History Film / If1968

* CoolGuns: The Combined Cadet Force is equipped with Lee-Enfield rifles and Vickers machine guns; these are used to deadly effect.

%% How is Mick an antihero?* AntiHero: Mick, at most times NominalHero would fit too.

%%* ButtMonkey: Biles
%%--> ''Pass it on - "Biles, why are you a freak?''

%%You cannot have multiple tropes slashed together. Either choose one or write separate examples for all three tropes. * TheFatalist / NietzscheWannabe / PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: Travis overlaps all three...
%%--> '''The whole world will end very soon - black, brittle bodies peeling into ash...'''
%%--> '''There's no such thing as a wrong war. Violence and revolution are the only pure acts.'''
%%--> '''One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place.'''

%% The zero soul part?* FourEyesZeroSoul: The cold-mannered prefect Denson wears glasses.

%%* InsistentTerminology: Brunning drills Jute for a test, insisting on the exact small words, and also correct intonation, telling him it's not just a matter of what he says, but how he says it.
%%--> '''Jute''': (tentatively) Masters, wives, and friends of College.
%%--> '''Brunning''': (shouting furiously) No!!! Masters, THEIR wives, and THE friends of college!!!

%%Do any of the boys find her hot in-universe? In what way is she hot?* MsFanservice: "The Girl" is ''HOT''

%% How does this affect the plot?* OneGenderSchool: All boys.

%%Does anyone think he is pretty in-universe?* PrettyBoy: Bobby Philips, with his feminine features and wavy, flaxen hair provides a ''textbook'' example.

%%Choose one or write separate examples for each trope.* SadistTeacher / SinisterMinister: The chaplain, who is also the geometry master, enjoys grasping at boys' nipples through their shirts while they recite their lessons.

** Bobby Philips is a nice, beautiful boy, who's likely gay. However, because of his beauty he is subjected to serving the prefects every whim, one of which includes helping their leader out of the bath tub, and it's no secret they and half of the school lust after him. It's likely the prefects want to sleep with him (if they haven't already) which is something he doesn't want. He does get a boyfriend of sorts (Wallace) who protects him from the pervy prefects, and they meet in secret and eventually sleep together. But Wallace being much older than Bobby means one day they (canon movie ending or not) will have to separate.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: In a highly controversal scene, Mr. Kemp sings a hymn as his wife accompanies him on the recorder; the matron, overhearing, is driven to near orgasm.

* DontCallMeSir: Rowntree says "Don't call me sir" to the new boy Jute, but is certainly not renouncing any authority, as there are many, many other protocols.

%% Starts how?* MindScrew: While undoubtedly a surreal film, it starts becoming this trope after the cafe scene.

%%How are they monters?* TeensAreMonsters: All of the prefects, and sadly by the end, some of the main cast arguably.

%%* TheVamp: "The Girl"
%%-->'''Go on. Look at me. Look at my eyes. I'll kill you. Sometimes I stand in front of the mirror and my eyes get bigger and bigger. And I'm like a tiger. I like tigers. Rrrrah!'''

%%Rowntree says what? * DontCallMeSir: Rowntree says this to the new boy Jute, but is certainly not renouncing any authority, as there are many, many other protocols.
%%How does he act as a dragon?* TheDragon: Stephans acts as one to the Whips, which results in a lot of resentment from Mick and co.
%%--> ''One night we're gonna massacre you, Stephans - I'll do ya for free''

%% The girl uses what?* HandCannon: [[spoiler: The Girl uses one to shoot The Headmaster.]]

%%* InsistentTerminology: Brunning drills Jute for a test.
%%--> '''Jute''': Masters, wives, and friends of College.

%%A cutting what?* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mick delivers a cutting one to Rowntree, before he is about to cane him.
%%-->'''The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy bear to Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the rest of your frigid life.'''

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Some scenes are in black and white. Many people have tried to find the "pattern"; some think that the black and white scenes are fantasy or dreams, but others think that the colour scenes are. Malcolm [=McDowell=] claims that some of the scenes would have taken too long to light properly if they had been shot in colour, and then other scenes were shot black and white to add "texture". But another view is that the filmmakers ran into money troubles halfway through shooting and so had to shoot the rest of the scenes in black and white.

''if....'' is a 1968 film written by David Sherwin, directed by Lindsay Anderson, and starring Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, in his film debut, as Mick Travis.

Sherwin, Anderson, and [=McDowell=] collaborated on two further films, ''O Lucky Man!'' and ''Britannia Hospital''; both also feature [=McDowell=] as a character named Mick Travis, but they do not constitute a series except in BroadStrokes.

* AxesAtSchool: The film’s surreal final scenes show Mick and his comrades taking up arms and attacking fellow pupils, teachers and parents during Founder's Day.
* AntiHero: Mick, at most times NominalHero would fit too.

** MetaGuy
** FishOutOfWater: Both Jute and any viewers who may find the boarding school environment of the late 60's totally alien.

* {{Bishounen}}: Bobby Philips, with his feminine features and wavy, flaxen hair provides a ''textbook'' example.
--> '''Philips? That little blond - Mwah!'''
* BloodOath: Mick, Wallace and Yardley make a blood oath.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors
** OneGenderSchool: All boys.

* BourgeoisBohemian: Mick (and friends) are this in the making, with their strong counter-culture sympathies despite having clearly upper-middle class social backgrounds.

* BrilliantButLazy: Mick.
* BritishStuffiness: The teachers and the prefects, and (most likely) parents.

* ButtMonkey: Biles
--> ''Pass it on - "Biles, why are you a freak?''
* CaptainOblivious: When General Denson gives a speech to the school on Founders Day, he does not notice smoke coming out of the floor until long after people have started coughing, and leaving the room.
* CoolGuns: the Combined Cadet Force is equipped with Lee-Enfield rifles and Vickers machine guns; these are used to deadly effect.

** TheRuleOfFirstAdopters: The above scene features the first instance of a full-frontal female nude passed by the British Board of Film Classification.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: In another highly controversial scene, Mr. Kemp sings a hymn as his wife accompanies him on the recorder; the matron, overhearing, is driven to near orgasm.

* DontCallMeSir: Rowntree says this to the new boy Jute, but is certainly not renouncing any authority, as there are many, many other protocols.
* TheDragon: Stephans acts as one to the Whips, which results in a lot of resentment from Mick and co.
--> ''One night we're gonna massacre you, Stephans - I'll do ya for free''

* TheFatalist / NietzscheWannabe / PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery: Travis overlaps all three...
--> '''The whole world will end very soon - black, brittle bodies peeling into ash...'''
--> '''There's no such thing as a wrong war. Violence and revolution are the only pure acts.'''
--> '''One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place.'''

* FourEyesZeroSoul: The cold-mannered prefect Denson wears glasses.
* GainaxEnding[=/=]NoEnding: [[spoiler:During the Founders' Day commencement speech, a fire starts and all the attendees run out. Mick and the Crusaders set off explosions and fire into the crowd. This changes when ''the crowd'' including a priest, a general and ''a knight'' get rifles and start firing back at them. The Headmaster calls for a ceasefire, but The Girl shoots him in the head. The film ends on the two groups firing at one another, with the ground mysteriously cleared of bodies.]]
* GuileHero: Mick.
* HandCannon: [[spoiler: The Girl uses one to shoot The Headmaster.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Brunning drills Jute for a test.
--> '''Jute''': Masters, wives, and friends of College.
--> '''Brunning''': (shouting furiously) No!!! Masters, THEIR wives, and THE friends of college!!!

* LoveableRogue: Mick and his mates - Wallace and Johnny.

* MeaningfulName: The Headmaster. [[spoiler:Guess where [[BoomHeadshot he gets shot.]]]]
* MeasuringDay: all the boys have a medical inspection by the matron, for which they have to drop their trousers while the matron examines them with a torch, ''in front of the whole school''.
* MindScrew: While undoubtedly a surreal film, it starts becoming this trope after the cafe scene.

* MsFanservice: "The Girl" is ''HOT''
* NiceGuy: Wallace
* PedophilePriest[=/=]TeacherStudentRomance: A middle-aged chaplain and mathematics teacher at a boys' boarding school seems to take an interest in Jute, a pretty new boy in his class, probably 13 years old. The chaplain is skewered by Anderson's satire, as are most of the adults in the film.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mick delivers a cutting one to Rowntree, before he is about to cane him.
-->'''The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy bear to Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the rest of your frigid life.'''
* SadistTeacher / SinisterMinister: The chaplain, who is also the geometry master, enjoys grasping at boys' nipples through their shirts while they recite their lessons.
** LightIsNotGood

* SituationalSexuality: ''All'' of the sixth form prefects (and some younger pupils) show an effusive (or uncomfortable) attraction to Bobby Philips, an extremely {{Bishounen}} First Year pupil.
** BoysLove: Wallace, having clocked Philips watching him practice in the gym, eventually takes him to bed.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Bobby Philips is a nice, beautiful boy, who’s likely gay. However, because of his beauty he is subjected to serving the prefects every whim, one of which includes helping their leader out of the bath tub, and it’s no secret they and half of the school lust after him. It’s likely the prefects want to sleep with him (if they haven’t already) which is something he doesn’t want. He does get a boyfriend of sorts (Wallace) who protects him from the pervy prefects, and they meet in secret and eventually sleep together. But Wallace being much older than Bobby means one day they (canon movie ending or not) will have to separate.

* TeensAreMonsters: All of the prefects, and sadly by the end, some of the main cast arguably.

** {{Surrealism}}

* TheVamp: "The Girl"
-->'''Go on. Look at me. Look at my eyes. I'll kill you. Sometimes I stand in front of the mirror and my eyes get bigger and bigger. And I'm like a tiger. I like tigers. Rrrrah!'''

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Bobby Philips is a nice, beautiful, and likely gay boy. However, because of his beauty he is subjected to serving the prefects every want, one of which includes helping their leader out of the bath tub, and it’s no secret they and half of the school lust after him (and it’s likely worse has happened to him). He does get a boyfriend of sorts (Knightly) who protects him from the pervy prefects, but him being much older means one day (canon movie ending or not) they will have to separate.

* MoralGuardians: Predictably, and perhaps justifiably, the film caused moral outcry in a number of circles -- a British ambassador called the film "an insult to the nation". The then Lord Brabourne read an early draft and called it "the most evil and perverted script I've ever read. It must never see the light of day".

* RealMenTakeItBlack: In the cafe scene, Mick takes his coffee black.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Bobby Philips is a nice and beautiful, likely gay boy. However because of his beauty he is subjected to serving the prefects every want, one of which includes helping their leader of the bath tub, and it’s no secret they and half of the lust after him (and it’s likely worse has happened to him). He does get a boyfriend of sorts who protects him from the pervy prefects, but him being much older means one day (canon movie ending or not) that they would have to separate.

* SurrealHumor: There are many surreal moments, but one of the most surreal is that when the headmaster orders Travis, Wallace and Knightly to apologise to the vicar for shooting him, he opens a massive drawer in his study, in which the vicar is lying.

* {{Swirlie}}: Biles, the dorm ButtMonkey, is dunked into a toilet.

* AntiHero: Travis, at most times NominalHero would fit too.

* BloodOath: Travis, Wallace and Yardley make a blood oath.

* BourgeoisBohemian: Travis (and friends) are this in the making, with their strong counter-culture sympathies despite having clearly upper-middle class social backgrounds.
* BreakTheHaughty: Travis and friends regularly take the snotty Denson and power-hungry Stephans down a peg or two, even though both can technically order them about in their role as Whips (prefects).

* BullyHunter: Travis and Johnny Knightly, who never take any shit from the prefects.

* RealMenTakeItBlack: In the cafe scene, Travis takes his coffee black.

* AxesAtSchool: The film’s surreal final scenes show Travis and his comrades taking up arms and attacking fellow pupils, teachers and parents during Founder's Day.

* BrilliantButLazy: Travis.

* TheDragon: Stephans acts as one to the Whips, which results in a lot of resentment from Travis and co.

* GuileHero: Travis

* LoveableRogue: Travis and his mates - Wallace and Johnny.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Travis delivers a cutting one to Rowntree, before he is about to cane him.

* SexIsViolence: Travis and "The Girl" wrestle and writhe around snarling at each other during their highly surreal, animalistic sex-scene.