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It’s a curate’s egg, this, strictly for staunch fans of Malcolm McDowell and Lindsay Anderson, the Brit-legend who helmed Maccy D in If… and O Lucky Man! Eyes leering, mouth sneering, voice machine-gunning and jokes dive-bombing, McD luvvie-powers through a posh-gruff on-stage account of his mentor, hewn from memories, diaries and journals. Quaintness creeps in when he recalls asking Fonda, Hopper and Nicholson what they were smoking, although insider intrigue amplifies when legends like John Ford, Lillian Gish and Richard Harris pepper the picture. That said, McD’s power-spiel tends to fudge focus: is this about Anderson, or a self-centred nostalgic free-fall into a time when McD possessed “the nerve of youth”? His quiet account of Anderson’s demise moves, but by then, the black hole of this arch-raconteur’s bluster may have sand-papered your patience.
