"A Clockwork Orange" Talkback (Spoilers)

[moreysurf8]

Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.

"It had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now, to give it the perfect ending, was a little of the Ludwig Van." - Alex de Large

Relase Date: 1972
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel by Anthony Burgess
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Miriam Karlin

Plot Summary: The adventures of a young man who loved a bit of the old ultra-violence, went to jail, was brainwashed and came out cured, or was he?

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Comments?


Kubrick's futuristic satire on violence and society still remains frightening to this day. While aspects of the film are now dated, I would still consider it one of the masterpieces of modern movies. Malcom McDowell turns in an astonishing performance as Alex. I'd be interested to hear some comments from people who've read Burgess' novel as I have not read it and am wondering what sort of liberties Kubrick took with the source material. A great movie.

[Swordfish_II]

Caught most of it (missed the first 15 or so minutes) on HDNet a couple of months ago. Really trippy movie. Want to read the novella at some point.

[JLApe]

Have not read the book. But movie is terrific. Loved the use of Beethoven (whose music I'm a fan of).

Knowing Kubrick, he probably took a lot of creative license in adapting the book.

[JDuncan]

Knowing Kubrick, he probably took a lot of creative license in adapting the book.

Not really, Kubrick's film is a fairly straight adaptation of the American edit of the novel (which discarded Burgess' last chapter, depicting Alex settling down into a normal life of his own volition).

[RD!]

I like this movie alot, but I couldn't really say why. I can find alot I dislike about the movie, but I guess overall it was enjoyable. It's an interesting look on a future where crime has completely overtaken a country, so much that jails are over-saturated and former criminals need to be hired to keep the streets clean.

I don't understand what the movie is really trying to say though. Rehabilitation is often a useless venture and the easiest way to take care of their prison situation is to kill them. If not, then what? It's nice for an author to say an idea won't work and is inhuman, but serves no real purpose if they can't come up with a better idea.

I'm taking a stab that Burgess and Kubrick must be saying something to the extent of "A killer is a killer is a killer" after all, the lead does go back to who he was. The ability to fight, rape etc. had all been taken away from him, but the urge was still there. To me that's not really rehabilitation, so I guess knowing that it makes no sense.

*shrug*

[Elf]

This is one of the best movies of all time, the way kubrick handled was pure genius.

I believe the film is trying to say that in some ways Man will stay with violence for a long time.

[JLApe]

There's a good reason why Kubrick omitted the last chapter of Burgess' novel. To give the film an open ending. It's not very clear if he was cured (or not). I don't think he reverted to the way he was before. He did say, "I'm cured." Plus, the way he described the events leading up to the Treatment sounded like a life he used to live than a continuation of "the old ultra-violence".

I believe that the film says more about rehab than about violence. The ones that are effective come with a price. It could turn a person into a machination of sorts with little free will hence the title ("Clockwork Orange" or in this case "Clockwork Man"), if not rob him of the simplest pleasure like Beethoven's music. There are some medical treatments that do that for real. Like schizo patients have to take drugs to minimize their hallucinations, but at the same time the drugs dull their minds and make concentrating difficult.

[JDuncan]

There's a good reason why Kubrick omitted the last chapter of Burgess' novel. To give the film an open ending. It's not very clear if he was cured (or not). I don't think he reverted to the way he was before. He did say, "I'm cured." Plus, the way he described the events leading up to the Treatment sounded like a life he used to live than a continuation of "the old ultra-violence".

The publishers omitted it before Kubrick did.

[wrenchien]

truly that man is ironic in himself.. because being someone sick in that world,
did make him about the closest thing they ever had..

to being a hero.

ohh look, it's self-entrapment,

wrenchien.

[JLApe]

The publishers omitted it before Kubrick did.

I'm sure if Kubrick wanted to include it, he would have.

[Cool Blue]

I loved the book and the movie. But I must say that the book was overall better than the movie. I love the movie and it's one of my favorites but the book is so much meaningful and has a better moral. I read the book, then read "A Clockwork Orange Resucked" at the beginning of the novel which is an introduction by Anthony Burgess. This introduction was beautiful and it started telling about what happened in the last chapter which is why i read it afterwards. I think that the movie should have filmed the last chapter because it was so important. But anyways, to make all short: Great Movie, Better Book.

[Darklordavaitor]

What a little ditty of a film. On one side, it's easily one of the most graphic R-rated movies ever made, most certainly NOT something I'd recommend for those with low tolerance for sex or violence. Arguably the most notorious scene in the movie could possibly turn you off of Singin' in the Rain for life. To prove how twisted I am, however, I'll admit that it's because of Clockwork Orange that I decided to watch the classic, and I don't regret it one bit.

On the other hand, if you can sit through the brutal first half-hour, then you'd be able to find one of the most gripping social commentaries to ever grace the screen. The British prison system, the rehablitation process, Liberals, politicians, and the media are the movie's targets in a classic Kubrick story, which are given life to his cold pacing. I've still yet to read the book, but after seeing Orange as well as other Kubrick films, I can't help but feel that he was born to make this movie, and no other director alive or not could od as good of a job as he did.

Alex starts off as a really dark, senseless person, and seeing the havoc he caused early on in the movie indicates this. He beats up the innocent, treats his "droogs" like crap, and has his parents and attorney go through hell for his actions. Despite this, however, near the end, he became a sympathetic character in my eyes. After going through the testing, losing his interest in sex, violence, or even Ludwig Van's 9th, we spend the rest of the movie seeing him try to find a place to stay to spend the next part of his life, and then in turn be rejected by his parents, got the stuffing beat out of him in an alley by the bum he and his droogs gave a good licking in the beginning, and get his head dunked in water by his old droogs, to not spoil anymore. I found this part to be powerful since it proves karma in effect; Alex is paying up for the pain he caused in the days of the good old ultraviolence. He's been through a lot, but he's still been a true bastard in the long run.

There's a lot to discuss with this movie, and I only just scratched the surface. To cut this short, I think this is one of the best films I've ever seen, even if it's not for everyone.