ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Three years after "2001", Stanley Kubrick made a very different kind of science fiction film, one that was even more controversial.

Set in a near-future England, Malcolm McDowell plays a member of a gleefully sadistic youth gang whom the fascist government attempts to reform with the use of some very disturbing brain-washing techniques.

McDowall's character is presented as the unfortunate victim of a heartless political system. The film was shocking to its original audiences, but today's audiences (jaded by the deluge of cinema brutality) are less affected.

"A Clockwork Orange" was originally given an "X" rating, but this was later changed to "R" with the deletion of a few scenes. The music is by Mr. Walter Carlos, who later become Miss Wendy Carlos -- proof that the real world is getting just as weird as the one presented in "A Clockwork Orange". Mr./Ms. Carlos later did the music for "Tron".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rocky Jones]

Always a movie buff, I became something of a Kubrick expert after 2001: A Space Odyssey came out. I saw Clockwork the week it opened in Dallas and at least four more times during it's theatrical release. I was mainly fascinated with Kubrick's technical expertise and the look of the film. I found it interesting how he applied some of the experience gained by the 2001 production to a very different sort of film.

In retrospect this, like most other Kubrick films, is a very emotionally cold experience to watch. The humor still comes through well, though, I think. I find it interesting that it's found an enduring audience even 45 years later. Twenty-nine year old YouTube star Grav3yardgirl thinks it's the best film ever made and rewatches it regularly. One thing you can say for Kubrick is that he knew how to make films that stand up to the test of time.

[mach7]

I just watched this for the first time in 25+ years.

Back in the '80s I loved it.

Now, while I can still respect the film I find it less than stellar. I think the fact that it came out so quickly after 2001 might have something to do with it. 2 years is kind of fast for a Kubrick film.

I feel the script is not as finished as it should be. Some of the dialog is a bit stilted.

The acting is odd,I feel this is intentional to set the mood of the movie, but Alex is really the only one not acting as a caricature.

Visually the movie is stunning, really outstanding. The exception is the quick scene of Alex and his Droogs in the stolen car. That looks kind of weak.

The soundtrack works well I think.

[Skullislander]

This is my all time favorire cult movie although it is not a pleasant watch.

Here in the UK it was withdrawn for over 25 years and I was kicking 30 before I actually got to see it!

The central character of Alex in his bizarre clown-like gear makes him one of the eeriest baddies in film history to me personally.

The treatment of women in this film is very exploitative and I doubt if it would be allowed today.

After Alex is captured, the plot drags badly, but that opening 40 minootas is a thrilling rollercoaster of bad-dream imagery.

[Bogmeister]

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I didn't see A CLOCKWORK ORANGE when it first came out. I was too young. But, I did see it in a theater in one of those 2nd-run avenues, in the late seventies. I was stunned as I walked out. I had seen something totally unexpected, something which took me completely by surprise. I thought I knew and understood cinema.

Well, NOW I did. Now I knew what cinema was capable of. I now knew that cinema could be used to impart unforgettable, disturbing images — not grotesque, as in a slasher film, but provocative indeed — which would stay with me for a lifetime.

]

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE immediately became a favorite of mine. I literally could not get it out of my head, and this continues to this day, 30 years later. It begins with this bright red, blank screen — a primary color — then Kubrick's credit on a blue screen, equally bright, and then the character of Alex staring right at me. It was hypnotic right from the beginning.



Right from the start, Kubrick employs the camera to place us in the position of voyeur. That's really what all films do — the good ones, at least — but Kubrick manages to take it all to another level. We are spellbound by the activities of Alex and his droogs, a quartet of hoodlums indulging in some after-hours hooliganism at some future point in Great Britain.



Alex is the leader of his gang — there's a definite hierarchy here — and narrates the tale as the gang beats up a drunken bum and a rival gang, drive a stolen Durango auto on the roadways, and invades a home for purposes of rape and theft.

This is the future, but this is also now. This film has not dated whatsoever. The events could very well be taking place about a decade from now. The eye of the camera dwells on the events. It does not turn away. We can't, either. Viddy Well, my brothers.



The gang drink what is called moloko-plus, or milk-plus, which means the drink is laced with some kind of drug, in the Korova bar — a public bar.

This makes one wonder right away what kind of society would set up such a scenario, where-in a gang of hoodlums would be allowed to amp themselves up for some ultra-violence.

They speak a degradation of the English language, mostly a borrowing of Slavic (Russian) words, called Nadsat. Perhaps I was drawn to this film more than most because I was familiar with the Russian language. Who knows?

But most viewers become accustomed to the irregular speech anyway. When Alex says "Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you eunuch jelly thou," I think most people understand what that means. Through this language, the film creates its own, alternate world, a world which works within the context of the story.



Alex' world is at once nightmarish and fantastic.

He lives in the night, preying on others with his gang. He rules in this night. This world is presented as exciting and addictive. In a way, it's poetry in motion. We gaze at it through the eyes of Alex and he invites us, calling us his brothers, speaking to us in a friendly, almost sympathetic tone. We need to slap ourselves, to force ourselves to turn away, to disavow this indulgence of his.

He walks back to his home, an apartment he lives in with his mom and dad. Everything is decaying. Kubrick's camera, as usual, dwells on it all, to make sure we don't forget it. Maybe Alex has the right idea? After all, he seems to be the most alive. He enjoys Beethoven and bedding down two cute girls at the same time.

By contrast, his parents seem almost like pathetic caricatures and his truant officer, Mr. Deltoid, seems like a real creep. The daytime is not very impressive within this film. It seems like drudgery & revulsion.



All this is covered in the first 45 minutes of the film.

Then, the worm turns. Alex is finally apprehended by the police. Everything shifts. Kubrick now presents his argument, which doesn't really appear to have a counter-argument. The other side of the coin is rigid bureaucracy, the order of things.

Yet, it's not very palatable. Further, the government's proposed solution to such problems such as Alex is going back to the whole 'mind-control' theme. In the end, the film suggests that society creates such creatures as Alex and then seeks to uncreate them through thoroughly unnatural means. This just creates further problems.





Malcolm McDowell is perfect as the amoral Alex — a leader, a friend, a son, a smug opportunist and a complete monster. He lends such a disarming, carefree persona to his character that we tend to forgive most of his reprehensible antics.

Isn't that what some serial killers do? (so they say). They present themselves as very likable people — though in reality they are the worst of us. His gang (particularly Warren Clarke as Dim) are also very well realized. Magee begins as one of the victims but becomes another psychotic by the end, another cog in the broken system. And Bates is great as the loud chief prison guard, another cog.

But, it's the style of this film which really holds me captive. It's a succession of startling, beguiling images, presented in such a manner as to bore straight into the deepest reaches of the brain.

A simply unforgettable film, and more relevant than ever.

BoG's Score: 9.5 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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I've always known that Andrew Bogdan and I were very different kinds of people. Whenever we talked on the phone during the years he was All Sci-Fi's co-site administrator, his quiet voice and obvious shyness convinced me that he was the opposite of my own goofy, insanely optimistic self.

Once I called him "Andy". He asked me never to do that. It was "Andrew" — and this wasn't just his preference, name wise, it was a subtle indication of his somber nature.

Having said that, I was a bit surprised (but not totally shocked) when I read his glowing praise for A Clockwork Orange, the polar opposite of the kind of movies I've been deeply effected by the way Andrew was by this one.

He gives it the highest rating of any movie I've seen on his own board yet — 9.5 out of 10.

And yet I knew I owed it to Andrew's memory to preserve the review he so carefully wrote for his "lost board", here on All Sci-Fi. I hope it will generate some interesting discussions. Obviously it affects different people in very different ways.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

I once saw an interview with Malcolm McDowell, where he claimed the reason he sang "Singing In The Rain", is because it was the only song he knew the lyrics to.

I suspect he was kidding, because if he could learn the script, then why not song lyrics.

David.

[Gord Green]

A real horrorshow vidie!

Warmed the cockles of my yarbles by the old ultraviolance!

Loved the Ludwig B !

As an aside, after reading the Anthony Burgess novel and hearing that Kubrick was going to direct an adaptation of it, I wrote a treatment of it and sent it to Stanley on speck. It was returned to me with a note that he didn't want to read it as he had his own take on it and didn't want to be influenced. . Still there were many similarities in the final project. Not too misunderstandable since the source is in common.



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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.