Random Verdict: A Clockwork Orange

[Triskelion]

Warning: Spoiler Zone (and if you need a spoiler warning for a 1971 film then I probably can't help you).

This is not a review. Goodness knows there are plenty of better written analyses around.

Random Verdict: A feelgood movie for the criminally insane. If you haven't before, put it on your Must Watch list. Still one of the better movies you'll ever watch despite its low technology and lack of set construction. Yadda yadda film history yadda yadda.


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Why was Alex DeLarge violent?

Was it because there was no virtue in society for him to empathize with?

Was it because he was orphaned by mediocrity?

Was it because modern society was evil?

Was it because Stanley Kubrick needed a hatrack to hang his theme on, and so made Alex as violent as needed without really any justification?


Rewatching this flick recently, I must say it holds up really rather well - though for a violent criminal Alex can be quite a polite lad by today's standards. (Remember Bill Hicks' comedy bit on "The Hooligans")? The Clockwork design team really made a timeless environment (though come on, they could have at least tried a few more futuristic elements).


I quite enjoyed Malcom McDowell's stellar, powerful performance in this movie, a terrific actor we know here as Soran in Star Trek: Generations. He improvised the song "Singing in the Rain" (because he knew all the words); along with the improvised take knocking over the bookcase in the rape scene are two of the most recognizable and memorable aspects of this film. (The way he walked away from the bookcase reminded me of Heath Ledger's improvised Joker scene walking away from a delayed explosion when he blew up the hospital. Very fortuitous they stayed in character even during these explosive improvisations - especially given Kubrick's penchant for multitudes of takes).



One thing I really appreciate about Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange was its extreme violence and reputation for violence without actually becoming explicit. Today it seems the opposite is the norm - the more violence you put in, the less sensitized you are to it, until you need whole legions of zombies just to make an impact. Today's aesthetics seem to require precision violence (and other dramatic factors) in lieu of the sense of something.



All in all, if you haven't watched this movie in a while, it rewards a rewatch very well. It is also pretty close to Anthony Burgess' novel (with some ending variation due to economic reasons; Kubrick had already earned an X rating as it was; though it has been rated an R today).

Picture-perfect performances from the cast, superlative design, intriguing dialogue, and a theme that remains relevant make watching this film the next best thing to reading Burgess' engrossing novel. If this movie were made today it would probably feature ten times the violence and a quarter of the visceral impact.


They really knew how to make 'em then. Also, this movie has some fascinating trivia.


I'd love to hear others' take on it. Do you like the film (or book)? Is it dated? Did it hit or miss? Is it still relevant?

Thoughts? What's your Random Verdict?

"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 rassoodocks what to do with the evening."
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Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange

“What’s it going to be then, eh?”
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter basard though dry.”
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Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

 

[martok2112]

Although there are some differences between the book and the film, Kubrick basically decided to just follow the book as written by Burgess. Apparently, the screenplay that was written by Burgess was dissatisfactory to Kubrick, so he decided to just go (mostly) from the book. (This is history that only became recently apparent to me.)

The first time I saw the movie, I was watching it on Cinemax when I was 10-11 years old. I asked my mom to watch it with me. I was intrigued. My mom was less than impressed, and she said: "Never ask me to watch that again." (Well, I was watching it alone one night, and my mom demanded that I turn it off. When I reminded her that she said to never ask her to watch it with me again, she invoked the unfair motherly prerogative of insincerity, stating "I really meant, I don't ever want you watching it again!" Of course, she had no control over me once I was of age. )

One thing I love about Kubrick's visual style is that his movies always looked more texturally advanced than most other films of the same era.

Until I read a high school textbook that had a short passage on A Clockwork Orange, I had no idea that the film had been made in 1971. When I saw it on Cinemax, it looked like it had been made fairly recently....fairly recently being the late 70's/early 80's). The cinematography and film texturing were way ahead of most, and with the blu-ray remastering, the film comes even more alive visually.

The same with Kubrick's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film was made in 1968, and yet, it looked like it leapt out of the early 1980's....and this was long before the advent of DVD and blu-ray. The very look of the film came to inspire much of big screen sci fi that followed (especially the likes of Alien), and even a couple of small screen outings (perhaps most notably Space: 1999.)

A Clockwork Orange remains one of my favorite films of all time, not just for its story and pacing, but for its "ahead of its time" visual feel.

I love the book and the film with equivalence.

Personal opinions only.

 

[Garak]

It's tough not to agree with just about everything you say about the film in your post, I think you nailed a lot of it.

The sheer intensity of the film, aided by a perfect soundtrack and fantastic camera work is always what gets me. Parts of it still raise my heartbeat from time to time and I think that's the mark of something great. It's really a once in a generation kind of film, so unique.

One random thing I love about it is Chief Guard Barnes played by Michael Bates. Such a limited role but what a performance, he played it absolutely brilliantly. The whole cast really put it together.

I think in regards to why Alex was so violent I tend to feel he's a product of his environment coupled with being young and cocky. We do get to see a bit of how "the future" is and it definitely seemed like it was conducive to a young man acting out despite any guidance he may get. His parent are uninvolved, he doesn't really go to school, he hangs out in highly sexualized bars, walks around apartment complexes nonchalantly with his gang dressed in their "colours". I mean it's supposed to be dystopian, right? They're all definitely rebelling against something - perhaps the obviously authoritarian government and police force. Alex had an opinion on everything. The humble narrrorator had supreme confidence in himself - I mean have you ever picked up 2 girls at a record shop and taken them home - and was just too young to deal with it properly so it turned into brilliant, wicked cockiness. You're right, what was he going to empathize with?

I've never heard of or considered the Kubrick hatrack theory but I definitely like to think of A Clockwork Orange as a singular entry that hopefully defied everyone's expectations. People saw the potential but it ended up being something greater.

I dunno just my .02 I freaking love this film.