A Clockwork Orange
Film data
Based on: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Release Dates: December 19, 1971 (NYC), January 13, 1972 (UK), February 2, 1972 (US)
Running Time: 136 minutes
Budget: $2.2 Million
Box Office: $26.6 million (North America)
Distributed by: Warner Bros (US, Warner Distributors (UK)
Music by: Walter Carlos
Cinematography: John Alcott
Edited by: Bill Butler
Starring: Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge
Patrick Magee as Mr. Frank Alexander
Adrienne Corri as Mrs. Mary Alexander
Miriam Karlin as Cat Lady
Cast: Michael Bates as Chief Guard Barnes
Warrne Clarke as Dim
Carl Duering as Dr. Brodsky
Paul Farrel as Tramp
Clive Francis as Joe the Lodger
Michael Gover as Prison Governor
James Marcus as Georgie
Aubrey Morris as P.R. Deltoid
Godfrey Quigley as Prison Chaplain
Sheila Raynor as Mum
Madge Ryan as Dr. Branom
Anthony Sharp as Frederick, Minister of the Interior
Philip Stone as Dad
Pauline Taylor as Dr. Taylor, psychiatrist
Margaret Tyzack as Conspirator Rubinstein
Steven Berkoff as Detective Constable Tom
Lindsay Campbell as Police Inspector
Michael Tarn as Pete
Davide Prowse as Julian, Mr. Alexander’s bodyguard
Barrie Cookson as Dr. Alcott
John J. Carney as Detective Sergeant
Richard Connaught as Billyboy, Gang Leader
Carol Drinkwater as Nurse Feeley
Gillian Hills as Sonietta
Synopsis
The charismatic, sociopathic delinquent and main character, Alex DeLarge, and his thug like friends, who he calls his droogs live for the thrill of crime sprees. Together, they get high in milk bars where milk laced with drugs is served and they then engage in nights filled with theft, rape, and vandalism. When his droogs express that they want to participate in higher profile theft to get more money, Alex defies them to prove his authority. Obviously upset with him, they leave him trapped at a crime scene where he gets arrested for murder.
He is sentenced to jail for 14 years and continually tries to seem "cured" through his involvement with the prison Church service, but it all fails. That is until the Minister of the Interior arrives at the prison two years into his sentence looking for test subjects for an experimental rehabilitating surgery to which Alex willingly volunteers himself. During the two week long, or as they say in the movie, a “fortnight”, treatment, Alex is drugged, shown lewd movies, with his eyes propped open, of crimes he was previously so familiar with. The drugs would induce a sickness that they claimed to be similar to dying. In the midst of the therapy, one of the movies is set the music by his favorite composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, to which he has the same response. Upon completion, he is put on show to government officials and prison employees, while being presented with real-life representations of his past, of which he gags as if being induced by the drugs. Upon release, the reactions continue when faced with similar situations of violence.
On the outside, he is no longer welcome at home and finds that the world is not accepting of his reformed self but rather those from his past only seek revenge. It gets to the point where he can no longer take the agony and tries to commit suicide, all while listening to his favorite, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He survives and wakes up in a hospital where it is explained that there is public outrage for what the government did to him. Coincidentally, the Minister of the Interior arrives and apologizes to Alex and offers to take care of him in return for his help with his reputation, to which Alex agrees. With a stereo playing Beethoven’s song once again, the movie ends with Alex vividly dreaming of having sex with a woman in front of a happy crowd, to which it is implied that he is cured of his therapy.
Commentary: Reflection
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian film adapted from Anthony Burgess’s 1962 book by the same name. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the movie as a hit with American audiences, grossing more than $26 million and was critically acclaimed being nominated for several awards. However, Kubrick personally withdrew the film from the UK due to two copycat crimes including the rape of a Dutch girl at the hands of men singing “Singin’ in the Rain” and the beating of a minor who had beaten a younger child whilst wearing Alex’s famous white uniform. Ultimately, this film created great controversy for its violence, lewd and graphic sexual content, and governmental critique through its themes of morality, psychology, and government intervention. 
If I were to tell you the story or just from reading my description of it above, it is pretty easy to follow. But the cinematography, camera work, and music is what makes it such an elaborate final product. Kubrick plays with light and shadows by juxtaposing different scenes with different lighting effects, light/dark, colorful/grey, shadows/sun to express the emotions during the scene. The changes are during the three acts of the film: the violent gang beginning, the Ludovico treatment, and the society reintroduction. 
The theme of morality is apparent in the Ludovico technique therapy forced upon him, even after begging for it to stop. The question is not whether or not the therapy should have been a consideration, but rather why does it make sense to use this type of therapy to stop immoral behavior. This also contributes to the theme of government authority and what role they have in imposing control over society. Although Alex was a willing test subject, this type of therapy was projected to be used for every prisoner to decrease the congestion in prisons. Once he gets out, although “moral”, he is an alien in world where he is surrounded by sex, which he is now corrected from. He can no longer fit in and is instead now able to be manipulated by his old droogs who are now police
The critique of psychology and critical conditioning is shown through the eyes of Alex as he is our narrator. Although he was an uncivilized sociopath, he still had personality traits that were true to him, like his wit, intelligence, energy, and outspokenness. With the therapy, the narration switches from Alex in first person to someone describing the “narrator” and “storyteller.” Why does the narration change? Because Alex is no longer Alex during that time. The therapy cured him of himself and his humanness, and that is extremely unfortunate.
Commentary: Response
I am not a movie person in the slightest, and you may quickly recognize that after reading a couple of my blogs. Due to this, my boyfriend, a major movie buff, did not think I would like this movie because of the violence and negative connotation associated with it. He could not have been more wrong.
I love documentaries and research and this movie delved into everything I love about those two things. It brought to light a subject that was easily passed over and even shunned because of its association with great psychologists, the government, and society as whole. Of course the content was gruesome in some parts, but in a way that was immature and psychotic rather than filled with genuine hate. The movie did not scare me and did not make me afraid to go out at night by myself, but rather made me think of all of the people that are actually psychologically unstable and what kind of treatment they get and how they are treated by society. Kubrick was successful, as he always is, in promoting the discovery of things that are usually hidden behind closed doors and making you think, just as the film thinks.
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