In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.
"Which side will you be on?"
Top Billed Cast
Malcolm McDowell
Mick Travis
David Wood
Johnny Knightly
Richard Warwick
Wallace
Christine Noonan
The Girl
Rupert Webster
Bobby Phillips
Robert Swann
Rowntree
Hugh Thomas
Denson
Michael Cadman
Fortinbras
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
C CRCulverVerified TMDB Critic
2018-07-31
Released in 1968, directed by Lindsay Anderson with a screenplay by David Sherwin, <i>If....</i> is a story of three non-conformist schoolboys played by Malcolm McDowell, Richard Warwick and David Wood, who plot revenge. Organized as a series of tableaux separated by title cards, IF... spends its first half depicting the harsh rules that these boys live under at their elite public school, and the arbitrary punishments given out by senior boys, headed by the sinister Rowntree (Robert Swann) and the distant school officials. This is all in an environment of bizarre old rituals, Latin refrains, a...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2024-11-25
At a posh private school there is an hierarchy that sees the housemaster exercise rather arbitrary authority through his three "whips". It's usually the younger pupils they like to terrorise, but at this school there are three older men who attract their attention. There's "Mick" (Malcolm McDowell), "Johnny" (David Wood) and "Wallace" (Richard Warwick) and led by the former, they have little interest in conforming with the expectations of the establishment. Amidst this culture of bully or be bullied, there is also some military training provided and it's this that sparks an idea of a more dire...
