A Clockwork Orange
 Poster for A Clockwork Orange. | ||
| Starring | Patrick Magee Malcolm McDowell | |
| Directed by | Stanley Kubrick | |
| Produced by | Si Litvinoff | |
| Written by | Anthony Burgess (novel) Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) | |
| Editing by | Bill Butler | |
| Music by | Wendy Carlos Rachel Elkind | |
| Cinematography | John Alcott | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. | |
| Released | December 19, 1971 | |
| Runtime | 136 min. | |
| Country | United Kingdom | |
| language | English | |
| Budget | US$2.2 million (estimated) | |
| AMG Info | All Movie Guide | |
| IMDB Info | 0066921 on IMDb | |
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of a 1962 novel of the same name, by Anthony Burgess. The adaptation was produced, written, and directed, by Stanley Kubrick. It stars Malcolm McDowell as the charismatic delinquent Alex.
Synopsis
Set in a future England (ca 1995, imagined from 1965), the film follows the life of a fifteen-year-old boy named Alex de Large (McDowell) whose pleasures are classical music (most especially Beethoven), rape, and ultraviolence. He is leader of a small gang of thugs, to whom he refers as his "droogs". Alex narrates most of the film in "nadsat", the fractured, contemporary adolescent argot comprising Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang. The boy Alex is irreverent and abusive of others; he lies to his parents to skip school; his room has a bedspread covered with rubber breasts adorning his bed, an expensive stereo sound deck blasting a classics recordings collection, a terrarium with a boa named "Basil", and a bedside table with a drawer replete with swag.
Whilst playing hookey, he picks up two teenyboppers in a record shop; despite not recognising the names of their favourite popstars, he nonetheless takes them home and hurriedly copulates with both, to strains of the William Tell Overture. (In 1971, there was journalistic controversy about whether or not such speedy copulations were "obscenity" or not.)
Eventually, Alex is caught during a robbery, betrayed by his droogs (one of whom Alex had previously cut on the wrist in response to a challenge of his authority as gang leader). Alex is hit over the head with a full milk bottle and left blinded at the scene of their crime. After being arrested, he learns that his robbery victim has died; Alex is a murderer; he is sentenced to 14 years in prison. After serving two years, he is offered a chance at parole, if he submits to the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy, developed by the government to solve societal crime. The technique involves being exposed to extreme depictions of on-screen violence. Alex is unable to look away from the screen, and his eyes are held open by clamps, He is also drugged before the movies are shown, so he associates violent actions with pain.
Consequently, the Ludovico technique renders him incapable of violence (even in self-defense) and also incapable of touching a naked woman (he crawls away retching), but, in an unintended side effect, the Technique also has rendered him averse to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (background music in one of the movies); the scientist-doctors apologise: "It can't be helped", then ask themselves if that musical aversion is "the punishment element, perhaps?"
Stripped of the ability to defend himself, and having been evicted by his parents (they let his room to a lodger, discarded his stereo and treasures, and, apparently, killed Basil), Alex despondently wanders London, revisiting the scenes of his crimes. He soon encounters two former droogs (now policemen, who beat and nearly drown him), and some former victims, who attack and victimise him.
Alex wanders the woods to the house of a writer whose wife he had raped and beaten earlier in the movie. The writer takes him in before discovering his identity; subsequently, he drugs Alex and attempts to drive him insane with an electronic version of the Ninth Symphony (Second Movement) at full volume. Alex attempts to "snuff it" (commit suicide) by jumping out a window, but survives.
After a long recovery in hospital, Alex seems his former self again. While in hospital, the Minister of the Interior (who earlier had personally selected Alex for the Ludovico Technique treatment) visits Alex, apologising for the treatment's consequences, saying he was only following his staff's recommendations. He begins politically seducing Alex, by presenting him with an enormous stereo playing the Ninth Symphony's finale (Fourth Movement).
The government promises Alex a job if he agrees to campaign on behalf of the ruling (Conservative) political party, whose public image Alex's attempted suicide has severely damaged. Anticipating his return to havoc, Alex narrates the film's end: "I was cured, all right...", during Alex's surreal fantasy of copulating with a woman in the snow, surrounded by applauding Victorian ladies and gentlemen, with the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the background.
Themes
Morality
One of the film's central moral philosophical questions - as well as in many of Burgess's other books - is the definition of "goodness". After aversion therapy, Alex behaves like a good member of society, but not by choice; his goodness is involuntary and mechanical, like that of the titular clockwork orange. In prison, the chaplain, the only genuinely kind and honest man, criticises the Ludovico Technique, saying that true goodness must come from within. Another theme is the abuse of one's liberties - both by Alex and by those using him for their various ends.
Psychology
Another central theme is outrage against behavioral psychology (popular throughout the 1940s and the 1960s), as propounded by psychologists John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. Burgess disapproved of behaviorism, calling Skinner's most popular book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, "one of the most dangerous books ever written". Although Watson conceded behaviorism's limitations, Skinner argued that behavior modification (learning techniques of systematic reward and punishment) is the key to an ideal society (see Wikipedia:Walden Two). Dr. Ludovico's technique, which is highly reminiscent of the notorious Wikipedia:Project MKULTRA, is the form of behavior modification the scientists applied to Alex to condition associating violent acts with a sensation of severe physical illness, thereby preventing him from being violent. This film embodies a mistrust of behaviorism, especially the perceived dehumanisation and lack of choice associated with behavior modification methods.
Adaptation
Kubrick's film is relatively faithful to Burgess's novel, omitting only the final, positive chapter in which Alex matures and outgrows sociopathy]. The film ends with Alex offered an open-ended government job, implying that Alex remains a sociopath at heart, while the novel ends with Alex's positive change. This plot discrepancy occurred because Kubrick based his screenplay upon the novel's American edition, its final chapter deleted on insistence of the American publisher. Director Kubrick claimed not having read the complete, original version of the novel until he had almost finished writing the screenplay, and that he never considered using it. In the introduction of the 1996 edition of the novel, it is said that Kubrick found the end of the British edition too blandly optimistic and unrealistic.
Production
During the filming of the Ludovico technique scene, Malcolm McDowell scratched a cornea and was temporarily blinded. The doctor standing next to him in the scene dropping saline solution into Alex's forced-open eyes was not just there for filming purposes, but was a real doctor needed to prevent McDowell's eyes from drying. McDowell also suffered cracked ribs during filming of the humiliation stage show and nearly drowned when his breathing apparatus failed while being held underwater in the trough scene.
When Alex jumps out the window to try to end his torment, the viewer sees the ground coming toward the camera until they collide. This effect was achieved by dropping a portable camera from two or three stories up, lens pointing downward, thus presenting a realistic sense of what such a fall could be like (although the way Alex [either McDowell or a stuntman] jumped, he actually would have landed on his back, presumably into a net). Reportedly the camera sustained lens damage but it was otherwise still functional.
Direction
Director Stanley Kubrick was a notorious perfectionist, and so he demanded many takes during the making of his films. In the words of actor Malcolm McDowell, however, he usually got it right, so Kubrick did not have to do too many takes. Kubrick wanted to give the film a dream-like, fantasy quality, and filmed many scenes with fish-eye lenses and in fast and slow motion.
Responses and controversy
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (but lost to The French Connection) and reinvigorated sales for recordings of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It also caused considerable controversy and was withdrawn from release in the UK. By the time of its re-release in the year 2000, it had already gained a reputation as a cult classic. Many critics and aficionados consider it to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was recently placed at number 21 on "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills" and number 46 on "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies" lists. Alex De Large was placed at number 12 in the villain section of the "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains" list.
United States censorship
The film was rated X on its original release in the United States. Later, Kubrick voluntarily cut 30 seconds from the film for a re-release, which was rated R and released in the US in 1973. It is a common myth that only the R-rated version (with the 30 seconds taken out or replaced with less graphic content) can be seen nowadays, but the opposite is in fact true: all DVDs present the original X-rated form, and only some of the early 80s VHS editions are in the R-rated form.
The film was rated C (for "condemned") by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting because of its explicit sexual and violent content; such a rating conceptually forbade Catholics from seeing the film. The "condemned" rating was abolished in 1982, and since then films deemed by the conference to have unacceptable levels of sex and/or violence have been rated O, meaning "morally offensive".
British withdrawal
In the United Kingdom, the sexual violence in the film was considered extreme. Furthermore, it was claimed that the film had inspired copycat behavior. The press blamed the influence of the film for an attack on a homeless person and a rape in which the attackers were singing "Singin' in the Rain". Kubrick subsequently requested that Warner Brothers withdraw the film from UK distribution.
At the time, it was widely believed that the copycat attacks were what led Kubrick to withdraw the film from distribution in the United Kingdom. However, in a television documentary made after Kubrick's death, his widow Christiane confirmed rumors that Kubrick had withdrawn A Clockwork Orange on police advice after threats were made against Kubrick and his family (the source of the threats was not discussed). That Warner Bros. acceded to Kubrick's request to withdraw the film is an indication of the remarkable relationship Kubrick had with the studio, particularly the executive Terry Semel.
Whatever the reason for the film's withdrawal, it could not easily be seen in the United Kingdom for some 27 years. The first video and DVD releases followed shortly after Kubrick's death. It was also shown in many UK cinemas.
DVD Releases
In 2000, the film was released on videotape and DVD, both individually and as part of The Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD set. Consequent to negative comments from aficionados, Warner Bros re-released the film, its image digitally restored and its soundtrack remastered. A limited-edition collector's set with a soundtrack disc, movie poster, booklet and film strip followed, but later was discontinued. In 2005, a UK re-release, packaged as an "Iconic Film" in a limited-edition slipcase was published, identical to the remastered DVD set, except for different package cover art. In 2006, Warner Bros announced the September publication of a two-disc special edition featuring a Malcolm McDowell commentary,and the releases of other two-disc sets of Stanley Kubrick films. Several UK retailers had set the release date as November 6, 2006; the release was delayed and re-announced for 2007 Holiday Season.
Anthony Burgess's response
Burgess had mixed feelings about the film adaptation of his novel. Publicly, he loved Malcolm McDowell and Michael Bates, and its use of music; he praised the film as "brilliant", even as a film so brilliant that it could be dangerous. His initial reaction to the film was very enthusiastic, insisting that the only thing that bothered him was the removal of the story's last chapter, for which he blamed his American publisher and not Kubrick.
According to his autobiography, Burgess got along quite well with Kubrick. Both men held similar philosophic and political views; both were very interested in literature, cinema, music, and Napoleon Bonaparte; (Burgess dedicated his book Napoleon Symphony to Kubrick, who was his muse for it). Reputation-wise, however, things turned bad when Kubrick left it to Burgess to defend the film from accusations of glorifying violence. A devout Christian, Burgess tried many times to explain the story's Christian moral points to outraged Christian organisations who felt it a Satanic social influence; to defend it against journalistic accusations that it supported "fascist" dogma; and Burgess even received awards for Kubrick.
Burgess was deeply hurt, feeling Kubrick had used him as a film publicity pawn. Malcolm McDowell, who did a publicity tour with Burgess, shared his feelings, and at times said harsh things about Kubrick. Burgess and McDowell cited as evidence of Kubrick's uncontrolled ego that only Kubrick's name appears in the authorial opening credits. Burgess spoofed Kubrick's image in later works: the musical version of A Clockwork Orange]', featuring a character resembling Kubrick who is beaten early in the work; The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End, wherein the fictional poet FX Enderby is attacked for supposedly glorifying violence in a film adaptation; and Burgess's novel Earthly Powers, which features a crafty director named Zabrick.
Trivia
- The film includes the phrase "A Clockwork Orange" only once. We see A Clockwork Orange written on a piece of paper in Mr. Alexander's typewriter. The book explains that the author Frank is supposed to have written a political tract by that name (with a passage explaining the title), but this is not mentioned in the movie.
- The album cover of the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, also directed by Stanley Kubrick, is clearly visible in the record-shop scene, as is the cover to The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, and Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother.
- In the film, the car seen before the scene of ultraviolence at HOME is the M-505 Adams Brothers Probe 16, in the book however, it is referred to as Durango 95. Only three were produced, in the TV-programme Top Gear (Season 2004, 2nd episode, aired October 31, 2004), the one used in the film was nominated for restoration in the Restoration Rip-off feature.
- The sculptures of females in the Korova Milkbar were based on works by sculptor Allen Jones.
- When Alex is dragged through the forest by the two droogs-turned-policemen, their badge numbers are 665 and 667, implying that Alex (between them) is 666, the number of the "Anti-Christ".
- A Clockwork Orange is referenced in the film: "Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny". JB (Jack Black) gets assaulted by a gang that uses slang and dresses very much like Alex's gang from the film.
Influence on popular culture
- Wikipedia article: List of cultural references to A Clockwork Orange
Both the story and individual elements have had a strong influence on popular culture in general and popular music in particular. They have also been targeted by parodies, affectionate and otherwise. The Wikipedia article contains an extensive, though not exhaustive, list of these.
Plays
After Kubrick's film was released, Burgess wrote a Clockwork Orange stage play. In it, Dr. Branom defects from the psychiatric clinic when she grasps that the aversion treatment has destroyed Alex's ability to enjoy music. The play restores the novel's ending: Alex deciding to start a family. One of Alex's early victims, a bearded trumpeter who plays "Singin' in the Rain" at the Korova Milkbar, is modeled on Stanley Kubrick.
In 1990, a second play, titled A Clockwork Orange 2004, was written for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It makes no references to the film version, yet does away with the novel's ending.
External links
- Review A Clockwork Orange at the Internet Movie Database
- Reviews of A Clockwork Orange on Rotten Tomatoes
- A Clockwork Orange - A Hollywood Gothique Retrospective
- A Prophetic and Violent Masterpiece - Theodore Dalrymple in the City Journal
- Comparison of Book and Film
- Tabula Rasa: The Clockwork Orange Files
- Clockwork Orange and the Aestheticisation of Violence
- The Malcolm McDowell/A Clockwork Orange Tribute Site
- Clockwork Orange Concordance
The information on this page has been retrieved from an Archived web page
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