A Clockwork Orange (1971)

4.0

DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 02/02/72
Running Length: 136 minutes
MPAA Classification: R (Sex, nudity, violence, rape)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke, James Marcus, Aubrey Morris, Godfrey Quigley, Michael Bates
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick based on the novel by Anthony Burgess
Cinematography: John Alcott
Music: Walter Carlos
U.S. Distributor: Warner Bros.

Review by: Carter Moulton

02/01/09

You’ve got to love the way Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, [insert innovative classic here]) ends his films. He’s a wizard with images, somehow knowing where to place them perfectly so that we never forget them. His endings always seem to—regardless of what preceded them—exceed bewilderment and become downright terrifying. With A Clockwork Orange, this occurs when Alex (Malcolm McDowell), the protagonist, confronts a wheel-chair-ridden writer, Mr. Alexander (Patrick Magee)—a man who watched Alex rape his wife earlier in the film. Alex wore a mask when he did the dirty deed, so the suspense here is whether Mr. Alexander recognizes him this time around. Magee sucks all of the breath out of the room in a scene so menacing that we feel the possibility of implosion.

One thing you don’t have to love about Kubrick: his choice of subject material. He almost always chooses to “wow” us rather than inspire us. I would’ve liked to see him take his focus out of our minds and into on our hearts. A Clockwork Orange was rated “X” by the MPAA; needless to say, it’s his least heartwarming drama. Actually, you can’t really call this film a drama, it’s more of a dramatic thriller/crime/mind-bender/dark-comedy?...It’s a film riddled with controversy.

Photo © Warner Bros.

It’s the “near future”, and Alex is a young man living in Britain. Part of a gang, he’s obsessed with Beethoven, rape, and “ultraviolence”. Early on, his gang is seen beating a tramp to a pulp, breaking into Mr. Alexander’s home and raping his wife, and beating a woman to death with a phallic shaped sculpture—yes, this film is weird. Alex’s luck runs out and he’s caught, sentenced to 14 years in prison. Alex is set on getting out of prison early so he volunteers for a new governmental experiment. The treatment is supposed to “cure” Alex’s lust for violence and sex. The hope is to make Alex connect sexual and violent situations with a nauseating sensation. The “cured” Alex is released back into society, but will he be able to survive amidst the corruption and cruelty of London?

Anthony Burgess wrote the novel in 1962, but, as with all of his adaptations, Kubrick sculpts the story into his own. The opening scene speaks volumes about the type of picture A Clockwork Orange is. Alex wears fake eyelashes on one eye, and as he stares at the retreating camera with an evil smile, it’s obvious that a twisted brain experiment is underway.

There’s a gender study planted deep within A Clockwork Orange that, on the surface, seems disturbing—although it’s not necessarily a flaw of the film, because disturbing had to be Kubrick’s goal. The representation of women in the film—Alex’s always-sobbing, powerless mother, the two women that Alex picks up at a record store and gives the “ol’ in and out” to, and the numerous rape victims—is one of susceptibility and foolishness. Don’t be too bothered, I’d argue that Kubrick chose this route to convey Alex’s disgruntled mindset more accurately.

The film teeters on the edge of pornography, but Kubrick’s films always leave a high-brow impression. They come off similar to an opera or a work of Shakespeare—a work of genius that we’ll never be able fully understand and appreciate. Malcolm McDowell is just the right fit for Alex, speaking with a thick accent that makes A Clockwork Orange seem even more surreal. It’s an unforgettable picture, whether we want to remember it or not. There are too many brilliantly executed scenes—many which have been borrowed by other filmmakers today—to ignore, even if the narrative makes you cringe. A Clockwork Orange, although tough on the senses, is a successful exercise in filmmaking from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.