Malcolm McDowell: The Greatest Actor You've Vaguely Heard Of

Yeah, technically he's still working. If you're a connoisseur of crap, you probably know him as Rob Zombie's replacement for Donald Pleasance in the new versions of Halloween, and has done a lot of voice work for Disney movies and guest starred on the Mentalist, CSI Miami, Entourage, and Heroes. Trekkies know of him as the man that killed Captain Kirk. He was the title role in Hustler magazine's "historical epic," Caligula. But, (shockingly,) that is not why he's my all time favorite actor. It's really only two movies that make him a legend, one released in 1968 and the other in 1971 (To be fair, the latter is what he's most famous for.)

A Clockwork Orange is a true cinematic classic, more because of the controversy that surrounded it than for the content. It's detailing of gangs of young men raping and murdering for pleasure's sake, led to supposed "copycat" acts, which subsequently made director Stanley Kubrick compelled to withdraw the film from Britain for over 25 years. McDowell's character Alex might well be the most compelling psychopath in film history. Using his devilish grin and bizarre dialogue (droogie, ultraviolence, the old in out-in out, snuff it, etc.), McDowell creates an antihero to die for, not to mention the definitive version of Singin' in the Rain. Clockwork was a huge International commercial and critical hit, and should have catapulted McDowell to become one of the great stars of his generation, a British answer to DeNiro, Pacino, or Nicholson. Unfortunately, it was not to be. His biggest Hollywood role was in the remake of Cat People. As great as Clockwork was, however, for me it is not his definitive role. That would be the Brit cult classic If..., made in 1968.

On a top ten film list, If... would definitely be in the top five, and possibly first. It's the greatest high school movie ever made. McDowell's character Mick Travis is what every rebellious teenager wants to be. He's stylish, attractive, outspoken, and slightly arrogant. His tell offs to prefects puts a smile on anyone who's ever been to boarding school. The final image of McDowell gunning down his schoolmates from the top of his armory, should be as iconic as DeNiro saying "you talkin' to me." And the film has perhaps the most fucked up, crazy, brilliant, and unique sex scene ever. The movie's mix of the real and the surreal leaves whether or not Mick is a psychopath up to the audience's imagination. And it's not even important. He's so utterly compelling that it doesn't matter. You're on his side no matter what. McDowell's mix of negativity and swagger is the perfect image of 60's British sexiness. 5 years later director Lindsay Anderson brought an ambitious douchebag version of Mick Travis back to the screen in the uneven, overlong O, Lucky Man, which mainly serves as a third primer in classic McDowell. Here the charming rebel has been brilliantly transformed into an ambitious asshole. Even still, McDowell's charisma wins.

McDowell's greatest skill as an actor is that he can play psychopaths so appealingly and charismatically. He's your favorite character, even in Clockwork Orange where he is a serial murderer and rapist. He's on the border of out of control and over the top but he never is. He was never Dennis Hopper. He really couldn't age as an actor. The roles he was born for were very young men. Malcolm McDowell middle aged became campy self parody. I still have hope that he can regain his early promise and give the world one last brilliant performance.

Now I'm going to do something new that I'll do for just about every post; I am going to post a playlist of movies and music to correspond to the post. This being a tribute to an actor, the movies will be no problem. However, for the music I'm going to post songs that have gone along with his great roles, and then songs that just epitomize the spirit of Malcolm McDowell. I know it's stupid for the reader, but it's a great excercise in self-indulgence. Alex from Clockwork and Mick from If became icons to the punk movement. Therefore, the playlist is heavy in early punk, with an emphasis on the British.

Movie Playlist
If...
A Clockwork Orange
O, Lucky Man
Caligula (for campy pleasure)

Music Playlist
1. Beethoven's Ninth
2. The Thieving Magpie-Rossini
3. Singing in the Rain-Gene Kelly
4. Sanctus-Missa Luba
5. O, Lucky Man-Alan Price
6. Cat People (Putting Out Fire)-David Bowie
7. Kick Out the Jams-MC5
8. Gimme Danger-Iggy and the Stooges
9. London Calling-The Clash
10. God Save the Queen-The Sex Pistols
11. New Rose-The Damned
12. White Riot-The Clash
13. Psycho-The Sonics
14. Paranoid-Black Sabbath
15. This Charming Man-The Smiths
16. Don't Look Back in Anger-Oasis
17. The Killing Moon-Echo and the Bunnymen

A tribute to the recently deceased.

Within the past 10 days, the world has seen its greatest living coach, a black midget famous for saying "whatchu talkin bout Willis," and a true master of over the top, crazy acting pass on. Unlike MJ and Farrah Fawcett, I don't really feel like making cruel jokes at the expense of the deceased. John Wooden won ten NCAA titles without cheating (try teaching that to Calipiari). Dennis Hopper never hit the highs or lows Jackson did, and could actually act unlike Farrah. And Gary Coleman is a great example of why some targets are just too easy.

Wooden was Basketball's Lombardi, a dignified image of what a great coach should be. He wasn't crude. He wasn't a high strung Larry Brown type. He wasn't a Coach K/Pitino like shithead. He wasn't a deranged maniac like Bob Knight. He was the model coach in attitude and in success. Any coach with an undefeated season becomes a legend. Nobody's had more than one except Wooden. He had 4. He won 88 straight games once, lost one, then won another 40 or 50 or so. He was also one of the first great players, a star of pre-NBA pro basketball and as a college player at Purdue. John Wooden was the definition of class and success in sports, a combination that doesn't exist too often, especially in college basketball. Look at the big names of the past 30 years. Coach K. Pitino. Calipiari. Knight. When I think about what's wrong with the sport it's those guys. Calhoun and Boeheim are good guys. Dean Smith was a class act. But no one will ever be John Wooden.

Dennis Hopper is one of those guys who is my kind of actor. Never afraid to go completely over the top, watching him you often get the idea that his roles are scarily close to reality. However, nobody could, and will ever, be able to play a crazed, often under the influence, maniac like Hopper. After "I love the smell of napalm," Apocalypse Now starts to drag until Hopper's insane photojournalist comes in. He keeps Hoosiers from being feel good goop. And Blue Velvet has become self-explanatory.

Gary Coleman was really fucking short of stature.