and his band in the recording studio or rehearsal hall, as they work on songs which serve as both mirror and counterpoint for Travis' progress. O Lucky Man! was the second film in which Malcolm McDowell would portray Mick Travis for director Lindsay Anderson, following If..., and preceding Britannia Hospital; the film's surreal undercurrent was reinforced by the casting, in which nearly all of the principal actors play two or three roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, (more)
- 1971
Malcom McDowell, who went on to play a chillingly heartless young man in A Clockwork Orange, here plays Bruce, a cheerful young athlete and aspiring writer whose injuries get the better of him on the evening of his colorless brother's wedding. He loses the use of his legs and is sent to a home for the handicapped. As a result of his disability, his attitude undergoes a profound change, and he becomes a surly, resentful and difficult young man. At the home, he meets a young woman (Nanette Newman) whose disability has lasted much longer than his, and they fall in love. They become engaged, but she dies before they can get married. While this sounds relentlessly melancholy, the heart of the movie is the way in which each of the two has enriched the life of the other, and the movie is a good deal more upbeat than it sounds. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Nanette Newman, (more)
Stanley Kubrick dissects the nature of violence in this darkly ironic, near-future satire, adapted from Anthony Burgess's novel, complete with "Nadsat" slang. Classical music-loving proto-punk Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his "Droogs" spend their nights getting high at the Korova Milkbar before embarking on "a little of the old ultraviolence," such as terrorizing a writer, Mr. Alexander (Patrick Magee), and gang raping his wife (who later dies as a result). After Alex is jailed for bludgeoning the Cat Lady (Miriam Karlin) to death with one of her phallic sculptures, Alex submits to the Ludovico behavior modification technique to earn his freedom; he's conditioned to abhor violence through watching gory movies, and even his adored Beethoven is turned against him. Returned to the world defenseless, Alex becomes the victim of his prior victims, with Mr. Alexander using Beethoven's Ninth to inflict the greatest pain of all. When society sees what the state has done to Alex, however, the politically expedient move is made. Casting a coldly pessimistic view on the then-future of the late '70s-early '80s, Kubrick and production designer John Barry created a world of high-tech cultural decay, mixing old details like bowler hats with bizarrely alienating "new" environments like the Milkbar. Alex's violence is horrific, yet it is an aesthetically calculated fact of his existence; his charisma makes the icily clinical Ludovico treatment seem more negatively abusive than positively therapeutic. Alex may be a sadist, but the state's autocratic control is another violent act, rather than a solution. Released in late 1971 (within weeks of Sam Peckinpah's brutally violent Straw Dogs), the film sparked considerable controversy in the U.S. with its X-rated violence; after copycat crimes in England, Kubrick withdrew the film from British distribution until after his death. Opinion was divided on the meaning of Kubrick's detached view of this shocking future, but, whether the discord drew the curious or Kubrick's scathing diagnosis spoke to the chaotic cultural moment, A Clockwork Orange became a hit. On the heels of New York Film Critics Circle awards as Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, Kubrick received Oscar nominations in all three categories. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Depending upon viewers' feelings towards filmmaker Joseph Losey, they'll either consider Figures in a Landscape deeply profound or hopelessly mannered. Based on a novel by Barry England, the film stars Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell as two escaped prisoners in an unidentified totalitarian country. MacConnachie (Shaw) and Ansell (McDowell) occasionally pause to exchange profundities but spend most of their time on the run from an omnipresent police helicopter. Along the way, the two men are helped by "the people," who obviously are as contemptuous of the powers that be as MacConnachie and Ansell. But it's all for not: the convicts' fate was sealed the moment they broke out. Pamela Brown has the only other role of substance, as an enigmatic widow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, (more)
- 1968
Acclaimed British neo-realist filmmaker Ken Loach made his theatrical debut with this bleak kitchen-sink drama. Joy (Carol White) leads a life that makes her name seem like some sort of a cruel joke. Her husband Tom (John Bindon) is a second-rate burglar who shows neither her nor their infant child much affection. When Tom is jailed for theft, Joy is left on her own, until Tom's best friend Dave (Terence Stamp) invites her to stay with him. Dave is warm and caring in a way that Tom is not, and love begins to blossom between them. However, Dave also supports himself as a thief, and when he's arrested and put behind bars, Joy is left back where she started. Joy takes a job as a barmaid to support herself, and she is persuaded to pose nude for a photographer to bring in some extra money; she files for divorce from Tom and begins seeing other men. However, Tom wants to give their marriage another chance once he's released from prison, much to Joy's chagrin. Several clips with Terence Stamp were later used in The Limey (1999) to illustrate the earlier life of Stamp's character in that film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol White, Terence Stamp, (more)
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, David Wood, (more)
