Lucky Man - A Portrait of Lindsay Anderson 

I met him once and asked why he had slapped Malcolm in that Smile thing. He said Child, if I ask you to smile, you smile! But it was gentle.... very different from my meeting with Ken Russell!!

About 3 years after Lucky Man I met him in Kentucky. He didn't suffer a stranger gladly, so I didn't venture to express my appreciation. My enjoyment of his best work has not diminished in time.

@@nicmart I worked at the Court in the early 70s and with Lindsay on David Storey's The Farm. He indeed did not suffer fools gladly, but he was also intensely shy, and I think he would have appreciated both your and @Jonathan Melia's appreciation of his work. He was so used to being criticised that his first instinct was defensive. Apparently at his first meeting with the writers of 'Crusaders' (which would become If.... ) he greeted them by holding up their script and announcing 'Well,the script is very bad.' To which David Sherwin replied, "No, it's brilliant." Lindsay liked to challenge, and be challenged, he just expected you to be able to justify your opinions. (the scene is taken from David Sherwin's wonderful book a diary/memoir of life as a screenwriter titled 'Going Mad in Hollywood, and life with Lindsay Anderson'.

@@Thepdela1 Thanks for your informative response.

Bobbnoxious well then he had his last meal to his liking Well almost

David Pickering Actually, he had a heart attack while climbing out of a friend’s outdoor swimming pool, in the south of France, I believe...

@@jonathanmelia I think it was a lake near the home of Lois Smith who (with her then husband) had given Lindsay his first chance to direct a film - a documentary about the Sutcliffe's engineering works in Yorkshire. Lois & Desmond Sutcliffe then produced/financed Lindsay's next documentary films. They had remained friends ever since. I have seen a filmed interview with Lois (she has since died) but can't seem to find it now. I think it may be on the Criterion Channel but that's not available in the UK. There is a certain poetic circularity in that the woman who first encouraged Lindsay to become a director would then pull his body from the lake shallows, but he could not be saved.