This 1971 movie adaptation of the Anthony Burgess book caused quite a stir when it was released. Its portrayal of "ultraviolence", a passionless release for pent-up teens of the future, was very disturbing to 1970's movie goers. Alex, the head gang-member in the film, played with great panache by Malcolm McDowell, is a sadist who likes to rape, pillage and destroy to the sounds of classical music. When his exploits finally lead to murder, he is sent in for re-grooving via an experimental type of aversion therapy. In the process he is reduced to a Pavlovian beast who has lost his will and his ability to choose, along with his sadistic, anti-authoritarian tendencies. The film, like the book, raises complex moral issues about freedom and dignity, physical and spiritual death.
(G. Branwyn)
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A Clockwork Orange
Produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick
1971, Warner Brothers
Here is the TEXT POPUP for A Clockwork Orange:
"Burgess wrote an ironic fable about a future in which men lose their capacity for moral choice. Kubrick, however, gives us an Alex who is more alive than anyone else in the movie... So at the end, when Alex's bold, aggressive nature is restored to him, it seems not a joke on all of us (as it does in the book) but, rather, a victory in which we share..."
-Pauline Kael
