Clockwork Orange (1971)

"A much-maligned and misunderstood classic, this is one of Kubrick's finest movies.  Kim Newman, Empire
"...a scathing satire...with an excellent performance by McDowell...  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A chilling classic...a scabrous satire about human deviance, brutality, and social conditioning...  Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"Brilliant. A tour de force of extraordinary images, music, words and feelings.  The New York Times
"...tremendously powerful...No serious moviegoer can afford to ignore it.  TV Guide

Editor's Note From its opening shot of Malcolm McDowell staring with evil intent directly into the camera (which pulls back to reveal him drinking a glass of milk), Stanley Kubrick's brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE announces itself as a completely new kind of viewing experience. The film, set in an unidentified future, overwhelms the senses with its almost comic depictions of rape and violence set to an upbeat classical and pop music score. Kubrick based his chilling masterpiece on Anthony Burgess's culture-shaking novel about a young man growing into adulthood, but unable to shake his huge problem with authority figures. The first part of the film shows Alex (a career-defining performance by McDowell) and his "droogs" (his cohorts) indulging in what they refer to as "a little bit of the old ultraviolence." After establishing Alex and co. as unremitting psychopaths, Kubrick's movie changes tact, and shows Alex getting caught and forced to undergo controversial treatment that will make it impossible for him to commit violent acts, leading to a fascinating ending to the film. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE purposely confuses crime and punishment, cause and effect, hero and villain, irony and satire, and many other concepts, creating a truly unique work of art in the process. Its magnificent, colorful, futuristic set designs and utter determination to shock, frighten, and thoroughly entertain left audiences reeling in the '70s. Kubrick even withdrew the film from distribution in the UK, after reading newspaper reports of people dressing up as Alex and his Droogs and meting out their own brand of ultraviolence (it was subsequently rereleased after his death). One thing is for sure: No one who has seen it has ever been able to hear "Singin' in the Rain" or Beethoven again in quite the same way.

	Malcolm McDowell
	Michael Bates
	Patrick Magee
	Warren Clarke
	Anthony Burgess - Based On Novel By
	Bill Butler - Editor
	John Alcott - Cinematographer
	John Barry - Production Designer
	Max L. Raab - Executive Producer
	Peter Sheilds - Art Director
	Russell Hagg - Art Director
	Stanley Kubrick - Producer
	Stanley Kubrick - Director
	Stanley Kubrick - Screenplay

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, based on the prescient novel by Anthony Burgess, is director Stanley Kubrick's masterful satire on crime and punishment in an ultraviolent future.

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim. And we sat in the Korova Milkbar, trying to make up our razudoks what to do with the evening."----Alex (Malcolm McDowell), the "humble narrator"

Los Angeles Times
"...A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is still potent and though-provoking..." 07/15/1999 p.C17

Entertainment Weekly
"...CLOCKWORK is a movie about movies -- and sex and power and music and Sovietism -- that works as a head trip by driving for the gut. Consider it Kubrick's most surrealistic feat..." 06/13/2003 p.63

Total Film
"...It still shocks....Provocative..." 12/01/2000 p.120

Sight and Sound
"...[The film] remains every bit as tantalising as it ever was..." 10/01/2000 p.64

Premiere
"[Featuring] the multiple charms of McDowell's performance." 04/01/2004 p.59

Entertainment Weekly
"Looking back now, CLOCKWORK ORANGE may be subversive, shocking, and sadistic. But it's also clearly a satire about free will." -- Grade: A 05/27/2011

ReelViews 10 of 10
It is difficult to rank A Clockwork Orange in Kubrick's body of work. Its look and approach are unique, but not as visionary as 2001. It's tone is bitingly satirical, but it's not as corrosive as Dr. Strangelove. Few, however - even the movie's critics - would debate that it leaves a forceful impression, and, when you study the reason for that, you uncover the evidence of genius. A Clockwork Orange has a universal message. Admittedly, it's one that many would prefer not to hear, but to deny the importance of its central themes or to dismiss the movie as a descent into debauchery is to ignore both an artistic achievement and a cautionary tale. A Clockwork Orange is not a pretty or comfortable experience. It does not pander to the crowd-pleasing mentality that shapes the structure of many films...But it demands thought, compels the attention, and refuses to be dismissed. And, for that reason, A Clockwork Orange must be considered a landmark of modern cinema. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 9 of 10
"Singin' in the Rain" would never sound quite the same after A Clockwork Orange. In a twist of kismet, director Stanley Kubrick asked his star, Malcolm McDowell, if he knew any songs. The actor happened to know all the words to the titular song of the great MGM musical. Kubrick liked it so much that not only did McDowell warble it in a pivotal scene, but it would be the song to prove his character's undoing later in the film...After 30 years, the savage social satire that is A Clockwork Orange still retains its ability to shock, due in no small part to McDowell's exuberant performance as the cheerful droog Alex and to scenes like the "Singin' in the Rain" rape. The story of a young sociopath's adventures at work (raping -- "the old in-out" -- and pillaging being his particular forte), at play (the hilariously pixilated three-way encounter scored to "William Tell's Overture"), at the hands of the government...and at the mercy of a former victim feels as up-to-date now as it did in 1971. - Pam Grady