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Movies / Upcoming / A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange

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A Clockwork Orange (1971)

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Reviews Counted:43

Fresh:39

Rotten:4

Average Rating:8.4/10

Consensus: Disturbing and thought-provoking, A Clockwork Orange is a cold, dystopian nightmare with a very dark sense of humor.

Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: From its opening shot of Malcolm McDowell staring with evil intent directly into the camera (which pulls back to reveal him drinking a glass of milk), Stanley Kubrick's brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE... From its opening shot of Malcolm McDowell staring with evil intent directly into the camera (which pulls back to reveal him drinking a glass of milk), Stanley Kubrick's brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE announces itself as a completely new kind of viewing experience. The film, set in an unidentified future, overwhelms the senses with its almost comic depictions of rape and violence set to an upbeat classical and pop music score. Kubrick based his chilling masterpiece on Anthony Burgess's culture-shaking novel about a young man growing into adulthood, but unable to shake his huge problem with authority figures. The first part of the film shows Alex (a career-defining performance by McDowell) and his "droogs" (his cohorts) indulging in what they refer to as "a little bit of the old ultraviolence." After establishing Alex and co. as unremitting psychopaths, Kubrick's movie changes tact, and shows Alex getting caught and forced to undergo controversial treatment that will make it impossible for him to commit violent acts, leading to a fascinating ending to the film. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE purposely confuses crime and punishment, cause and effect, hero and villain, irony and satire, and many other concepts, creating a truly unique work of art in the process. Its magnificent, colorful, futuristic set designs and utter determination to shock, frighten, and thoroughly entertain left audiences reeling in the '70s. Kubrick even withdrew the film from distribution in the UK, after reading newspaper reports of people dressing up as Alex and his Droogs and meting out their own brand of ultraviolence (it was subsequently rereleased after his death). One thing is for sure: No one who has seen it has ever been able to hear "Singin' in the Rain" or Beethoven again in quite the same way. [More]

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Aubrey Morris

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Aubrey Morris, James Marcus, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, Carl Duering, John Clive, David Prowse

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter: Stanley Kubrick
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Composer: Walter Carlos

[See More Credits]

Reviews for A Clockwork Orange

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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It is one of the most memorable British films ever made, and one that is still valid, entertaining (in its own way) and peppered with many extraordinary scenes.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/01/00
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," and then there's everything else.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment 1 Comment
07/25/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The music made me do it

Full Review Source: JWR | comment Comment
06/28/09
S. James Wegg
S. James Wegg
JWR
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment 1 Comment
10/18/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

A merciless, demoniac satire in the future imperfect.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
08/22/08
TIME Magazine

Producer-director Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novel is a strangely overwhelming experience %u2013 at time contemptible, and yet always valid in its sardonic outlook.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
07/23/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

Ambitious and stylized (perhaps to a fault), Kubrick's poignantly prophetic satire of crime and punishment, redemption and free will, is still much misunderstood by critics emphasizing its ultra-violence.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment 1 Comment
02/22/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Spectacular, operatic, colorful, and exquisitely photographed.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
11/19/07
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine

All of Kubrick´s films have generated controversy, but this one engendered outright hostility.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
11/03/07
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Directed with assurance and filled with the cynicism, paranoia, visual flair (and lurid titillation) that characterised so much of his work, this is vintage Kubrick and classic cinema.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/02/07
Channel 4 Film

Remains as unsettling and shocking today as the day it was released.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/30/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Who else but Stanley Kubrick could successfully direct an ultra-stylish, sci-fi cult film about the impossibility of redemption in the absence of freely willed sin?

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
05/08/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Stanley Kubrick's latest film takes the heavy realities of the 'do-your-thing' and 'law-and-order' syndromes, runs them through a cinematic centrifuge, and spews forth the commingled comic horrors of a regulated society.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
05/08/07
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A very bad film -- snide, barely competent, and overdrawn -- that enjoys a perennial popularity, perhaps because its confused moral position appeals to the secret Nietzscheans within us.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 36 Comments
05/08/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

Ice cold, indecent, and way too obvious to be in any way deep.

Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | comment 15 Comments
02/09/06
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

A sexless, inhuman film, whose power derives from a ruthless subordination of its content to the demands of telling a good story.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 9 Comments
02/09/06
Time Out

May be Kubrick's greatest film, for its lasting influence and social significance.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
02/25/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

A Clockwork Orange is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 47 Comments
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a very dark message, but maybe that's why the film caught on as a video cult item in the 80s.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/17/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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all

Latest News for A Clockwork Orange

August 25, 2009: EW Lists 16 Classic "Dare You to Look" Scenes Opens in new window
All the Nazi-scalpin' action in "Inglourious Basterds" has got the EW staff to thinking about some of the most hard-to-watch scenes in film -- and to that end, they've assembled... More...

June 22, 2007: AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...

September 11, 2006: "The Dark Knight" Chatter: Heath Ledger On The Joker, Bob Hoskins as The Penguin?
We already know "Brokeback" star Heath Ledger is working on his maniacal grin for Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" sequel, but is Bob Hoskins practicing... More...

May 17, 2005: Bates, McDowell and Leigh to Hit the "Funny Farm"
From Cannes, The Hollywood Reporter brings news of an upcoming ensemble comedy that sounds pretty enticing: Kathy Bates ("Misery"), Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork... More...

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