Editing O Lucky Man! (section)

==Plot==
The film is prefaced by a short story that begins "Once Upon a Time", a silent, black-and-white film that depicts an unnamed country filled with peasant laborers. They pick [[coffee beans]] while armed foremen push rudely between them. One worker (McDowell with black hair and a mustache) pockets a few beans for himself ("Coffee for the Breakfast Table"), but he is discovered by a foreman. He is next seen before a fat [[magistrate]] who slobbers as he removes his cigar only to say "Guilty." The foreman draws his [[machete]] and lays it across the unfortunate laborer's wrists, bound to a wooden block, revealing that he is to lose his hands for the theft of a few beans. The machete rises and falls, and the laborer draws back in a silent scream. The scene blacks out and the title "NOW" appears onscreen and quickly expands to fill it.

During his life journey, [[Mick Travis|Michael Arnold "Mick" Travis]] slowly learns the lesson (reinforced by numerous songs in the soundtrack by [[Alan Price]]), that he must abandon his principles in order to succeed in life. Nevertheless, unlike the other characters he meets, he retains a detached idealism that allows him to distance himself from the evils of the world. Initially, Travis is motivated only by money and material wealth. He progresses from a coffee salesman (working for Imperial Coffee in [[North East England]], where a tailor gifts him a [[gold]]en suit, and later [[Scotland]]) to a victim of torture in a government installation and a medical research subject, under the supervision of Dr. Millar.

In parallel with Travis's experiences, the narration shows 1960s Britain slowly retreating from its [[British Empire|imperial past]] but retaining some influence by means of corrupt dealings with the foreign dictators of countries that had recently fought for their independence. After finding out his girlfriend Patricia is the daughter of Sir James Burgess, an evil industrialist, Travis is appointed Burgess' personal assistant. Burgess is allied with Dr. Munda, the dictator of Zingara (a fictional African country), who has created a brutal [[police state]] and playground for wealthy people from the [[Developed country|developed world]]. Burgess sells the regime a chemical called "PL45 'Honey'", which the dictator sprays on rebel areas; its effects resemble those of [[napalm]]. When public outcry goes international, Burgess conspires to convict Travis of fraud. Travis is imprisoned for five years.

Five years later Travis has finished his sentence, become a model prisoner, and converted to [[humanism]]. He is quickly faced with a bewildering series of assaults upon his new-found idealism ("Look Over Your Shoulder"). While stopping at a slum in London's outskirts he finds out that Patricia and her wealthy husband — whom Patricia married for financial stability while cheating on him with Travis — have lost all of their money and are living in extreme poverty. Travis' misadventures culminate in him being attacked by [[Poverty in the United Kingdom|down-and-outs]] he had been trying to help.

Becoming despondent and wandering the streets, the now-destitute Travis inadvertently becomes involved in a casting call for a film production (with [[Lindsay Anderson]] himself playing the director of the film). He is given various props to handle, including a stack of schoolbooks and a [[Bren light machine gun]] (both reminiscent of Mick Travis' first chapter in the trilogy, ''[[if....]]''). The director believes he has found the protagonist for his new film in Travis, but when asked to smile for his screen test Travis, failing to understand what is being asked of him, is befuddled and repeatedly asks why he should smile since he feels he has no reason to do so. Suddenly, the director slaps Travis with his script book, and Travis, having an [[Epiphany (feeling)|epiphany]], slowly begins to smile. After a cut to black (a device used throughout the film) Travis, wearing the golden suit, is shown dancing at a raucous party ("O Lucky Man!"), which includes all of the film's cast celebrating and finally [[balloon]]s descending from the ceiling.