Clockwork Orange [WS] DVD

A Clockwork Orange
Stanley Kubrick dissects the nature of violence in this darkly ironic, near-future satire, adapted from Anthony Burgess' novel, complete with "Nadsat" slang. Classical music-loving proto-punk Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his "Droogs" spend their nights getting high at the Korova Milkbar before embarking on "a little of the old ultraviolence," such as terrorizing a writer, Mr. Alexander (Patrick Magee), and raping his wife while jauntily warbling "Singin' in the Rain." After Alex is jailed for bludgeoning the Cat Lady (Miriam Karlin) to death with one of her phallic sculptures, Alex submits to the Ludovico behavior modification technique to earn his freedom; he's conditioned to abhor violence through watching gory movies, and even his adored Beethoven is turned against him. Returned to the world defenseless, Alex becomes the victim of his prior victims, with Mr. Alexander using Beethoven's Ninth to inflict the greatest pain of all. When society sees what the state has done to Alex, however, the politically expedient move is made. Casting a coldly pessimistic view on the then-future of the late '70s-early '80s, Kubrick and production designer John Barry created a world of high-tech cultural decay, mixing old details like bowler hats with bizarrely alienating "new" environments like the Milkbar. Alex's violence is horrific, yet it is an aesthetically calculated fact of his existence; his charisma makes the icily clinical Ludovico treatment seem more negatively abusive than positively therapeutic. Alex may be a sadist, but the state's autocratic control is another violent act, rather than a solution. Released in late 1971 (within weeks of Sam Peckinpah's brutally violent Straw Dogs), the film sparked considerable controversy in the U.S. with its X-rated violence; after copycat crimes in England, Kubrick withdrew the film from British distribution until after his death. Opinion was divided on the meaning of Kubrick's detached view of this shocking future, but, whether the discord drew the curious or Kubrick's scathing diagnosis spoke to the chaotic cultural moment, A Clockwork Orange became a hit. On the heels of New York Film Critics Circle awards as Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, Kubrick received Oscar nominations in all three categories. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Cast Malcolm McDowell as Alex Patrick Magee as Mr. Frank Alexander Michael Bates as Chief Guard Adrienne Corri as Mrs. Alexander Warren Clarke as Dim Aubrey Morris as P.R. Deltoid

Crew Russell Hagg - Art Director Peter Shields - Art Director Bernard Williams - Associate Producer Milena Canonero - Costume Designer Dusty Symonds - First Assistant Director Derek Cracknell - First Assistant Director Stanley Kubrick - Director Bill Butler - Editor Max Raab - Executive Producer Si Litvinoff - Executive Producer Walter Carlos - Composer (Music Score) Freddie Williamson - Makeup Barbara Daly - Makeup George Partleton - Makeup John Barry - Production Designer John Alcott - Cinematographer Stanley Kubrick - Producer John Jordan - Sound/Sound Designer Roy Scammell - Stunts Stanley Kubrick - Screenwriter Gioachino Antonio Rossini - Featured Music Henry Purcell - Featured Music Ludwig van Beethoven - Featured Music Anthony Burgess - Book Author

A Clockwork Orange
After the visionary journey through space and time of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick offered a very different look at the future (which seemed uncomfortably close to the present) in A Clockwork Orange. But if one has to compare A Clockwork Orange to any of Kubrick's other films, it comes closest to Dr. Strangelove: for all its horrific violence and troubling moral ambiguity, it is ultimately a satire, and, like Dr. Strangelove, it wrings a shocking amount of humor from situations that few people would think of as funny. With the notable exception of Alex (Malcolm McDowell in the best performance of his career), most of the characters are little more than cartoons (with dialogue to match), while a great deal of the violence walks a fine line between Looney Tunes absurdity and crushingly vivid brutality. Kubrick's future state is often garish and ugly, veering between an amusingly hideous riot of color and texture gone wrong and the decaying remnants of a cinder-block nation (remarkably, Kubrick and production designer John Barry built only one set for the entire film, with everything else shot on existing locations that were dressed in "futuristic" style). And Kubrick throws in plenty of crude comic relief that suggests some degenerate variation on a Carry On film; from the overexcited school representative to the doctor and nurse enjoying recreational sex as Alex regains consciousness, Kubrick places his grim vision in an England where foolish absurdity is the order of the day. And while Alex seems one of the few characters capable of making a complex moral choice (never mind how sinister his choices happen to be), he also takes his choice more seriously than anyone else in the film. Alex has adopted violent hedonism not out of profit, politics, or pragmatism, but because he likes it, and, while this makes him difficult to admire, he's still the smartest and freest man in the film's moral universe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
 

Bill Butler: Academy, Best Editing (nominated) Malcolm McDowell: Golden Globe, Best Actor - Drama (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Academy, Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Academy, Best Director (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Directors Guild of America, Best Director (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Golden Globe, Best Director (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: New York Film Critics Circle, Best Director (winner)

Academy, Best Picture (nominated) American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) British Academy Awards, Best Film (nominated) Golden Globe, Best Picture - Drama (nominated) New York Film Critics Circle, Best Picture (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish, Por Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel Additional Features: New 2000 digital master from restored elements Soundtrack newly remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Interactive menus Theatrical trailer Scene access Languages: English, Français Subtitles: English, Français, Españo,l & Português DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: R DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 137 min Part of Series: Stanley Kubrick Collection   DVD Chapters: Side #1 0. Jump to a Scene 1. Main Title [:52] 2. Alex and his droogs [1:32] 3. The old ultraviolence on a tramp [2:10] 4. Battling Billy Boy [3:04] 5. Through the real country dark [1:26] 6. Country house [4:23] 7. Disciplining Dim [3:24] 8. At home with ludwig van [3:15] 9. Home ill; Mr. Deltoid [5:45] 10. The music shop [2:17] 11. Two ladies [:58] 12. Dissent among droogs [4:14] 13. A real leader [3:11] 14. The cat lady's house [7:01] 15. Now a murderer [3:48] 16. Prisoner #655321 [5:35] 17. The chaplain's remarks [2:33] 18. Big Book Fantasies [5:49] 19. The minister's visit [6:00] 20. Arrival at Ludovico [3:52] 21. "And vidi films I would" [4:19] 22. "I'm cured. Praise God" [:00] 23. On display [3:42] 24. The sickness [4:42] 25. Your true believer [2:19] 26. Family reunion [1:50] 27. No room for Alex [3:44] 28. Three Familiar faces [4:01] 29. Droogs with badges [3:35] 30. Return to the country house [2:52] 31. Mr. Alexander's hospitality [7:12] 32. The hospital [11:32] 33. A slide show [2:54] 34. A very special visitor [3:34] 35. "I was cured, all right" [4:56] 36. End Credits [1:22]